Understanding Delegation

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Understanding Delegation

Published on March 29, 2024.

The ability to effectively delegate is a crucial skill for supervisors, potentially enhancing productivity and fostering team growth experiences. It goes beyond task assignment, involving a deliberate process of empowering individuals with specific responsibilities. Effective delegation requires time, commitment, and a well-thought-out approach. This month’s issue explores why you might be hesitant to delegate and delegation best practices.

The Why Behind Delegation

It’s common for supervisors, especially those new to the role, to struggle with delegation. Shifting from accomplishing tasks independently to driving their completion through others is a significant leap. It demands trust in your team's capabilities and a willingness to let go of personal achievement in favor of collective success.

It's a shift from being the expert to leading experts, a transition that requires you to express confidence in others and willingness to get outside of your comfort zone. Internal doubts about time (“I don’t have time to train them,” “I can do it faster myself”), the team’s commitment (“They don’t care about this as much as I do”) might unintentionally reinforce a belief that others cannot be trusted to deliver. However, clinging to tasks only stifles team initiative and compromises collective progress.

Despite potential concerns about work visibility, trust, time constraints, or workload, effective delegation offers significant benefits including:

Enhanced Supervisor Skills: Distributing work efficiently enables supervisors to focus on higher-level tasks while refining coaching and communication skills.
Employee Development: Delegation empowers individuals which often leads to greater job satisfaction, confidence, and skill development.
Departmental Success: Delegating tasks promotes employee engagement leading to higher motivation, innovation, and improved coordination between departments and teams.

Identify Task/Project: Identify Task/Project: Almost any task can be delegated, except for those specific to supervisory duties. Tasks that cannot be delegated include managerial responsibilities, tasks that breach confidentiality (personal or proprietary), or those requiring your unique expertise.
Identify the Team Member: Assess current performance, skills, motivation, and experience when matching the right team member for the project. One size does not fit all – recognizing unique skills and confidence among team members is essential. Some may need minimal guidance while others thrive with a bit more support.
Assess Timing: Evaluate whether it's the right time to delegate based on deadlines, flexibility, and the employee's capacity to successfully complete the assignment.
Communicate: Discuss project details, including objectives, success metrics, and alignment within the broader context when first approaching the employee.
Follow-Up: Answer questions, provide regular feedback, recognize success, and foster accountability. Avoid micromanagement, allowing room for mistakes as part of the learning process.

Mastering the art of delegation is not an overnight feat but a journey requiring time, commitment, and a thoughtful approach. As you navigate this process, remember that effective delegation goes beyond task distribution; it's about empowering individuals with authority and responsibility. By embracing delegation, you'll evolve into a supervisor who not only shares responsibilities but also empowers the team to expand their knowledge and build confidence and connection to the mission.

Leadership Insights Archive

Resources for Supervisors

This Quick Guide to Delegation describes questions you should consider at every step of a successful handoff.
Listen or watch the Delegate to Achieve and Empower Webinar to learn more about how to effectively delegate at the University. You can find answers to common questions about delegating in the Q&A portion of the webinar.
Delegating a task is an opportunity to learn and grow. Use the Quick Guide to Feedback and Quick Guide to Coaching to learn more about supporting employees in their development.
Leadership Insights: Do yourself a favor and delegate.
The Driving Results through Others Self-Paced Course will help you identify and focus on your team's highest impact results by developing an achievement plan using influence, delegation, and resource analysis. This course is part of the Supervisory Development Foundations certificate.