This site displays advertisements and I may receive a small commission if you interact with them.

Delegating Without Dumping

Hi,

I’m Alix and today we’re diving into the next article for the New Manager Survival Guide: a series of articles written to provide support and hand holding as you step into a managerial role, providing ‘virtual mentor’ support…

So, as usual, grab a coffee and cake and let’s take a look at part four: Delegating Without Dumping…

Delegating without dumping…

Congratulations! You're a manager and you have responsibilities, deadlines, meetings, emails, and approximately seventeen people who all seem to need something from you at precisely the same moment.

When this happens, take a deep breath, it’s normal.

It’s also perfectly normal to decide that the only sensible solution is to do everything yourself - after all, nobody can do it quite like you can, can they?

Well, here's some news that might come as a shock to you: being a good manager doesn't mean doing everything yourself and delegation was invented exactly for that reason. What it does mean is that you’re responsible for making sure everything gets done, on time, overseeing it, while helping your team develop along the way.

Welcome to the wonderful and extremely useful world of delegation.

Delegation is not a four-letter word…

Some new managers struggle with delegation because they feel guilty asking other people to do things. If you’ve never acted as a supervisor, then this is possibly your first experience of being able to delegate and it can seem strange to be able to do so.

Others struggle because they're convinced nobody else will/can do the job properly.

And then there are those who discover delegation and immediately treat it like an Olympic sport, distributing tasks in every direction as fast as they can before disappearing behind a suspiciously large cup of coffee and a shut door.

Neither of the above actions is particularly helpful.

Delegation is about giving the most appropriate member of your team responsibility for a task, together with the authority, information and support they need to complete it successfully.

Dumping, on the other hand, is handing someone a problem, providing no guidance and hoping they somehow develop psychic abilities in order to do so.

This difference matters, to you, your team and your ability to meet your company’s deadlines and requirements.

Why managers need to delegate…

Imagine you're managing a small team of five people.

Being new to delegation, you insist on checking every document, answering every enquiry, making every decision and personally resolving every problem or challenge you’re handed.

Initially, you feel indispensable.

Unfortunately, you've also become a bottleneck.

Without effective delegation, your team can't progress without you, you're permanently exhausted, and your lunch break has become something of an urban legend. But effective delegation changes that.

It allows you to concentrate on your managerial responsibilities and the tasks only you should be handling, while giving your team opportunities to learn, take ownership of their work and develop confidence.

And here's something important: delegation isn't simply about reducing your workload. It's about increasing your team's capability.

Choose the right task — and the right person…

Not every task should be delegated.

Confidential personnel matters, sensitive disciplinary decisions and responsibilities that specifically require your authority or expertise generally need to remain with you.

However, routine activities, research, project coordination and tasks offering valuable development opportunities may be ideal to delegate.

So, before delegating, consider the following three things before handing out tasks:

Capability: Who has the necessary skills?

Capacity: Whether they have enough time to complete the task?

Development: Could this assignment help them learn something useful?

And don't automatically give every important task to your most experienced employee.

That's not delegation. That's slowly burying your most reliable colleague beneath a mountain of work while everyone else wonders why they never get interesting opportunities.

Being a good manager includes spreading responsibility fairly and thoughtfully.

Explain what success looks like…

One of the biggest delegation mistakes is assuming that because something is obvious to you, it's obvious to everyone else. I would imagine that you’ve been promoted because you have the knowledge to run the department, which in itself, implies that you know what is expected from each challenge and have the skills to make it happen.

Imagine saying: Can you sort out the customer complaints?

Your employee nods politely.

You walk away feeling wonderfully efficient.

Three days later, you discover they've organised the complaints alphabetically.

Technically, they did sort them out, unfortunately, that wasn't quite what you meant. You’d meant deal with and settle each.

So, when delegating, explain:

What needs to be achieved.

Why the task matters.

When it needs to be completed by.

What resources are available.

Which decisions they can make independently.

When they should come back to you for guidance.

When to report back for check-ins.

Clear expectations prevent confusion, frustration and the occasional alphabetically organised disaster.

Give responsibility, not just instructions…

And here's where delegation becomes interesting.

If you explain every tiny step, insist on approving every decision and constantly hover over someone's shoulder, you haven't really delegated. You've simply acquired an assistant while retaining all the responsibility and stress.

This is called micromanagement.

And nobody enjoys working with a manager who appears behind them every eleven minutes asking, "How's it going?"

Agree on the desired outcome, establish appropriate boundaries and then give the person room to work.

They may approach the task differently from you and that's perfectly acceptable.

Different doesn't automatically mean wrong.

Sometimes their approach might even be better.

Note: And try not to look too shocked if (when) this happens.

Support without taking over…

Delegating doesn't mean abandoning someone.

As the manager, you remain accountable for ensuring that the work is appropriately managed, even when you delegate another person responsible for completing it.

Arrange sensible, timely, check-ins, particularly for complicated tasks or less experienced employees.

Ask questions such as:

How are you getting on?

Is anything holding you up?

Do you need any additional information or support?

The meeting’s purpose is to remove obstacles, not inspect every keystroke.

And if someone makes a mistake, resist the temptation to snatch the task back immediately. Discuss what happened, identify what can be learned and help them correct it.

Unless the mistake creates a serious risk, a little room for learning can be far more valuable in the long term than perfection first time.

Recognise the work…

When someone completes a delegated task successfully, it’s important to acknowledge it.

A simple ‘Thank you, you handled that really well’ said directly to a team member can make a significant difference.

And being even more specific when possible is even better: ‘You managed that difficult customer professionally and found a practical solution’ is more meaningful than a distracted ‘Good job’ delivered while simultaneously answering three emails.

And please, whatever you do, don't present their achievement as entirely your own.

Your team will notice. They always do.

Final thoughts…

Great managers don't measure their success by how many tasks they personally complete.

They measure it by how effectively their team works, develops and achieves results.

Delegation requires trust, communication, patience and occasionally the ability to sit on your hands while someone does something differently from you. But the rewards are worth it.

Your team becomes more confident, your workload becomes more manageable, and you have time to concentrate on the things only you can do.

You might even manage to eat lunch.

And always remember: delegation is giving someone the opportunity to succeed. Dumping is giving them the opportunity to panic.

Choose wisely,