The Art of Effective Delegation

"The essence of leadership is to get others to do something because they think you want it done and because they know it is worth while doing -- that is what we are talking about." — Dwight Eisenhower

Apart from getting a job done, there are two reasons for delegating work. One is to grow as a leader, and the other is to grow your team members. If you keep these two purposes in mind and balance them in how you delegate, you will see outstanding results.

"Delegation is the lowest end of the delegation-empowerment continuum. The first step in learning to empower your team is to master delegation. When you delegate, you provide specifications for the task. You are not asking the team member to make any decisions but follow the directions and deliver the output as required. First-level managers with small teams must learn how to delegate well. As your career progresses, you will lead multiple teams whose managers report to you. You will find a mix of delegation and empowerment." — Leadership Lessons with The Beatles.

For many new managers, one of the most complex and challenging skills to master is delegating, with many questions that must be answered, such as:

·?????? What tasks should I delegate?

·?????? Who should I delegate to?

·?????? When I delegate, how much authority should I give?

·?????? How do I ensure clarity and expectations?

·?????? How do I deal with failure in a delegated task?

·?????? How do I measure success?

The answers to these questions yield a complex formula. Delegation is a nuanced task, but it can be done well by being purposeful.

The Process of Delegation

Trust is the bedrock upon which successful delegations are made.

"In my software engineering career, I witnessed failures of many types. They could be software errors resulting in bugs seen after the system was in the hands of users. … In our organization, we looked upon these occurrences as teachable moments and opportunities. We put systems and procedures in place to avoid mistakes." — Shantha Mohan, Leadership Lessons with The Beatles.

Team leaders establish trust by being honest and consistent, clarifying their expectations, and holding themselves to the same high standards they expect from others. When they make a mistake, they own it. They treat everyone with respect and empathy. They provide a psychologically safe space for their team members to take risks.

"Doveryay, no Proveryay" — A Russian proverb meaning "Trust, but Verify."

Delegation does not end with finding someone to do the task and handing it over. A good leader always follows the task to its completion. If the person doing the tasks is a novice, they would require training and frequent checkups, but not too much that you come across as micro-managing. If you are giving the task to someone senior that you trust can do it, then you are empowering them and can be hands-off.

Critical Considerations in Delegation

The first consideration for delegating a task is to know what it entails. You must understand what it means to accomplish the task and its scope. If you don't know, the first step is brainstorming with your colleagues and team members and clearly understanding what must be done. Some tasks require an exploratory phase, which may require senior resources. Others may be simple. When delegating a task, you should specify the parameters and success criteria for completion. A seasoned team member well versed in the task may not need it, but a novice certainly does.

The second consideration is to know the skill set of your team members. If you have been working with the team for a while, you already know this. If you are a new leader, you must assess the team makeup and understand who can do what tasks. This assessment would start with their performance records, dialog with colleagues who have spent time at the organization, and, most importantly, conversations with the team members to understand their career goals and aspirations. A task may be more suitable to someone with the motivation and desire to do it to ensure its success. In addition, it would help the member to learn something new and advance in their career.

A third consideration is understanding each member's workload. Three things must come together in scheduling any task: due date, resources, and scope. In delegating a task, one has to have a broad picture of everything the team has to accomplish and a specific task's place in that broad picture. If there is a due date constraint, a task may have to be assigned to someone familiar with it rather than training someone new.

All tasks are not equal. Some may have tight deadlines, while others could tolerate budgeting training time for an entry-level member.

Autonomy and Outcomes?

When delegating a task, the team leader must decide how much freedom there is in making a decision while executing the task.

As mentioned earlier, the amount of oversight accompanying the task varies depending on where the person executing it is in the delegation-empowerment continuum. At the lowest end, the team member follows the specification, and if any question arises, resolving it falls on the team leader. As trust is built, the member has more autonomy. At the highest end of the continuum, the member is considered to have complete freedom.

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Anticipate any problems that could arise with delegation and have a plan for addressing them. Perhaps the instructions were unclear, or the team member might not have been ready. Therefore, conducting a fair post-mortem and using what is learned to refine the task and the delegation process is essential.

Delegation: A Pathway to Empowerment and Growth

"No man will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or to get all the credit for doing it." — Andrew Carnegie

Delegation is not about getting a job done, though it is a crucial part of it. Think of delegation as a step in your leadership journey to grow your team members to be the best they can be, continually learning new skills and expanding their responsibilities. At the same time, delegation frees you to do things that can add value to your organization and afford you the time to achieve your aspirations. When done right, it is a win-win strategy.

Note: This article first appeared in Rapl Inc.'s Leader's Voice Blog.

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