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  • 07 May 2015

    60 Second Guide to Delegation

    There are certain times of the year, e.g. summer, where employees are away from the business and the business must adapt around these absences to ensure productivity is not lost. Poor delegation, particularly at these times, can cause frustration for you and the individual(s) the task has been delegated to as well as confuse and demotivate them. 

    Delegation is an important skill that can save time and develop your people, below are some ideas on effective delegation that will develop your leadership skills as well as develop the skills of your team.

    • Analyse the task to ensure it is suitable to be delegated. There are those tasks that you won’t be able to delegate, however if you break it into parts there might be aspects of the task that you could delegate.
    • Select the individual(s) to delegate the task to. Select the individual(s) based on the knowledge, skills and attitude required of the person to complete the task, and explain why the task is being delegated and why delegated to them.
    • Define the required outcome. Ensure the individual(s) is clear on the required outcome and measurement of success of the task.
    • Discuss what individual(s) may need to complete the task, e.g. location, equipment, money.
    • Agree deadlines. When does the task need to be completed, is it is on-going when are the review periods? Allow for review time of the delegated task so the success can be measured. Have an open conversation about deadlines, the individual(s) you are delegating to might be stretched with other deadlines, work with them to ensure they can fit the task into their schedule and complete it to the best of their abilities by dedicated the required time and concentration to complete the task.
    • Support the individual(s). If you are delegating a task due to a holiday you will obviously be restricted with the amount of support you can give the individual(s). If this is the case build in extra time prior to your leave so it is not dumped on them in the last 30 minutes of business without them having the opportunity to ask relevant questions.
    • Provide feedback to the individual(s). Feedback is an important part of delegation so the individual(s) knows whether they have achieved their aims and completed the task effectively. If they haven’t completed the task effectively talk them through why they haven’t and what could be done to overcome this, this will develop the individual(s) skills.
    • Pass on credit for success. It is important that you share the success of the task with the individual(s); if they see you take credit for their hard work it can be very disheartening and demotivating.

Published by James Osborne May 7th 2015

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