Delegation That Works for Everyone

In my 35 year career, I've never met a leader who did not complain about the amount of time required and their own general lack of effectiveness in delegating. While I always empathize with their perception, I also encourage leaders to take the time, master this important skill, develop structures and create extraordinary results through others. Everyone benefits when this occurs; your customers, your engaged and empowered team and your growing organization.

When you, as a leader, choose to perform tasks by yourself instead of delegating to the appropriate person, you actually rob your own people of their potential. How can they grow professionally and aspire to greater roles of responsibility and accountability if you do not give them opportunities to experiment, learn and develop?

Further, if you do not delegate you become mired in details. These details distract you from adopting a more strategic perspective that is required to be an effective leader of a growth oriented company.

The key to delivering extraordinary results through others is transparency. If you can take the time to become clear on your desired outcomes and expectations in advance, delegation can be exponentially more successful. Specific metrics must be transparent, easily understood and shared among the entire team. You must define in advance how success will be measured. This ensures that the results can be delivered on time and on budget. While the results will meet your expectations, the method to drive to those results may differ greatly from your own, proven approach. This is key to growth. We must be open to new ideas and approaches in order to continually refine our processes.

Once you have gained a level of transparency, you must now be clear in your communication. Clear, complete and authentic communication requires setting aside time to share ideas, address concerns and mitigate the risk of misunderstandings. It requires a focused time when you and your people brainstorm potential solutions. It requires a 'safe to say' atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable voicing their concerns and ideas.

This kind of kick-off conversation is the first structure required to ensure successful delegation in a transparent environment. Other requirements could be periodic check-in conversations. If someone is not on a path to success wouldn't you want to discover that sooner rather than later?

The key to successful delegation is to build in transparency at every phase of the process. The results will be a higher quality product, more engaged employees who take ownership, and satisfied customers who are willing to pay a premium for your services and products.

Stay in this important conversation with your people. Don't let yourself be distracted. Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, you are not yet at the end!