Have you ever heard the saying “Many hands make lighter work”?
Well, that’s very true. I’ve seen it in my own business and in other businesses too. One of my clients Sabine who runs Sabine’s Basket realized when she let go of things, she was able to not only feel better but also grow her business by 400%.
I don’t know about you, but it’s impossible for me to get everything I need to in a day, all by myself, to succeed. In this post we’re going to look at why and how to delegate certain tasks and how it benefits you, your business and your team.
Why You Should Delegate – For YOU
As a leader, the success of the operation and the outcomes of goals should be foremost in your mind. If you devote all your time to managing a team, instead of pushing forward to reach those goals, reaching out to more customers your business cannot grow. Therefore, you need to learn how to delegate routine tasks so that you can:
- Achieve your goals
- Increase your credibility
- Retain good employees through work satisfaction
Delegating allows you to have more time to focus on business growth. If you don’t delegate tasks that they can easily take care of, you are wasting both your own time and that of your team members.
Why You Should Delegate – For Your Team
People have an innate desire to belong, achieve and self-actualize.
If you are wondering What is self-actualization?
Self-actualization allows us to reach our highest potential, which has a foundation in our values. You can help your team to reach self-actualization by appealing to their values. As a result, your whole team and each individual will benefit.
Delegating doesn’t only benefit you. Rest assured that your team will love you for it, too. Don’t make the mistake by thinking that people only want a salary from their job. According to Victor Frankl, Austrian psychologist logo-therapy, everyone is driven by purpose, so people want to be able to contribute and feel like they are part of the purpose of your business. If you let them, this is how your team will benefit:
Better Self-Esteem: When you delegate, you show team members that you trust them with a 
task and that you have confidence in their ability to perform it.
Job Satisfaction: A more interesting job will encourage them to use their imagination and initiative for the betterment of your team and business as a whole.
Skills Development: When you delegate, you teach your team new skills, which allows them to develop and achieve their goals. With improved skills, they are better able to contribute to the success of your team.
Improved Teamwork: By delegating new tasks to your team, you allow then to work with people they don’t usually work with. This is great, because they get to build relationships and this improves teamwork.
How to Delegate
Delegation is not just about getting rid of tasks that you don’t have time for. It’s also about helping your staff to develop their skills, problem solving abilities and grow as a team.
Here’s how to delegate:
1. Identify Gifts in Your Team Members
By understanding what drives each person in your team, you can appeal to their individual gifts to see who the best person is for each task. To them, it will be a compliment that you delegate to them. Delegate tasks fairly to ensure a good balance that will have the best outcome of each tasks and for team-building purposes.
2. Define & Communicate Tasks Clearly
Team members should be well-briefed on new tasks, to ensure they understand the purpose, their role, their responsibilities and the time-frames. If you want, you could draw up check lists or diagrams and outlines of a tasks. Be sure to let them know that you’re available for questions, in case they need assistance to finish the task successfully.
3. Manage Progress and Feedback
You will have to check on the progress of a project from time to time to ensure things are progressing on schedule. Positive and helpful feedback will ensure that team members maintain a good attitude. You may need to offer suggestions, additional resources or assistance, or help.
4. Understand Work-Style Differences
People have different learning styles and work styles. As a team-leader, it is critical for you to understand that each individual will have a different way of doing things. By allowing individuals to do things the way they are used to, they are more likely to take ownership for their efforts. Your focus should be on the end-result of the project, rather than the efforts taken to reach the outcome.
5. Appreciate & Incentivise
By rewarding a job well-done, you will build a good reputation amongst your employees. You can show your appreciation by means of bonuses, promotions, increases and stock options, time off, letters of recommendation or appreciation, special mentions and more.
If you are realizing that you would like to outsource some of your work, contact us info@transpiral.org and we can schedule a 30 min consultation to discuss how we can help you grow your business.
Delegation Take-Away
A good leader is one who knows how to delegate. Not only will you free up your own time to do more important things, but you can actually use delegation as a business growth tool. It may seem like more effort to galvanise your team to do something that will take you an hour to do, but spending 1 hour once-off to save you an hour a day, or even an hour a week adds up to a lot.
We’d love to hear from you. Do you have any good tips on how to delegate?
