How Delegation Empowers Team Members

How delegation empowers team members. Learn how to harness the power of delegation and watch your business and employees flourish under your leadership.

So, why do you fear delegation so much?

Delegation is supposed to be a staple in your bag of tricks as a leader. And we’re not just rambling here, Harvard Business School experts say so—delegation is an essential leadership skill.

In theory, delegation is fairly simple. You hand over responsibility to someone else and let them do it for you. But beyond the surface, the art of delegation entails trusting and having confidence in your team members. This is a deliberate act of transferring authority to another person and letting them decide—now, that might sound scary.

When done right, delegation creates so many opportunities for productivity and growth. But at the heart of this business practice, there’s an important question to address: “How will you empower your team members through delegation?

The Power of Delegation

Delegation is not just passing a task to another person because you’re feeling lazy; it’s more than that. It’s about being smart about your work and exercising precision.

When you delegate, you’re getting rid of the tedious tasks that zap your energy and time. Now, you can finally focus on high-value activities and do the things that you enjoy.

Delegation-Phobic? Why Leaders Don’t Like Delegating

It’s a shame that there are still plenty of entrepreneurs who resist and frown upon delegation as if it’s a dirty word. Why?

Well, whatever your reason, running a business is about being efficient and working as a team. Trust us, you’ll get to your business destination faster if someone’s paddling the boat with you.

Here’s what business leaders think about when they hear delegation:

  • Ugh, it will take more time if I let someone else do it. Besides, I’ve been doing this task on my own forever. If I delegate, I have to pass along information and brief my team members, which will take much, much longer.
  • I’m not comfortable letting someone else do my work. I’m not used to it. It’s a challenge to put trust in another person to do a task you’ve been doing yourself, especially if it’s an important one.
  • I’m not sure if any of my team members are capable of completing this project. This task needs skills, for Pete’s sake!
  • I will lose control. Anyway, if it comes down to it, I can do this job better than anyone else.
  • If I delegate and let someone else carry the responsibility, my team members will think less of me. I will lose my authority.

How Does Delegation Lead to Empowerment? How Does Delegation Motivate Employees?

Delegation is important. You and your business won't only benefit from it, but your team members as well. Delegation opens up a lot of opportunities to empower everyone in the company. It is a winning move.

Provide More Opportunities

So, you say you’re a great leader. If so, then you should understand how important it is to provide opportunities for your workers so they can grow in their careers.

If you assign tasks to an employee that requires them to step outside their comfort zone, you’re giving them the chance to learn and harness their skills.

The same can be said if you ever delegate to an experienced individual; there’s always something to learn that can be manifested in different ways.

Depending on the person, you can also offer support to make sure that the process of development is not hampered by frustration.

Build Trust and Confidence

Delegating is learning to trust your employees. This means being open to ideas and embracing the fact that things aren’t always going to be your way.

Bear in mind that everyone works in different ways and has different levels of confidence. A system that might work for you might not work for the next person. And some people might have stronger bravado than others. That’s just how it is.

Delegation is not just delegating a task; it is also shifting authority. It is having faith in the skills of your team members and allowing them to shine. In that way, you’re not just getting more work done but also firing up their confidence to achieve more.

How Does Delegation Improve Teamwork?

Simple: when you assign a task to a group, they will have to depend on one another to accomplish whatever business goal you’ve set up for them. Throwing collective responsibility on your employees means forcing them to work together instead of pondering whose job it is.

You’d be surprised at how much your staff yearns for more responsibility. They want to work on something that truly matters and engage with other members and learn from them.

Here are some key principles to live by to master the art of delegation:

Change Your Mindset

So, you’re uneasy about giving up control. Buddy, you have to start changing that mindset. Instead of focusing on the ways delegation can take “control” away, imagine how much more productive you could be if you allowed others to carry some of your burden.

If you had more time and more energy, what other ventures could you take on and accomplish? When you look at delegation through this lens, you will see how valuable this tactic can be.

Understand Business Goals

Before you think about solutions, first you have to understand your needs and goals. If you were to delegate, in what specific areas would delegation have a profound impact? Is it in customer service? Social media management?

Effective Communication

You need to be transparent with your team members about expectations and desired results. Be clear about guidelines and deadlines and communicate them articulately. Make sure that every party understands the task, requirements and goals.

Find the Right Person

The success of delegation boils down to finding the right person for the job. Leave it to someone who has the necessary skills and experience to complete the tasks successfully. Scrutinize their interests, strengths and qualifications. The point is to match the roles they’re taking on to their actual abilities.

Offer Support

Yes, you’re letting go of control, but that doesn’t mean letting your team members fly without a parachute. Give them access to resources, training or information. Be generous and offer guidance throughout their journey so they can achieve success in whatever they’re doing.

Cultivate Trust

Trust is vital for effective delegation. Without trust, you won't just receive the support you so badly need; your team members might also respond negatively to you.

Delegate tasks with confidence and empower your team members. Give them freedom while keeping an open-door policy.

Monitor Progress

Sure, trust team members, but don’t forget to also monitor your delegated task’s progress. As a leader, you are still responsible for the entire trajectory of your project. Evaluate your delegation strategy and make adjustments when necessary, so you can achieve superior results.

Topic you might be interested in: How to Work Efficiently with a Virtual Assistant.

Perks of Effective Delegation

If learning how delegation can improve teamwork doesn’t move you to delegate, perhaps the following advantages of delegation might:

Better Productivity

Distributing the workload to the rest of the team gives you more focus to work on your business plan and strategies. This enormously increases efficiency, which translates to better productivity.

Team Environment

Delegation is a great avenue to strengthen teamwork and allow team players to work together as a cohesive unit and achieve shared goals.

Effective Time Management

You can optimize your time for more pressing responsibilities when you share your workload.

Employee Engagement

The great thing about delegation is that it shows pure confidence in your team’s abilities. You learn to trust them with high-value tasks and increase their engagement, which makes your employees more invested in their work. This results in higher job satisfaction and retention.

It's Time to Delegate with Virtual Assistants!

Delegation is an effective business strategy to empower not just yourself but your team members as well. With that, there’s no reason to fear delegation.

So long as you follow the key principles of effective delegation by heart, it can be a very powerful tool to develop talents within the company and cultivate a healthy work environment.

It doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with face-to-face teams or teleworking with global virtual teams; effective delegation is valid for both cases.

Even (especially) in dynamic environments such as remote teams, delegating tasks can progress smoothly. In fact, delegation is crucial for a remote working model to build trust and engagement and overcome physical distance.

If you dare to embrace the art of delegation with a VA, give us a click.

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