Delegation

How to do it successfully and overcome the barriers preventing it.

Successful delegation starts here…

1.   Write a list of all the tasks you do

•  Grab a cup of coffee and get comfy – this could take a while!

Set aside some time just for this purpose.  Get rid of any distractions.  If you’re going to do this properly you need to start as you mean to go on!

•  Home, work, or both

Go through your work diary for the last month or so, review the family calendar.  Write down absolutely everything you come across, even if you consider it a one-off.   

•  Big and small tasks

Ok, so I think you could probably miss off ‘making coffee’, but honestly nothing is too small to get on this list – if it’s something you do write it down.

 Done it?  Is it a long list?  Are you amazed by how much you actually do?

And I bet for many tasks the few words you’ve written down nowhere near represent the time commitment required to complete it! Perhaps you are starting to realise that delegating some of these might be a good idea?

Just one final thought before you move on – is there anything on the list that no longer adds value?  Double check those jobs you’ve been doing a while – are people using the information you send them, or is it just something they file away?  You might find you can release some valuable time before the delegation process even starts!

2.   Identify routine tasks

•  Anything you do regularly

Mark up daily, weekly, monthly tasks.  You can use different colours for each if you like!  At this point leave the quarterly or annual tasks – you can review those at a later date.

•  Anything that doesn’t vary greatly

Now check those where you pretty much do the same thing each time. Always download the same report? Always follow the same process? Generally goes without a hiccup? These are the ones to highlight.

•  Anything with a clear output

By this I mean any tangible result – clean dishes? Pre-determined dashboard or KPI? That sort of thing.

 So now you have a shorter list. If you don’t have a list, then perhaps it might be useful to skip straight to the ‘Barriers to Delegation’ section to check whether you are using some well-rehearsed excuses for not including tasks. This should be the point at which you realise there is potential to delegate and release some of your time.

3.   Can you make a system of it?

 Before we move on to actual delegation, now is a good time to review tasks to see if they could be more efficient.  To apply a system. 

Systems don’t have to be complicated, you probably already use many, you just don’t think of it that way.  For example, when getting your breakfast ready do you go to the cupboard and get everything you need in one go, or do you go to the cupboard and get the cereal, then go back later for the coffee, and then go back later for the jam?  They are both systems, but the former is more efficient than the latter!

•  Automate as much as possible

This might involve setting up a spreadsheet, you don’t necessarily have to do this yourself, you could delegate the setting up to someone else (ironic eh?).  Can existing systems be adapted to include information you need so you don’t have to collect it separately?

•  Ignore “it’s always been done this way”

Although there is comfort in having a process that works, its not a reason not to review it. There could have been several improvements elsewhere that weren’t around when the task was first completed.  Make sure you are utilising what’s now available.

 This stage could actually take a while, once you’ve identified tasks that need a system review make time to review them (or get a fresh pair of eyes to review them) and mark them down as considering for delegation later.  Don’t hold yourself up now by thinking you need to complete the review before moving onto step 4!

4.   All or part?

 Now you should have a smaller list of routine tasks that are already as efficient as possible.  It’s likely there are some big and some small.  Don’t kid yourself all, or most, of them can be delegated.

•  You can delegate part

If a task is ‘large’ i.e. made up of several sub-tasks, consider delegating it a bit at a time.  You might delegate the first part, or alternatively the most straightforward part, it doesn’t need to be in order. Look at your list and identify ones that can be delegated in one go, and ones that will be delegated in several parts.

•  Knowledge or governance may mean you can’t delegate the whole

There is possibly one excuse for not delegating a task, but even then I’d challenge you. 

It may be written into the governance of your organisation that someone at a particular level has to do a specific task.  If you’re the only one at that level, then it’s you.  If there are others at your level you may be able to delegate to a peer.  It may also be possible to delegate upwards (rare but not impossible). However, my main challenge is that you may still be able to delegate elements of the task, even if you can’t pass on the whole.

6.   Explain and agree

 Now you’ve identified an appropriate delegate…

•  Let them know why you’re delegating the task…

It’s important that the person you are handing the task to understands why you are passing in on – and that you’re not just dumping a job you don’t like!

Be honest, the minimal explanation is that you are very busy, and you’ve reviewed your tasks and this one looks like a good one to pass to someone else because it’s routine and efficient.  You might add that it would be good to have someone else carry it out to see if it could be improved.

•  …and why they are most suited

It’s perhaps more important to explain why you’ve chosen them.  Because they are good at x, you think they will be good at this.  Because they are known for x.  Because it’s something you think they will find challenging and beneficial to their progression.

•  And agree it’s now theirs

You need to get their agreement that once the delegation has been completed the task is their responsibility. It’s no use telling someone they now have to do a task. In either situation they will do the task, but by getting their agreement they will own it and take more care over the results.

8.   Appropriate support

 I’m assuming if you’ve got this far you genuinely want to delegate the task, and you want the person you’ve delegated it to to succeed. So you need to provide the appropriate support.

•  Don’t dump and leave

This is most likely to result in failure. When you first delegate, make sure the person has fully understood the task, its boundaries and what your expectations are. Check that they think they can do it!  Discuss what they think will be the best way for you to be involved. 

•  Don’t micromanage!

What’s the point of delegating? You may as well do it yourself, and that’s what we’re trying to change.  It suggests control issues, or that perhaps your selected delegate isn’t the right one for the job.  The person carrying out the task will quickly feel de-motivated and that you don’t really trust them to successfully carry out the task.

•  Agree check-in and monitoring

How are you going to be reassured that everything is going ok?  How are they going to feel supported, without the sense of you peering over their shoulder all the time? Regular catch ups? You’ll leave them to it, but be clear they can ask questions any time?  Do part and then get them to check-in with you? There are many options – whatever is decided should be agreed by both of you.

10.   …and repeat

 Congratulations you’ve just successfully delegated your first task – now let’s get cracking on the rest of the list!

•  Go to the next routine task on your list

Go back to step 5. Cross off the list the task you have just successfully delegated (nice little dopamine hit eh?)

•  Start the process all over again!

Select the next task for delegation.  Follow steps 5 though 9 again.  It will get easier as you delegate more.  Watch that ‘to-do’ list shrink.

•  Now you can spend more time on what’s most important to you!

With the time you’ve just released you can – do more of what’s important to you (or adds value), take the opportunity to learn something that will benefit you (and your organisation), or get a greater grip on your work/life balance!

 You might want to consider reviewing those tasks that didn’t make it passed step 2. 

Why didn’t you think they belonged on the delegation list?  Perhaps we have a bit of work to do to address some barriers to delegation that are still hanging around.

5.   Identify someone who could do it

 Now you have your list of routine, efficient tasks, and you understand if they can be wholly delegated or only part initially.  Next you need to identify the right person for the job.  Give this some proper consideration – don’t just hand it to the person you think has most time or is least likely to say ‘no’!

•  It could be a peer with capacity

It may sound strange delegating sideways, but it’s a thing I promise you.  Governance, or restricted access to specific information may restrict who can carry out a task.  It may be something that not all your peers get the opportunity to have a go at, delegating to them will give them a chance to try something new.

•  Is it a development opportunity?

Quite often the task is something that will give one of your team something to try that’s new and challenging.  We should always be on the look out for opportunities to develop our teams.

Consider the strengths of your team, who has the right attributes? Ask who might be interested.  Who would enjoy the challenge?

Just remember, not everyone is interested in developing themselves further. For many valid reasons, some members of the team may be entirely happy with what they are doing and don’t want to add something new/different to their workload.

•  Perhaps pay a professional to do it?

Your time has a value – is it really saving money to do it yourself?  Delegation options include paying someone else (most likely a professional) to do it for you. Gardening – love it? Great get on with it, it’s a good use of your time. Hate it? Three options

1) leave the garden, it’s a wild garden, you’re fine with it looking the way it does,

2) work in the garden, not enjoying yourself, wishing you were doing something more useful, or

3) get a professional in to look after it for you. Result, nice garden but you’ve spent time on what’s important to you.

7.   Boundaries and expectations

 You’re now well on your way to delegating your first task!

•  Be clear about what the task entails…and what it doesn’t

People need to understand what it is you want them to do, vague instructions can lead to them falling down ‘rabbit holes’ or going off at tangents. Ask questions as you outline what’s involved. Explain how the outputs are used, who gets to see them, do they contribute to a bigger process. It really helps to understand where a task fits into the wider operation of the organisation and why, although it may not seem so, it’s important to do it, and do it well.

•  Clarify what outcomes you expect

Be clear about the end result, including any deadlines.  Share previous outputs as illustrations.  If there’s a specific format explain the reasons for the format – if there aren’t any let them know that if they feel they can make changes to improve things then to go ahead and try.

•  Don’t direct the ‘how’

Ok, so some of what you delegate is going to be fairly procedural.  With some of your team, or some specific tasks, there may well be a ‘and this is how I’ve always done it’ element.  However, this should be a guide, not a direction. They may initially want to follow the previous process – but give them the freedom to amend this if they find a better way.  A fresh pair of eyes may see something you’ve missed!

9.   Feedback

 Maybe whilst they are completing the task, offering reassurance, or providing guidance if they get stuck. As a minimum however, it should be given once the task has been completed.

•  Once complete let them know how it went, what could be improved and what was great

Perhaps it all went swimmingly – great – let them know.  Discuss whether the same level of support is needed next time round. Perhaps it’s not gone 100% right, but, unless you got the support wrong and it’s gone completely pear shaped, there’s going to be some positive feedback.  Be clear about what went well, and what development you saw.  Ask them if there’s anything they think didn’t go so well, what would they do to improve next time. If in their opinion everything was great, but you have concerns, discuss the specific elements, explain what (and maybe how) you think it could be improved.

• If improvement’s needed, agree the best way to support them next time

You may need to review what level of support is appropriate, not for all but for part of a task when it’s done next time.  Agree this now, don’t wait until just before the task needs doing again. 

Only in extreme circumstances take the task back.  If there were lots of errors, check yourself first!  It doesn’t mean the person isn’t up to the job.  You might have established the wrong level of support, or perhaps the individual was a bit over optimistic about what they could do on their own first time around.  Work on how you can both work together better to make it more successful the second time.

If you take the task back, it will completely de-motivate and disempower the team member and may also cause discomfort across the team.   It will affect you, and your trust in yourself and your ability to delegate.  Allow people to make mistakes, acknowledge them, address them, and move on.

1.   Comfort Zone

•  It’s nice to have stuff we like doing – but it’s not an effective use of your time

Much of what you do isn’t routine.  Often having one-off, urgent tasks is stressful.  It’s comforting to have something regular, where perhaps you don’t need to put in quite so much effort.  What you’re actually doing is using up valuable time that could be better spent.  Allocating time to these comfort tasks, means less time for those other tasks therefore increasing stress. Are you using the ‘comfort’ task as a procrastination tool, to put off what you know you should really be working on?

•  Think about the alternative uses for the time you free up

Each bit of time you gain from delegating tasks gives you the opportunity to work on things that can’t be delegated, that you can add value to. If you’re feeling your work/life balance is out of kilter, this may help regain some control.

•  What is it that you enjoy that you could do more of instead?

If you’ve ever written a goals list, delegating may well give you more time to work towards these – who wouldn’t want to do that?

2.   Nobody Suitable

 I’ll challenge you a bit on this one.  Is it really the case, or do you have control/trust issues? It doesn’t say much about your team development skills to date, or your faith in their abilities if this is the situation.  Remember someone had to trust you to do it for the first time once.

• …yet!

You should be regularly appraising and investing in your team’s development.  If they appear to be lacking the skills needed for the task then work on addressing the situation.  Don’t continue to do the task yourself.

•  Review what skills are missing in the team/individual

What skills are needed for this specific task.  What’s stopping you from training up some or all of the team in these skills? You’ll be benefiting yourself, the individual and the team by increasing skill sets.

•  Develop individuals with passing on this task in mind

It’s good to develop people, but in this case you have a specific outcome in mind i.e. delegating a task. Concentrate your efforts on those who you think will be most suited to the task.

3.   No Time!

 And you’ll never free any up in the long term if you keep doing it yourself – you’ll stay just as busy and lacking in time in future as you are now.

•  Plan to hand it over, build it into your schedule

It might sound daft but put some time in your diary to do it.  If you’re forever telling yourself you’ll do it when you get some time you are much less likely to succeed in delegating the task. 

Even better, make an appointment with the person you intend to hand the task over to. This not only further commits you to it but gives them a heads up about what’s coming their way!

•  A bit at a time won’t require as much time as allz in one go

If it’s going to take quite a bit of explaining, or it’s going to be much easier for the other person, then pass the task on a bit at a time.  You’ll need a less time to explain and pass on part, than you would if you passed on the whole task.  Over a period of time you can pass it all over, releasing a bit more time for you with every step.

4.   They’re Busy Too

 You need to check this is the case. Nobody wants to look like they are twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do.  There’s usually plenty going on to fill time – but is their time used effectively?

•  Do an ‘activity’ audit

Ask them to draw up a list of tasks they do. Is everything still needed? If they are producing information for others – does it get used? Check for any ‘filler’ jobs

•  Can they make a system of any of their tasks?

Like you, they should see if any of their jobs could be done in a more efficiently.  Ask questions about why things are done a certain way.  Check there aren’t alternatives to manual processes.

•  Can they delegate any of their tasks?

You’re not the only one who can delegate!  What options do they have?  There may be opportunities to ‘merge’ tasks.  One or more members of your team might be doing the same task for different departments – could efficiencies be made by getting one team member to do the whole, or elements of the task for all departments?

5.   It Will Take Longer

 This should only be the case in the short term. Time invested in delegating now will reap rewards in the future.

•  Sure it will…to start with

Ok, let’s say a task takes you half an hour each month, total six hours a year – not a whole load of time.  To show someone how to do it, and support them, and give feedback is going to take you two hours!  I’m sure at some point someone had to invest their time to pass the task to you. You need to invest time to gain time, looking at the one-off time taken to pass on a task will always make it look less time efficient.

• Take the long view

Using the example above you’ll have an hour and a half less this month, but gain half an hour a month for the next eleven a net total time saved of four hours this year – might not seem worth it. But that’s four hours gained this year, six hours next year and every year after.  Six hours is almost a full working day!  And that’s just one…small…task.  Several small tasks like this will soon mount up. Imagine a weekly half hour job?  That would work out to about three working days a year…for ever!

•  They might find a more efficient way and it will actually get quicker!

Take the plunge – if you delegate it to someone else there is potential for them to spot a better way of doing it – which takes less time than it used to take you! 

6.   It’s Too Complicated

 More control/trust issues? Refer back to Barrier 2. Nobody Suitable, make sure it really is the case, and that there’s nothing you can do about it.

•  Break the task down

In the steps to successfully delegate, Step 4. demonstrates that it’s ok to delegate part of task.  Look at why you think it’s too complicated. Can it be broken down into a number of sub-tasks?

•  Delegate one element at a time

Pass them on one sub-task at a time.  Make sure you are both happy with how that’s going before adding any new elements.  It will give you both the confidence to carry on.

•  Build in more frequent ‘check-ins’

If it would help build in check-ins rather than waiting for them to raise any issues

•  Are you holding onto knowledge you should be sharing?

Is it only complicated because you know something they don’t?  You should be aiming to share as much knowledge with your team as possible, not just regarding this task, but all the time.  If they lack the knowledge share it, don’t hide it.

7.   It’s Too Important

 More control/trust issues? Refer back to Barrier 2. Nobody Suitable, make sure it really is the case, and that there’s nothing you can do about it. Why is it so important? Is it because of who receives it, is it because of the risks associated with getting it wrong?

•  If there’s no governance stating you have to do it, then it can be passed on

I’m sure you will be able to convey the importance of the task as you go through the process of delegating – although don’t go to the extreme of filling them with fear about the consequences!

•  You can build in a review before it goes anywhere

If you really think it’s that important (remember we’re talking routine tasks here) then you can build in a review, to make sure you are happy with the output before it goes anywhere.  You will still need to put some time into the task, but it should be less than if you did it all yourself.

•  First time round work on it together

You could further reassure yourself by doing it together the first time, and even potentially the second.  Just be careful not to undermine the other person by giving them the impression you don’t trust them.  Work out between you where there is a greater possibility for error and see if you can strengthen that element of the task.

8.   I Do it Best!

 When was the last time you checked? Aren’t you making an assumption? Sounds like there are some control issues going on here. What is it about you that makes you the best?  Challenge the reasons why it’s not possible for someone else to do it as well as you (after some practice).  Are you being too perfect? Do you enjoy the recognition?

•  Are you sure?  Are you still doing it the way it’s always been done?

If you’ve been doing this task the same way for over 12 months then it could probably do with a review anyway. Is it ‘your baby’? Did you invest a lot of time and effort to make it work initially and you’re concerned someone else won’t treat it with the same importance? If it’s important, then refer back to #7. If you’re attached to it you need to let go, you’re passing it to someone you’re working with, you should be building in appropriate monitoring.  This will allow you to reassure yourself that it is still in safe hands.

•  What makes you so special?

What skills/knowledge do you have that means someone else couldn’t do it to your standard? As long as you are not being too perfect, you should be able to transfer your knowledge and skill over time so that the delegate can not only do it, but to the standard required.

•  Fresh eyes, fresh ideas

Although you think it’s the best it can be – do you really know that’s the case?  Passing the task to someone else means they will bring a fresh perspective and new ideas.  It might be difficult to accept, but by passing it on it might get even better, more efficient and effective.

9.   What if it Goes Wrong?

 You take the plunge, pass it on and something goes wrong – wouldn’t it be a whole load safer just to keep doing it yourself and avoid the potential for this to happen?

•  Risk assessment – financial, reputational etc.

What’s the real impact if it does go wrong?  Will it mean that the work will need repeating therefore wasting a bit of time, or is there a chance of real harm, financial loss or reputational damage to the organisation?  For most routine tasks I expect the impact is a minor impact on resources.  This shouldn’t be a reason not to delegate.  It’s human nature to make the occasional mistake, have you never made any?  If you plan properly you should be minimising the risk as you go through the delegation process.

•  Appropriate support/monitoring

Step 8 of the How to Delegate Successfully section discusses appropriate support.  If you’re genuinely concerned about the potential for errors, and their impact, build in checks and monitoring to reassure yourself, but be careful not to micromanage.

•  Psychological safety

If you’ve created an atmosphere of psychological safety i.e. your team believe they won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, then is anything worrying them about the task they will feel comfortable coming to you to discuss it.  This will vastly reduce the likelihood of anything going wrong. 

If there isn’t a feeling of psychological safety then it’s something you need to work on to introduce across the whole team, not just the individual you are delegating the task to.

10.   I’m on My Own!

 Think delegation is only for someone with a ‘team’. If you are on your own running a business it doesn’t mean you have to ‘do-it-yourself’ all the time.

•  Delegation can be paying someone else to do some of your tasks e.g. virtual assistant, bookkeeper etc.

It’s not cheating!  You didn’t go into business to do all the admin work, the marketing, the financials.  There are many small businesses out there who specialise in supporting sole traders to do all sorts of activities, you’ll be helping them out as well as yourself.

•  Your time has value, it’s false to think you are saving money by doing it all yourself!

If you’re working on the activities that support your business, but not on the business itself then there are lost opportunities to grow as a result.  Getting someone else to do that means you can concentrate on what adds value and quality.  It isn’t really saving money.

 Now you’ve got the steps to be able to delegate, and ways to deal with the doubts you might have about doing so.

 There are no more excuses – get delegating!