Learn how to delegate and what makes it important for new leaders

“Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs.?

These words from Steve Jobs resonate deeply with me. They remind me that leadership isn’t a solo act—it’s about empowering a team to achieve greatness together. Leadership is not something you master in a day; it’s a continuous process of growth and learning.

As the founder of ProofHub, I realize how much I’ve learned through trial and error. I didn't have it all figured out from day one, and that’s okay. To say otherwise would be misleading for any emerging leader.?

Leading people is not about just assigning tasks and getting them done; it is more than that. It includes unleashing your team’s potential and identifying their strengths so that they can add value to the team and, eventually, your business.?

Being a leader is a strategist role that helps take things off your plate and offers long-term benefits to the organization. As a leader, delegation is essential to identify and empower individuals who can work more efficiently and effectively.?

Trying different leadership styles for effective leadership is an investment towards future success. It allows you to step back, focus on strategic thinking, enhance productivity, save time, make better decisions, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.?

According to a Gallup survey, CEOs who excel in delegation have driven their companies' growth by an impressive 1,751%.?

Two kinds of delegation you need to know before you want to assign the work to your team-?

1. Delegating for results?
2. Delegating for employee development

The fundamental difference between the two types of delegation is that in one type- the employer knows what result is required and who has the appropriate skillset to deliver it, which is delegation for results.?

The other one is when a manager assigns a task to an employee who might not have the appropriate skills but is up for challenges for development purposes; it is known as delegation for employee development.?

Let’s explore the core principles of delegation and uncover its advantages!

When to delegate?

Identifying the right time to delegate the tasks is crucial to creating a balanced workload.? Effective delegation not only enhances productivity but also promotes growth within the team.?

Here are key situations when delegation becomes essential:

• To foster experience

When a task aligns with the team's skill set, you must delegate because that will help you achieve quality, expertise, and satisfaction among the team members.?

• Manage time efficiently

Time management is crucial for growth and goal achievement. Delegating helps to ensure that you focus on more important things and use your time for the organization's growth.?

• Strengthen the team?

When you delegate the tasks, a sense of accountability and ownership prevails among the team members. Your team will function with excellent team dynamics and work more effectively in your absence.?

What things to keep in mind while delegating?

1. Set right expectations?

Setting the expectations right plays a major role while delegating because if the team does not know what is expected from them, how can they work to achieve them??

Establishing guidelines will help you be on the same page as your team. A good leader must be specific while delegating, set the goals on the expectation of the result, communicate properly, tell the non-negotiable and negotiable elements, and make it clear in the beginning the extent of their authority so they know what kind of decisions they can make on their own.?

2. Identification of Skills

Delegation based on the skill is important for the best set of hands on a project. This will help the team to work to their strengths and complete the work effectively and efficiently. A good leader observes the team member's strengths and weaknesses and delegates accordingly to get effective output. Also, keep in mind that you focus on developing the skills of your team members while delegating tasks.?

Also read: Top 3 Tips to Identify the Employee Skills Gap

3. Check progression

Delegation is not just about assigning tasks; it’s about checking the progress and regular monitoring to ensure everything stays on track. Set milestones by breaking projects into tasks and do proper check-ins to know the whereabouts of the progress. Make the best use of technology using project management tools to track progress transparently without constant verbal updates.

4. Define authority and autonomy

Making a clear line between authority and autonomy is essential so your employees can know the extent of decisions they can make and when to seek advice. As a leader, you can align the employee’s autonomy with experience. You need to trust your team's instincts and provide essential resources. Additionally, you must state evaluation criteria so the team will be accountable and perform their best.?

5. Monitor progress without micromanaging

Maintaining a balance between staying informed and giving your team space is an art; every leader should know it. Monitoring progress without micromanaging fosters accountability, creativity, and trust while ensuring tasks stay on track. You must set clear checkpoints, use project management tools, encourage self-reporting, and focus on the outcomes without hovering around them.

6. Constructive feedback

Feedback is something that, if done right, can improve performance and build trust. While you review the performance, try to include your suggestions for performance constructively. Praise the team for their efforts and suggest your opinions mindfully. Judge the team based on behaviour, not on personality. Balance the positive and negative and provide solutions.?

Benefits of delegation for new leaders?

• If you trust your employees' skills by delegating tasks, it makes your team members confident and valued and boosts morale. They will not be skeptical about the choice of career, skills, knowledge, and expertise.?
• Delegation also helps the employee in skill enhancement. They can think for themselves, make decisions, and advance their careers with the acquired knowledge.?
• As a leader, you know everything but can’t handle everything alone because it will be stressful and cause more delays. Assign tasks among your managers and high-level employees to increase workplace efficiency and meet the deadlines of the tasks.?

Also read: How to manage shifting deadlines in remote project management

• Being a leader will allow you to make time for crucial tasks; you can take some burden off your shoulders and utilize that time to make time for making valuable industry connections.?
• Employee burnout scares leaders, but they must know they are also receptive to burnout. Delegation makes it more straightforward to complete tasks on time.?

Also read: 4 Ignored Issues That Cause Employee Stress

Challenges faced by leaders while delegating

1. Mismatch of skills

One challenge that emerging leaders face is a mismatch of skills. As a delegator, you must know the strengths and weaknesses of your team so you can assign tasks accordingly. Sometimes, delegating tasks that are too easy or challenging can make the employee overconfident or cause them to lose their morale.?

What you can do is implement cross-training. Exposing team members to different roles and responsibilities builds versatility and ensures smoother transitions when delegating tasks outside someone’s usual domain.

2. Insecurity as a leader?

As an emerging leader, sometimes it becomes challenging to hand over control. You can become insecure about losing power and authority. However, effective leadership encourages you to trust your team members and use their expertise to succeed.?

3. Inconsistent follow-up

Inconsistent follow-up regarding delegation is a common challenge among new leaders. Delegating tasks is only half the battle—ensuring that the task's progress as expected requires regular and reliable follow-up. Failing to do so can lead to missed deadlines, misunderstandings, or poor results.

A leader must delegate to maximize productivity by understanding their team’s weaknesses, strengths, and skill sets to assign tasks to the right individuals. You can’t handle everything independently, as you must make strategies for further development and decisions for your organization. Unleashing the true potential of your team members will help you pay attention to other opportunities and take steps to grow the business.?

Many productivity tools are available to streamline task management and track the work progress. These tools let you easily manage several tasks simultaneously and monitor their progress.?

Conclusion - Learn how to delegate in 2025 with project management software like ProofHub

ProofHub is a project management and team collaboration software that can help delegate your projects and tasks easily. This tool will save time, enhance productivity, embrace transparency, and drive accountability among your team.?

You can easily break down your project into tasks, delegate them to the employees you feel are right for it, and track their progress without the hassle of asking verbally or getting a daily report. This tool will ensure that you stay updated on the task's progress. Get your hands on ProofHub and make the delegation process easy and breezy.