You will outline what you see as acceptable results.

Of course, you are still responsible for the work you delegate. By delegating you are expressing your trust in the individual. So you must delegate with care, and watch for possible problems.

There are many reasons why you should delegate

Your team will become more efficient.

Your team will find their work more enjoyable.

You will improve the competence of your team members.

You will free up your own time, so you can concentrate on your important tasks.

You will develop your own skills as a manager.

Ultimately you develop a team that no longer needs you, leaving you free to do what you want to do (could be take more leisure time, could be to open a new branch or to franchise your business, or if you are an employee it is a sure route to promotion)

Do you work long hours? Take work home? Are your team members always coming to ask you what they should do? Are you overburdened with work?

Are you delegating properly?

Traps which might stop you delegating

Many people feel at home with the routine tasks which they may have dealt with throughout their working life. It is natural to feel less comfortable with moving on to planning and checking on the work of others.

Some people insist on doing tasks which they know they can do better than the rest of the team. However this prevents the rest of the team from developing these skills, and prevents them from doing the jobs they should be doing.

Is there doubt about the ability of team members to take responsibility for decisions on how to get tasks done?

Delegating

Look at every new task or project and ask whether there is any reason you should not delegate it.

Which team member has the lowest work load?

Which team member could benefit from this experience?

How have these individuals performed in the past?

Try to prevent a situation where team members take on tasks without you having delegated them. It will help to be clear from the outset on the extent of the task being  delegated.

What is the objective?

How much time you think the task should take.

What procedures you expect to be followed.

How do you propose to measure their performance?

How does this task fit in to the work of the team as a whole?

What decisions does the individual have the authority to make?

What resources (if any) are available? Could be money, materials, or the time of other team members.

How and when are they to report back?

Consider how you should convey the above information. An informal conversation? A written memo? A written job description? An amendment to their contract of employment?

Planning the delegation

Consider whether the task can easily be broken into stages. Could you delegate the stages one a time?

Is there a need for specific training?

Try to structure a reporting system which will warn you if the task is likely to be completed after a deadline or at a standard below that required.

Consider when it would be useful to review together with the team member their performance. Perhaps you want to do this a number of times during the task, or perhaps just at the end?

Managing the delegation

Be on the look out for warning signs from the individual you have delegated to. For example, a change in their behaviour, a worried or nervous manner, uncertainty when you talk to them about the task, an attempt to avoid discussing the issues.

Be prepared to relax control, for instance allowing longer between reports, as the team member gains experience and proves their ability.

Accept that the task does not need to be performed exactly as you would have done it yourself.

Ensure that team members’ who have performed well on delegated tasks, receive rewards.