A towering stack of responsibilities lying on our desk isn’t always the most desirable thing to see during our time at the office. If you’re like me, you know that there’s something about our workspace being invaded by unfinished tasks, that just sets us off. Not very feng shui-friendly, to say the least. Delegating work could help us deal with this problem.
All the forms we need to fill out, the reports we have to deliver, and the files we’re supposed to back up should all be (at least) worked on by the time we clock out for the day, right? But how are we supposed to complete all of that on a single business day? We’re only human, after all, and we only have one pair of hands.
We already discussed how situations like those can affect our overall performance, and even our health. There’s only one too many things we can do before we end up burning ourselves out. To avoid that from happening, one of the strategies we recommend employing is delegating work amongst your teammates—if it applies, of course.
Nowadays, sticking to a “if you want something done right, better do it yourself” kind of mindset isn’t always the way to go. It sounds very self-absorbed, even. Yes, the Lone Wolf archetype was in style back in the day, but now, counting on a capable team that’ll have your back is a must. To join ours, you can click here.
Projects can be completed much faster with more than one person working on them, just like in school. The only difference is that now you won’t be forced into a team with that one group of kids that didn’t care a whole lot about their grades. You’ll be working alongside professionals.
Before we move further, we need to understand what delegation is. It is often defined as:
The assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities.
In simpler words, and from a management perspective, delegating is when a manager (or team leader) gives a different member of the staff the responsibility to complete an assigned duty, as described here.
Some people are still skeptical about how effective work delegation can be. They have a hard time letting go of responsibilities and would prefer to work on everything by themselves, but if done right, this strategy can propel your business forward. You will get twice as much work done, believe me. You’ll just have to learn to entrust others with important tasks, which is what this article is for.
To ensure that you’re delegating work the right way, we prepared the following advice:
Find The Perfect Match for The Job
I know this idea sounds like the overused premise of a dating app, but what I mean by this is: that every single member of a well-balanced team has their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Of course, you won’t designate public speaking tasks to that one shy guy from IT. You need to assign responsibilities according to the assignee’s skills.
Picture this: wouldn’t Sarah from Accounting be the perfect person to aid you in all your finance-related issues, or would you look for that help in Monica, our Community Manager who despite her incredible skills in social media, doesn’t know what a balance sheet is? Yes, that’s what I thought too. Sarah’s the one for this task.
Be Clear and Specific About What You Want
All the details about the task you want to be done should be said loud and clear way before we tell others to rush into it. In modern-day business, there’s no room for assumptions or mixed messages. If you don’t explain things properly, the odds are that you will have to re-do everything all over again.
If possible, try breaking the task down into a step-by-step process so others can have an easier time understanding it. Use direct language, and try not to go off-topic, as it can get very confusing. You only need to state what’s necessary.
Build Trust Inside Your Team
Once you’ve found a perfect match, and you confirm that all the instructions are crystal-clear, it’ll all be a matter of trusting that your team can get the work done.
Give others enough space to shine by themselves. They won’t always need you breathing down their necks and telling them exactly what to do.
Sit back, relax, and let things unfold. Anyhow, you should enable an open channel for communication in case your coworkers have questions. They’ll know where to find you.
Provide Feedback and Be Open To Suggestions
Things won’t always go as planned, that’s for sure, and it’s completely okay. You need to be empathetic and understand that people can sometimes make mistakes. For situations like these, have a plan B waiting on deck.
Still, depending on how severe the error was, proper actions should be taken. But if it was something as small as mixing two different folders up, make sure you don’t fret, and try not to focus on the negatives, but instead, use it as a learning lesson so similar mistakes won’t repeat themselves in the future.
Your team should also be aware that the communication is not one-sided, that way they’ll feel free to share their point of view, and maybe, even improve on some methods you didn’t have a lot of knowledge about. Two heads are better than one, aren’t they?
Now, the next time you enter your office, try identifying what kind of projects can be tackled by a group of people. Then, suit up, talk to your teammates, and start applying the advice we shared here.
You’ll see how unstoppable your whole team can be if the work delegation is done right.
To join our already skilled and capable team of Freelancers, you can leave your résumé here. We’ll contact you as soon as possible.
See more articles by Jenaro Perdomo.
