Failing to delegate effectively can come from a fear of losing control. However, if you go about selecting the right team members and prepare them properly, delegation can benefit your organization twofold.
It not only takes tasks off your plate so you can focus on more pressing matters, it also empowers your employees and grows their leadership skills. Additionally, raising up new leaders allows you to work on the business rather than in it.
“Leaders run the risk of becoming the bottleneck for growth in an organization if they aren’t allowing their team to step up,” says Doug McDuff, president and co-owner of Landscape America. “And worse, all of the growth needs to funnel through the owner, which will likely lead to burnout and lack of focus on important areas of the business.”
What to Delegate
There are two types of work that are prime for you to delegate: time-consuming tasks that require a low skill level and duties that you have no personal skill in.
While more menial work is best left to an executive assistant, building up a team that can supplement your weak areas benefits your entire organization.
Set aside some time to consider what your time is worth and where you provide the best ROI. Write down all the things you do every day. Be honest with yourself on where you thrive versus what is better suited to being added to someone else’s responsibilities or developed into a new, full-time role.
“For the last five years, I was both owner and the director of our installation division, but we hired someone to take over that role and it has allowed me so much more time to work on the business versus in it,” says Mark Ables, president and CEO of Ables Landscapes, based in Hollywood, South Carolina.
On the flipside, there are some aspects of the business that should never be delegated, regardless of your company size. While you should involve your leadership team when it comes to vision and strategy setting, you need to have the final say.
Taylor Milliken, owner and president of Milosi, based in Hendersonville, Tennessee, says culture cannot be delegated and it is not your managers’ responsibility to keep it alive.
“If we have a bad culture, guess whose fault that is?” Milliken says. “It’s mine.”
Setting Employees Up for Success
To successfully delegate, you need to make sure you’re selecting the right individual for the role and ensure they have the necessary training.
For instance, if you want to pass your production management role on to a certain employee, they need to already have a firm understanding of scheduling and logistics so they can plan and adjust project timelines, labor, and equipment efficiently. If they don’t have these skills, you have to take the time to bring them up to speed on their understanding of operations.
Start with stretch assignments that are just beyond the employee’s current skill levels to promote growth.
Also, consider the employee’s ability to handle conflicts and give feedback. They may be great at executing the work, but if they are constantly causing friction with their coworkers, you may need to coach them on how to communicate better. Involve them in additional team meetings and provide them with a mentor who can help them learn how to handle real-world issues.
Time and priority management is another vital skill to train on before adding another responsibility to an employee’s workload. Failing to prepare a team member on balancing multiple challenges can result in burnout.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Once an employee is ready to take on the delegated task, make sure you are providing clear expectations as far as the outcome, timeline and scope. Offloading unwanted tasks without providing any guidance can lead to frustration and missed goals.
For them to be successful, make sure they are empowered to take ownership of their decisions. One rule of thumb you can give them is for them to ask themselves four questions: Is it good for the company? Is it good for the client? Is it ethical? Are you willing to be held accountable for it?
If they can answer yes to all four of those, then they should make the decision.
While you don’t want to micromanage, you should still hold your team members accountable and follow up on delegated tasks. Sometimes they can stall out, either on purpose or unintentionally, if not kept top of mind.
Also, consider the amount of time required when you delegate a task in relation to an employee’s current responsibilities. In some cases, it may be best to split the work between several staff members and at other times, the delegated work may call for the creation of an entirely new role to ensure it is executed well.
