What do you do if you want to enhance your leadership skills through delegation in education?

It’s important to understand that delegation isn’t a “dust your hands clean, I’m done with that” type of approach but more of a “I trust you and I will support you” approach where leaders are still present as part of the problem solving equation before gradually releasing teams to do what they do best.

Normally in higher education faculties are more independent. The staff needs more guidance. True delegation is not just delegation of tasks but the complete responsibility for a particular assignment/project . It is not that I do this and you do that,but let us do this together where I can contribute more here and you can do that better hence you do that.

Here are the levels of delegation: Level 1: Do as I say. Level 2: Look into this, present me some options, and I will decide. Level 3: Look into this, present options, tell me the direction we should go in, I will decide Level 4: Decide the direction we should go, and let me know what you've decided prior to taking action. Level 5: Decide the direction we should go, but you don't even have to tell me the direction we are going

Take the time to identify the strengths of your colleagues so that what you delegate will align with their areas of interest or expertise. Additionally, articulate effectively for others the outcomes that will emerge from the tasks that you are delegating so that they don't see it as you dumping one more task on their plate. Relatedly, if it's an opportunity that will spark their growth, and be something more routine for you, there is power and meaning in delegating these types of projects or tasks.

In my experience, the identification of tasks to delegate to team members is a very important to make sure the completion of task successfully. Very important tasks which needs personal expertise in which chance of make mistakes by others, should be done by ourselves. Analysing the tasks and the processes involved init to complete it successfully will helps to decide whether it can be delegate to the team members based on their expertise.

As a leader, we have to analyse the strength and weaknesses of team members before deligate any task to them. Giving right task to right people is important to ensure its successful completion. Never assign a task forcefully to someone who feels it difficult to do. Identify self responsible people who can complete the task on time without continuous follow ups.

A few expectations to consider ... What does successful completion of the project look like? When do you want to be communicated with -- when are the check ins? What do the feedback loops look like? What resources are necessary? What are the constraints of the project? What does training and support look like?