Overcome These Common Delegation Challenges

Delegation is one of our 31 Leadership Competencies and an essential skill for effective leadership. It can be hard to learn which tasks to delegate to your team members and which ones to handle yourself, but you’ll be a more effective and efficient leader when your team’s workload is spread out.Here are some blog posts and articles I’ve read recently on common delegation challenges and how to overcome them. I think you’ll find them helpful.Why You Can’t Delegate — and How to Fix It. BBC: “Delegating is one of the more challenging aspects of leadership, and it actually gets harder to do the higher someone goes up the corporate ladder, said Laura Lunsford, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Arizona in the US. It’s a struggle for two reasons. Most people know that work needs to get done, but they can’t properly articulate what the end result should look like, so it’s just easier to do it themselves. Executives also have difficulty giving up control, especially if they’ll get blamed when something goes wrong, Lunsford said.”How to Delegate So Work Doesn’t Come Back to You. Fast Company: “It can be hard to calm your inner control freak, but the higher you climb the ladder, the more imperative it is to delegate work. It’s not always easy. Letting go can be difficult, says leadership coach Gail Angelo....’A study done in 2012 found that the average worker has 37 hours of unfinished work on their desk,’ says Angelo. ‘This creates a constant low-level stress of urgency around work. When most people delegate, they use “active delegating”—out of frustration, they pass the work to the person who is closest or has the least amount on their plate.’ Artful delegation, on the other hand, shifts the perspective from time to talent.Delegate Business Tasks to Become a More Efficient Leader. The Guardian: “Stephen Stott is the owner of London-based executive search firm Stott and May,which he launched in 2009, and has first-hand experience of delegation and how it can impact on business growth. He says: ‘Two years ago, when the business was growing fast, I knew that I had to take a step back to identify where the weaknesses were in my team. That was when I realised that someone other than me might be better at handling day-to-day business operations. It can be hard to let go, but I’ve learned that if you want your company to succeed, learning to trust others is the first step toward running a bigger and better business.’”Delegation: Six Steps. 123Signup: “Provide clear instruction: Articulate clear, observable and measurable objectives. The employee must understand exactly what outcome(s) you expect. The goal is to communicate the outcome, not how you expect them to do the job. This is a balancing act. You don’t want to micromanage; on the other hand, you want to provide them with enough input that sets them up for success. In determining how much information to give the employee beyond the objective(s), consider the employee’s experience with the specific task / job, the employee’s past performance related to taking initiative to figure things out, and their overall performance on previously delegated work. Also, communicate boundaries or constraints, if any, that the employee should abide by in carrying out the assignment.”The Real Reason You Can't Delegate -- It's Not You, And It's Not Them. Forbes: “If you are struggling with delegation – you want to delegate more, but it just isn’t working – this may be the reason. ‘Delegation skills’ are all about clarifying objectives and empowering people. If that doesn’t work, then you are told to look at the skills and motivation of the people you are delegating to. This people-based approach will do the job in some instances but when it doesn’t it leaves you with no option but micro-management. The way out of this dilemma is to look beyond the people to the processes they operate and the systems in which they work….If delegation isn’t working well for you, you could usefully stop blaming yourself, or the people you are trying to delegate to. Look instead at the process you are operating.”Need help teaching your company’s leaders delegation skills? Contact us; we’re happy to assist.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.