Introduction

Need to become an effective delegator? Are you doing too much yourself when there are others available? Is there never enough time in the day to do everything you want? Then these ten top tips should help you to become a more effective delegator.


Tip 1: Know your objectives

Know precisely what you want to achieve, ideally quantified, with a timescale and cost if relevant. For example "10% increase in total sales over next 12 months with a marketing budget of £1000" is better than "increase sales". Similarly if you delegate one or more objective to someone else, then if relevant, quantify the delegated objective so they understand exactly what you want and how it should be achieved.


Tip 2: Know your staff

Delegate to staff you feel can do the job. So you may need to re-define or revise an objective to suit someone's skills and abilities, or divide an objective between more than person, but each with specific responsibilities. In the longer term, identifying staff training needs can help in this process by raising staff skills in required areas.

When tasks are delegated, some staff may need only the bare bones of an objective and they're up and running, but others may need everything spelled out before they are comfortable to start. Some people prefer the big picture, knowing where everything fits in, but others prefer the fine detail view so they know exactly how the task works.


Tip 3: Discuss and agree outcomes with staff

Ensure your staff know what you want of them, how they will achieve this and how the outcomes will be decided or checked. This way staff can have the confidence to carry on with the work without endless corrections by you, but you do build in a way so you can correct if you feel you have to.


Tip 4: Monitor rather than intervene

Ensure you and your staff know how you will ensure the tasks get done. Good monitoring on your part lets you regularly check on progress. This could be achieved by staff creating short progress reports for you, or by you checking on task outcomes achieved, such as actual increase in sales levels for example, rather than surprise interventions.


Tip 5: Learn to let go

Most of us find this part difficult, but once you've delegated tasks to others and you are able to effectively monitor work progress, then learn to leave people to it. Sometimes you may find that others carry out work in a different way to how you would do it, but provided the results are achieved, then you may be happy with this.


Tip 6: Praise and coach

Delegation is all about people management, so be sure to praise when tasks are completed on time, and where necessary coach to provide guidance. Research shows that if you intend to criticise as well as praise, then package three praise comments for each critical comment. This way you can maintain good staff moral, whereas critical comments with little praise can have a negative effect.


Tip 7: Earn your respect

Of course knowing your subject and showing your staff this and understanding how their jobs are done goes a long way to ensuring you have the respect of your staff.


Tip 8: Review progress

When tasks are delegated you may want to agree a review method which allows you to check progress and if appropriate become involved in coaching or correcting actions as necessary. Some reviews may be written to record any corrective actions, and others could be verbal as appropriate. If you do this then everyone knows what to do next or who needs to carry out any corrective action.


Tip 9: Remember it's a team game

Delegation is all about team work, with the work load spread fairly between relevant staff. You'll need to be aware of the effects of this in reality, perhaps by feedback from staff. It's also usually important for staff to do what other staff are doing if appropriate to help foster the team atmosphere.


Tip 10: Consider using a Software Application to assist.

There are many software applications which let you create tasks and then assign them to individuals, for example Microsoft Outlook. But don't forget the human touch as well.

To learn more about delegation in the workplace, consider attending a training course and really boost your delegation skills.