Do you find it difficult to delegate?
Perhaps you are in a middle management position or have been promoted and are now managing the people who were previously your team-mates and peers?
You may feel like you are bossy or that you don’t know the job well enough yet to explain it to someone else?
You may feel you are the only person able to do the job or worry that you will lose control or power when you delegate a particular task?
Whatever the reason for not delegating the effects can be harmful to leaders and the team as a whole.
Not only can a lack of delegation lead to overwhelm and burn out in the person doing all of the work, it can also provide the fuel for the fire of low team morale.
Delegation is a skill that leaders need to learn
and if you reframe it as a positive experience
rather than as a way to knock off a few boring tasks from your to-do list
you may find you and the team actually enjoy it!
Let's consider delegation as a way to build and strengthen relationships in the team and empower everyone to do challenging, interesting and valuable work.
The work of Robert Heller in his book How to Delegate (1998) describes delegation as being critical for improving not only the efficiency of employees but also their motivation. If we think we can’t delegate because we are the only one who can do the job aren’t we being just a bit narcissistic and perhaps selfish?
In this context, delegation is an act of generosity, allowing people to share in the challenges and therefore victories of the organisation. A word of caution here, I’m not talking about suddenly moving to a Laissez-Faire style of leadership where people are provided with little guidance and support but rather an approach where both leaders and team members are Confident, Competent and Committed to sharing the workload.