Delegating tasks is a crucial skill. In addition to being necessary for any team or company to grow, when done effectively, it improves efficiency in the workplace, increases team motivation, and allows leaders to focus on tasks that require more attention.
However, if not done efficiently, it can have the opposite effect and create stress and confusion. Today we bring you these tips for doing it the right way.
- Understand the skills and abilities of your team
The first step in delegating tasks correctly is to understand the skills and abilities of the people on the team. Knowing what they excel at, and what they don’t, will help you assign tasks in which they can not only achieve good results but also contribute to their professional and personal development. This step also includes identifying people who need to develop their skills more and finding solutions to increase their potential.
- Set clear expectations
When delegating tasks, it’s important to set clear expectations from the beginning. People interpret instructions in different ways, so it’s important to set clear goals and define what is expected of the team member in terms of quality, deadlines, and necessary resources. Make sure people understand what you expect and of course, always be open to clarifying doubts.
- Provide resources and support
These resources can be additional training, access to tools and technologies, or support from other team members. Make sure the team member has everything they need to complete the task as expected.
- Establish regular follow-up
This step is necessary to review that everything is progressing as planned. Hold regular meetings to review progress, provide feedback, and address any issues or challenges. Stay available to provide support whenever your team needs it.
- Encourage autonomy
Although when delegating, you should be available to support as needed, delegating also means encouraging autonomy and decision-making by team members. Allow them to make decisions and solve problems independently whenever possible. This will foster a sense of responsibility and ownership in the team, while developing skills in them that they probably didn’t know they had.
- Provide feedback
Finally, it’s important to provide constructive feedback on your team’s work. Recognize achievements and provide suggestions to improve performance in future tasks. As a leader, be clear that this feedback should always be focused on the task and never on the person.
To conclude with our tips, remember that a leader is someone who empowers the skills of the people under their leadership, and if we have a team, it’s because we can’t do everything ourselves and we must trust that the talent we have around us wants to achieve the same goal as us.
