Success is determined, in large measure, by what a leader is able to get other people to do. Properly transferring responsibility and authority to subordinates is an important skill for an effective leader. If you want to pick up a couple of hours of time every week, then you need to become proficient at delegating tasks.
Why bother to delegate? It takes time to delegate a task and “no one can do it as well as you can,” right? Sure, but if someone can do your task 80% as well as you can, then making the effort to delegate can have real value to you. Here’s an example.
Let’s say your time is worth $200/hour. But a task you are about to do can be done by someone that costs you $50/hour (including benefits and overhead.) If the job takes you one hour, then the 80% effective subordinate would need one and one quarter hours. Yes, it might take you 10 minutes to transfer the task to him/her, and another 15 minutes of intermittent supervision or review while the task is being performed. But you would net a savings of about half an hour at a cost of $50 to pay the employee offset by saving $100 of your time—a net of $50 the first time. But if it is a weekly task, over a 50 week year you would gain $2,500 of your time.
Delegating gets you free time to work on your business. It can add up to many days opened up in a year. The delegated tasks protect your company if you become ill. The time frees you to create growth for the business, execute an exit strategy, etc. And free time reduces your stress level.
Why don’t leaders delegate more often since it offers such great advantages? Sometimes they lack confidence in employees, do not want to take the risk, or actually enjoy some of the tasks they should delegate (especially if not delegating avoids facing up to other more unpleasant work. And leaders who are constantly seeking perfection avoid delegating. Others won’t delegate because it means change. Or the task may not be accepted by the employee. Some fear the employee will do the job better than they do, or are paranoid about sharing company systems or methods.
While effective delegating means shifting responsibility and authority to the employee, it also means that accountability now flows from the employee back to you. There are levels of authority that you can manage when you assign responsibility. At its most restrictive you may say, “Report facts back to me and I will make a decision on what is to be done.” More freedom might be given an employee with the words, “Advise me of your plan; proceed with the plan unless I tell you directly otherwise.” At the greatest level, transferring authority may be “Activate your plan to solve the problem and don’t bother to get back to me.”
But in every case subordinates should be accountable for their performance of delegated tasks. Performance should be evaluated based upon staying within authority boundaries and on the results achieved. This may mean holding regular update meetings with the employee and carefully listening to what you are told. You may also help create “to do” lists with the subordinate after an update meeting.
Successful delegation of responsibility means giving the employee guidelines and standards of performance, timeline schedules, the proper level of authority, and an incentive for performance. Employees need to understand why they are doing what they are doing, what results are expected, and how their responsibilities fit into the long term plan.
Your delegating may be ineffective if the selected employee lacks ability or incentive, fears risk taking, or fears punitive action for failure. And if you, the leader, are unclear about job duties or the specifics of task assignment, if you constantly criticize task results and techniques, or if you fail to set achievable goals, your delegation effort may not achieve the results you want.
Be specific. Identify the tasks you want to delegate, make a plan for the delegation process, and select the employee you want to empower with the responsibility and authority. Some tasks you may consider delegating are things you do not like to do, tasks that take more time and require less business acumen, activities that you think others can do better, and work that you are not good at.
Once you understand the “formula” for correctly delegating tasks, you will be successful at it and begin to enjoy the rewards. These include increased time to devote to your strategic responsibilities. This gives you time to develop successful business growth plans. It also improves the company culture by empowering employees and giving them greater job satisfaction. Finally, freeing up your time means more flexibility and personal time to enjoy life.
Like anything new or seemingly “risky,” start simple. At first, delegate something that has a good chance of success, accept the fact that “no one can do it as well as you,” and relax and enjoy the creative approaches and results your subordinates deliver. Then exercise your new delegating skill by regular practice. Set a target of freeing up at least an hour a day every day. Can you do it?
