You can do anything, but not everything

 

You can do anything, but not everything

A major part of leading others is developing them, and delegation is one of the easiest ways to build up others on your team. James Graves lead of Executive Development at Korn Ferry says, “leaders need to be more planful around what decisions can and should be made by others.”

A leader’s lack of ability to delegate can result in burnout and ignoring the team members there to help them. So, why else is it important to delegate?

1. Builds trust amongst the team.

When you show trust in your team, in return they understand their contributions, experience increase feelings of belonging, and take more responsive action to ensure organizational success. To evaluate whether someone on your team is a trusted individual ask yourself is this person credible, reliable, and open to other's points of view? If the answer is yes, it’s simple to entrust them with the tasks.

 

2. Builds an environment of empowerment.

We often hear people say, “If you want something done properly, do it yourself.” But my question is “How are you leading others when you’re doing all the work yourself?” Give power to individuals that have demonstrated the capacity to handle important responsibilities. When you delegate you are encouraging people to grow their skills and boosting confidence in themselves because you give them autonomy to do the work.

3. Provides you space to think strategically.

As the leader, you must have time to resolve issues, make decisions, and have a big-picture view of the organization. To have time to perform this role as a leader, all your tasks can’t be doing the day-to-day.

How to properly delegate?

1. Decide what to delegate.

Each day we face urgent and important tasks. Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed delegate, the urgent should be delegated to the right people with the right resources at the start of the workday. Save the important tasks for yourself since the important tends to be more strategic and long-term.

2. Set clear expectations.

As a leader, you can’t expect certain behavior or performance from an individual if you’ve never explained standards of operation.

3. Share information with everyone.

Motivate them by treating them as an equal members of the team. People without accurate information can’t act responsibly, people with accurate information feel obliged to act responsibly.  

What delegation is not is a free pass not to get your hands dirty, it’s as equally important that your team knows you’re willing to get in the pits with them. Leadership involves you being hands-on alongside your team, but delegation reduces your feelings of burnout.