Delegation Can Benefit You and Your Workforce.

Delegation is an important but underutilized time management tool. Delegation can be used to train your colleagues, boost morale. In these trying times, delegation could benefit you by allowing you to prioritize your time on those tasks that are important to you and your work.

If you find that by the end of the day that you still haven't got through half of you to-do list, then delegation could be beneficial for you and your workforce.

Delegation benefits you because it allows you to free up the time for more important tasks. Delegation can benefit others because it can be a good training opportunity for colleagues.

While many managers praise the benefits of delegation, when it comes to their own workload the common response is "Yes BUT my case is different"

Many of the reasons that people choose not to delegate is because they a fear losing control, think they will look bad or become dispensable, or feel they are the only ones who can do the job.

Let's look at each of these reasons for not delegating and what we can do about it.

1. If I delegate I lose control of the task I am doing

One of the benefits of delegating is that it frees up your time to do more important tasks. Your fears are unfounded, especially if you can delegate properly and use it as a training opportunity.

By recognizing the benefits of delegating and acknowledging your fears, it can be easier to delegate.

By prioritizing your work across the resources available, and delegating in an effective way ensures that prioritized tasks match the skills and interests of your colleagues.

2. If I give work to somebody else to do I will become dispensable.

This is an irrational fear. By delegating you free up your time for more important tasks that match your skills and interests. Successful delegation prioritizes the work across you co-workers in a way that matches their skills and interests with the work that has to be done.

Delegation can free up your time and also empower others in their work - especially if delegation is done well.

3. I can't trust others to do it right.

Do you have a lack of confidence in your colleagues and co-workers? Are you a perfectionist?

If your answer is the former then you can build confidence in the people around you by delegating routine and clearly defined tasks. This is an opportunity to test the waters and treat this as a training opportunity for you and your staff. If your employees do it right then you can start to entrust your colleagues with other clearly defined tasks. This can free up your time but also empower your colleagues and coworkers.

If you can't trust others to do it right because you have a perfectionist streak, then learn to let go, or communicate your standards clearly to others.

4. My staff will dislike me if they receive extra work from me.

Part of effective delegation is to know your staff and their current workloads. If your staff are already overloaded then they will not appreciate extra work. However, if workloads are not extreme, entrusting your coworkers with extra responsibility, they right co-workers will be empowered by the extra trust.

5. I can do it quicker myself, and it takes too long to train somebody.

This argument is known as the 'false efficiency' argument. While it may take longer initially to spell out how to do the work, the coworker will become quicker the next time they do the job.
In addition, by training the people around you to do the task, you have created more time to do another job that is more important to you and your company.

By delegating effectively, you can use delegation as a training opportunity which can promote self-belief and confidence in your staff.

Summary

Here we have put some of your "Yes Buts" under the microscope, and it is clear that these "yes buts" are outweighed by the benefits of delegation.

Delegation is an effective time management toll that allows you and your organization to prioritize you work according to the skills and interests of your workforce. This means that you are using your resources effectively and empowering others to work effectively.