Struggling to Delegate - The Skill of a Successful Business Leader

As a business leader, you might feel as though you need to do everything yourself. After all, you are the expert, the person with the experience and the final say on important decisions. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t lean on others for support. When you have a strong and capable team supporting you, it makes sense to rely on them, to ask them for help and to delegate.

There are bound to be some tasks that can’t be passed on to someone else, some processes that need a leader’s input, but you will likely find that a lot of day-to-day tasks can be handled by another member of your team. Not only does this free up some of your time – allowing you to focus on innovation, business growth and development – but it gets your team involved in aspects of the business that they might not otherwise be privy to. Below, we have taken a look at what it means to delegate, why it’s important and how to delegate successfully.

What Does it Mean to Delegate?

Regardless of the industry that you work in or the size of your team, you will have probably heard about how important it is to delegate to your team, but what does delegation mean in practice? To delegate means trusting your team with having the responsibility of completing specific tasks or making decisions, giving you less to do and freeing up some of your valuable time. The delegation process involves identifying tasks that can be handled by others, choosing the right individuals based on their skills and workload, and providing clear instructions and resources. Delegating can be daunting, but it’s hugely beneficial, especially when it comes to ensuring that your focus is where it’s needed most.

Delegation is more than just offloading work, it’s about empowering your team, supporting their professional growth and building trust. By allowing members of your team to take ownership of specific tasks, you can focus on important decision making and problem solving. This ultimately drives the business’ success and efficiency. When you delegate effectively, you can boost productivity, skill development and employee morale.

The Importance of Delegating as a Business Leader

There are a lot of benefits that come with delegating tasks to other members of your team, and these benefits extend far beyond simply getting tasks done quickly.

It Encourages Team Development – Delegation is a good way to encourage your team’s skills and capabilities. By giving team members opportunities to take on new challenges, you are giving them the chance to gain valuable experience, which could help to prepare them for future roles and responsibilities. It’s also a way to boost team confidence, as successfully completing delegated tasks boosts morale and motivation.

It Improves Decision Making and Problem Solving – Delegating tasks encourages your team to think critically and to make decisions for themselves, which helps them to learn to tackle problems without relying on you for leadership. This improves decision making, problem solving and helps with their professional growth by encouraging creativity and innovation.

It Builds Team Trust – Trust is a huge part of delegation and when you delegate tasks, you are telling your team that you trust them. Giving people the responsibility of completing tasks in their own way encourages innovation, ownership and collaborative relationships in the workplace.

It Maximises Productivity – When you delegate, you have more time to focus on important tasks, those that drive the business forward. You can prioritise areas of the business that require your expertise and knowledge, knowing that other members of your team are taking care of everything else. By sharing work amongst your team, you can speed up various business processes and improve overall efficiency.

It’s Good for Your Work-Life Balance – It can be hard to manage a healthy work-life balance as a business leader, but delegation can help you to achieve this. By sharing the workload, you can reduce your personal levels of stress and prevent burnout. Plus, with fewer tasks to manage, you can focus on planning, innovation and personal wellbeing.

As you can see, delegating at work is important for you, your team and the business as a whole. Though you might encounter a challenge or two – you might have a fear of losing control or you worry about miscommunication leading to costly mistakes – the positives far outweigh the negatives.

How to Delegate Successfully at Work

A lot of business leaders shy away from delegation, worrying that someone else won’t be able to handle the workload, or that mistakes will be made. But, with planning and forethought, delegating at work can be successful.

Find the Right Tasks for Delegation – There are a lot of tasks that can be delegated, but there are also some that should be handled by you, as a business leader. When you are deciding what to delegate, consider starting with routine tasks. This includes general admin and repetitive tasks, those that take up a lot of your time, but are easy for someone to get the hang of. Tasks that require a lot of experience and specialist knowledge aren’t always the best options for delegation, as there’s a lot of room for error.

Avoid Micromanaging – When you hand a task over to someone else, you need to have complete trust in them. This means not micromanaging their every move, stepping back and allowing them to work independently. Trust that your team can handle the responsibility you’ve given them and let them show you what they’re capable of. If you micromanage, you won’t get to see what your team is capable of when left to their own devices.

Communicate and Support – As a business leader, you need to be there to answer questions or concerns when someone is handling a task for you. Let your team know that you are there to help, and ensure they’re comfortable coming to you if they’re struggling to overcome a challenge, or if they have too much on their plate.

Provide Clear Instructions – You need to be clear with what you expect when you delegate at work, and this means providing clear instructions of what to do, how to do it and when. Explain what the task is, what the outcome should be and if there is a set deadline. Provide the necessary tools, resources and information needed to complete the task. It’s best to give them too much information and guidance than not enough.

Get to Know Your Team’s Strengths and Weaknesses – It’s a lot easier to delegate tasks when you know your team’s strengths and weaknesses. This will help you to delegate effectively, passing the right tasks over to the right people. Assign tasks that align with team members’ skills and experience, or those that align with their professional development goals.

Recognise Effort – Recognising the effort that someone has put into a task will encourage them to help out in the future. Acknowledge and reward your team’s hard work and achievements helps to boost morale and motivates them to embrace delegation going forward. Compliment them on what they did well, and offer constructive criticism on areas they could improve upon.

Learn from Experience – When it comes to delegation, practice makes perfect. After you have delegated, analyse the results and identify areas that need improving. Ask your team for their input on the delegation process and continuously refine your approach based on this feedback. The more you delegate, the easier and more successful it becomes.

At Profici, we know how beneficial delegation can be, and this includes delegating tasks to outside partners. We specialise in business growth and development, and we take the reins when it comes to scaling a business. As a business owner, you probably envision a stress-free and simple life, one that’s filled with moments away from work to enjoy yourself and spend with loved ones. But, this is often hindered by the stresses and strains that come with growing a business.

Our team of experts serve as your strategic growth partner, and we seamlessly integrate our team of expert consultants into your company. You can sit back and relax, knowing that your business growth is in safe hands. Get in touch to find out more.