Effective Delegation Skills Tips: How To Delegate

Work and Responsibilities

Source: Small Business Management

Derived from Latin, delegate means "to send from." When delegating you
are sending the work "from" you "to" someone else. Effective delegation
Skills will not only give you more time to work on your important
opportunities, but you will also help others on your team learn new skills.
Here are some tips that will hrlp you improve your delegation skills.
 Delegation helps people grow underneath you in an organization and thus
pushes you even higher in management. It provides you with more time, and
you will be able to take on higher priority projects.
 Delegate whole pieces or entire job pieces rather than simply tasks and
activities.
 Clearly define what outcome is needed, then let individuals use some creative
thinking of their own as to how to get to that outcome.
 Clearly define limits of authority that go with the delegated job. Can the
person hire other people to work with them? Are there spending constraints?
 Clear standards of performance will help the person know when he or she is
doing exactly what is expected.
 When on the receiving end of delegation, work to make your boss' job easier
and to get the boss promoted. This will enhance your promotability also.
 Assess routine activities in which you are involved. Can any of them be
eliminated or delegated?
 Never underestimate a person's potential. Delegate slightly more than you
think the person is capable of handling. Expect them to succeed, and you will
be pleasantly surprised more frequently than not.
 Expect completed staff work from the individuals reporting to you. That is,
they will come to you giving you alternatives and suggestions when a problem
exists rather than just saying "Boss, what should we do?"
 Do not avoid delegating something because you cannot give someone the
entire project. Let the person start with a bite size piece, then after learning
and doing that, they can accept larger pieces and larger areas of
responsibility.
 Agree on a monitoring or measurement procedure that will keep you informed
as to progress on this project because you are ultimately still responsible for
it and need to know that it is progressing as it should. In other words-If you
can't measure it don't delegate it.

To Effective Delegation Skills Top

 Keep your mind open to new ideas and ways of doing things. There just might
be a better way than the way something has previously been done.
 Delegation is not giving an assignment. You are asking the person to accept
responsibility for a project. They have the right to say no.
 Encourage your people to ask for parts of your job.
 Never take back a delegated item because you can do it better or faster. Help
the other person learn to do it better.
  Agree on the frequency of feedback meetings or reports between yourself and
the person to whom you are delegating. Good communication will assure
ongoing success.
 Delegation strengthens your position. It shows you are doing your job as a
manager-getting results with others. This makes you more promotable.
 Delegation is taking a risk that the other person might make a mistake, but
people learn from mistakes and will be able to do it right the next time. Think
back to a time a project was delegated to you and you messed it up. You also
learned a valuable lesson.
 Find out what the talents and interests of your people are and you will be able
to delegate more intelligently and effectively.
 A person will be more excited about doing a project when they came up with
the idea of how to do it, than if the boss tells them how to do it.
 Be sensitive to upward delegation by your staff. When they ask you for a
decision on their project, ask them to think about some alternatives which
you will then discuss with them. This way responsibility for action stays with
the staff member.
 Don't do an activity that someone else would be willing to do for you if you
would just ask them.
 "Push" responsibility down in a caring helpful way.
 Remember, you are not the only one that can accomplish an end result. Trust
others to be capable of achieving it.
 Break large jobs into manageable pieces and delegate pieces to those who
can do them more readily.
 Keep following up and following through until the entire project is done.
 Resist the urge to solve someone else's problem. They need to learn for
themselves. Give them suggestions and perhaps limits but let them take their
own action.

Decide To Delegate
Small Business Success Program: Business Success Lesson 3

By Susan Ward, About.com

Do you need to learn how to delegate? Do you continuously work long hours? Are you
perpetually tired? Do you find it hard to fit all the tasks you need to do into your day? Then it's
time to decide what to delegate.

Running a small business isn't a job; it's twelve jobs - or more. The typical sole proprietor who
doesn't delegate is her own manager, marketer, sales person, PR specialist, product or
services developer, fundraiser, bookkeeper, human resources department, receptionist,
secretary, and gofer. Some even serve as their own accountants and tax preparers.
And all of these jobs are in addition to what the small business person actually got into
business to do in the first place, whether it be designing Web pages, selling books, or creating
sportswear.

Shuck Some Hats And Delegate

No matter what stage of development your business is at, you don't have to wear all these
hats and perform all of these tasks yourself.

Learning how to delegate means learning how to hand some of the hats you now wear to
other people who will wear them in your place.

And handing off some of your many hats means that you will have more time and energy to
focus on what it is you do best and want to do most - which will translate into increased
success for your business.

The Fear Of Delegation

Don't let fear prevent you from delegating!

Some small business people are afraid to "let go" of a particular task and delegate it for what
they consider to be good reasons. "So-and-so won't do as good a job at ________ as I do." Or
"I'll waste too much time telling so-and-so how I want it done. It's easier to do it myself."

These are myths. People who make this kind of objection to delegating are really afraid of
losing control. It's important to realize that you don't lose control of a task just because
someone else is doing it. You still have the final say.

The Cost Of Delegating

"It will cost me money," is the most common excuse not to delegate. It may or may not.
Delegation will certainly cost you some time, because you'll have to research the best provider
for the task you seek to delegate.

Delegating someone else do a particular task for you may also cost you money. Some
business people get around this by getting family members to pitch in. Others favour using
people who are just starting out, as they often provide services for reduced rates. You may
even be able to barter an exchange of services with other business people.

Remember that cost is relative. For example, is your doing all your own bookkeeping
interfering with the time you would like to spend with your family? If your answer is "yes,"
then the cost of delegating is well worth it for you.

Tips For Successful Delegating

Set your fear of delegating aside. Just because some one else is doing it, doesn't mean that
the job won't be done just as well as you would do it. In fact, sometimes the job will be done
better, because that person is a specialist in that particular field.

Be creative when you delegate. Some jobs don't need to be filled by other people, or even
filled at all for a period of time. For instance, tasks such as promoting your Web site can be
performed by software. Tasks such as developing a new product may be put on hold for a
specified period of time while you regroup. Some services can be delivered part-time.

Look at your "whole life" when you're choosing tasks to delegate. Sometimes delegating tasks
in your personal life makes more sense economically or personally than delegating a particular
business task. For instance, it may be much more inexpensive for you to hire someone to
mind your children than hire someone to design a marketing plan.

Decide to Delegate: It's the Only Way to

Make a Disciple
Dr. Charles R. Phelps
Today's Christian Preacher Magazine
Many pastors struggle with stress and the lack of ministerial fulfillment. I would like to
suggest that making one decision can provide the cure for both of these diseases. You
must decide to delegate.

D.L. Moody said, “It’s better to get ten men to do the work than to do the work of ten
men!” Moody’s sage advice is filled with scriptural wisdom. Myron Rush makes this
point: “A person may be in a leadership position, but if he isn’t willing to delegate, he isn’t
a leader at all — he is a hired hand”*

The Bible is filled with detailed descriptions of delegation. Solomon mastered the fine art
of managing through men, and the kingdom was enlarged. The fourth chapter of I Kings
introduces us to those responsible for Solomon’s armies, meals, and taxes. Our Savior
was certainly willing to delegate. The first eighteen verses of Luke 10 record the sending
out of seventy itinerant preachers. After the Lord gave them detailed instructions, He
sent them to preach. Though these messengers were inexperienced and far less
capable than the Master, their ministry was blessed by God. Eventually these
messengers would “turn the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
Solomon and the Savior both knew something that we in ministry often forget. They
knew that disciples are made through delegation. They knew that delegation is godly
and that the failure to delegate is ungodly. They knew that when God created Adam He
placed Him in Eden “to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). God brought “every beast
of the field” and “the fowl of the air” before Adam “to see what he would call them”
(Genesis 2:19, 20). The Psalmist explicitly reveals God’s intent to delegate in Psalm
8:4–6, saying: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou
visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy
hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.”

Many in ministry need to hear the wise counsel of Jethro, who told his very capable son-
in-law Moses to “divide and conquer” or else be conquered by frustration (Exodus
18:18–23). Moses listened to his father-in-law and followed his advice. Soon seventy
men were recruited, trained, and commissioned. Moses discovered that “it is better to
get seventy men to do the job than to do the job of seventy men.”

Why do we not delegate?

1. We fail to plan.

Delegation requires foresight. Recruiting someone at the last minute is called “dumping,”
not delegating. Successful delegation will require successful communication, and such
communication will require time. In order to delegate, you will need to think ahead.

2. We are proud.

We think that no one else can do the job as well as we can. Our education, experience,
and aptitude can form walls between us and those whom God has called us to mentor.
We tend to think that since the person in the pew has never been a student in seminary,
he is unfit or unprepared. Have we forgotten that God was more able to name the
animals than Adam and that Christ was a far more powerful preacher than the seventy?
In order to delegate you must be humble.

3. We lack vision for growth.

Ministries are built by men who understand that pyramids are made tall by widening their
foundations. In order to widen the foundation of our ministries, we must decide to
delegate. Spectators become critics, but participants become partners. In order to
delegate, we must maintain a vision for growth.

What are the benefits of delegation?

1. We avoid burnout.

When Barnabas was overwhelmed with the growing needs of the ministry in Antioch, he
recruited a man of questionable qualifications by the name of Paul (Acts 11:19–25). The
decision Barnabas made spared both the minister and the ministry, bringing blessings
instead of blisters (Acts 11:26).

2. We develop leaders.

The best way to protect a church from the plague of inexperience is to solicit
involvement and thereby develop leaders. The Bible teaches us that every member
needs to be a minister (I Corinthians 12). Pastors are specifically commissioned to take
the treasures entrusted to them and pass them along to another generation (II Timothy
2:2). Pastors who provide people with the tools and the opportunity to minister will soon
find themselves sending forth disciples into the ministry. Where disciples are being
developed and deployed, the Spirit will always replenish the ministry with ready recruits.

3. We obey God.

Since everyone will appear individually “before the judgment seat of Christ” (II
Corinthians 5:10), it is important for each one to be involved in the work of Christ. People
who never run will never hear “Well done!” It is our Savior’s desire that “every man have
praise of God” (I Corinthians 4:5). Making sure that men and women involve themselves
in carrying cups of cold water in the name of the Lord is the duty of the disciple-making
minister.

4. We encourage members to pray and study.

When church members become servants and teachers, their knees bend and their
Bibles are opened. It is natural that involvement in ministry will prompt people to pray
and to study God’s Word.
5. We encourage creativity.

It is amazing to discover that involving two workers in a task will result in four different
ways to do it. Such creativity can be channeled to come up with one best solution and
will teach people to agree and work together (Amos 3:3).

Delegation should be an ongoing process. Make a list of the tasks that you need to
delegate. Write the name of someone who needs to be recruited. Write out a job
description and make an appointment with the person whom the Spirit placed upon your
heart. Each time you do this, you will be developing a disciple in God’s work. Follow this
prescription continually and you will feel the stress dissipate and find fulfillment in the
ministry.

Work Smarter, Not Harder: Delegate

Written by Al at 7P

image source: wagg66

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or
accomplishment … seeming to do is not doing.
- Thomas Edison

Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and the Dalai Lama. They are all from different worlds, but
what do each of them have in common? Other than being very influential, they all have
only 24 hours in a day. So do the rest of us.

In order to become more effective, sometimes putting in more time is not an option. One
of the ways of working smarter rather than harder is to rely on delegating.

No Person Is an Island
The notion of having one or more assistants seem to be only for the rich and powerful. In
The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferris popularized the notion of using assistants through
virtual assistants. These are people who typically are at remote locations and help with
small tasks such as making travel arrangements or formatting a Powerpoint presentation.

The key here is that delegating tasks is recommended, either because there are other
specialists who can do it better or simply because it buys us more time to do other
important things. This logic contradicts the notions of “pulling yourself up by your
bootstraps”, “success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”, and “if you want a job
done right, do it yourself.” Did Bill Gates program every line of code in Windows? He
may have been very capable of doing that, but he only had 24 hours in a day. So do the
rest of us.

If you’re like most people, you’re probably tapped out and don’t have the ability to add
another 2-3 hours of more work in your day. So if you want your success to grow,
delegating is not an option, but a necessity. You are likely doing some form of delegating
already, so the key is to actively use delegating as a strategy and to do it in a way that can
be consistent and sustainable.

A Guideline for Delegating

Sometimes people choose not to delegate because they had bad experiences in the past.
There is always the chance of things not working out when a task is delegated, but it’s
necessary if you want to scale your success. If you’ve been burned before by delegating,
make a conscientious effort in figuring out what approach works best for you. Here are
some guidelines to remember:

1. Have clear deliverables: Poor communication may be the biggest problem with
delegating tasks. Be explicit with the deliverables, and use SMART (Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) as a guideline for this.
2. Make sure there’s a good match with the delegated task: It’s no fun for anyone if you
delegate a task to someone where there isn’t a good fit.
3. Do not micromanage: Focus on the deliverables, not on how it gets there.
4. Let the person know the big picture: Sometimes there needs to be improvisation made
when something unexpected happens. It’ll work out if the person has a good idea of the
big picture.
5. Make yourself available: Did I mention that poor communication may be the biggest
problem? Be accessible in case of any questions or concerns.
6. Be consistent: Plan to use the person as a regular resource so that the learning curve is
smaller in the future.
7. Be supportive: Provide the person everything needed (time, tools, information) to
succeed.