3 Common Delegation Hurdles and How to Tackle Them Effectively

Delegation is a powerful tool for any business. It helps to spread the workload among staff members and can be a great development opportunity for workers hoping to progress to management positions. The willingness to delegate also tends to be a characteristic of good leadership. It shows not only that you recognize and respect the talents of your team but also that you know how to manage your workloads.

The high value of delegation doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy. Delegating well requires various considerations and there can be distinct hurdles standing in the way of good practices. By taking the time to understand these hurdles and adopt methods to address them, you can enhance how impactful delegation is for everyone involved.

Trust

Trust is an important factor in delegation. You, as a business leader, need to be able to trust that those you delegate tasks to have the skills and characteristics to perform. Similarly, delegated staff members need to be able to trust leaders to give them the space to perform those tasks with a certain amount of freedom and professional latitude. Unfortunately, this is something that is not always natural to all leaders.

Tackling this hurdle begins with some up-front work on your part. Make certain that it’s part of your management process to train your team members in skills that can make them appropriate professionals to delegate to. In addition, pay attention to the manner in which each member of your team conducts themselves in the workplace. Look out for characteristics that signal leadership potential, such as good organization, decision-making abilities, and communication. Knowing that these workers have sufficient skills and attributes can be a point of reassurance for you that they are capable delegates for tasks. This may engender a greater sense of trust.

From here, though, the key to overcoming the trust hurdle is simply learning to let go. If your staff have skills and a good attitude, trust them to perform. Avoid micromanaging them, as this is the opposite of a trusting relationship. Instead, allow them to complete the delegated tasks independently, then take the time to review the outcomes with them and make any recommendations or suggestions for the future. This communicates to your workers that you have confidence in them and are committed to empowering them to succeed.

Overloading

As a manager, delegation is a useful tool to shift some of the tasks you don’t have time for to other capable staff members. At the same time, it’s important to avoid a situation where you’re also simply passing on the pressure and substance of a huge workload. Unless you take the time to make delegated tasks manageable, there’s a risk of burning out your delegates. This is not only detrimental to their mental wellness but can also disrupt productivity in the business. 

Therefore, when delegating it’s vital to support your team members in adopting methods to reduce workloads and better manage their responsibilities. Some good approaches to this include:

• Delegation: Given that you’re already using delegation as a way to spread the workload, it’s important to pass the value of this onto your staff members. Encourage them to assess what aspects of the tasks you pass on to them are priorities and which they may not personally have time for. They can then assign less immediate aspects to their colleagues or work with others to ease the burden. This isn’t just great task management, but can also boost the sense of teamwork among the group.
• Automation: The rise of the digital landscape has made automated technology more accessible. You can provide your staff members with software platforms that handle repetitive aspects of their delegated tasks, freeing them up to focus on the most important elements. The types of tasks appropriate for automation might include data entry, social media post scheduling, and sending invoice reminders to clients, among others.

Communication is another important element in overcoming the hurdles of overloading in delegation. Some of your staff members may be hesitant to say you’ve given them too much to do, for fear that this might make them seem incapable. When delegating, make it clear to your staff that you’re there to support them and that their openness won’t negatively affect your confidence in them. By communicating transparently, you and your team can avoid the unnecessary overloading that leads to stress and disruption.

Clarity

A lack of sufficient clarity has caused the downfall of many delegations. While the leader delegating tasks may fully understand everything that is required of an activity, you should never assume that the delegate has the same understanding. This is particularly the case if they’re performing a task for the first time. The outcome can be confusion, poor performance, and a knock to worker confidence.

One useful tool for clarity in delegations is setting specific, measurable, agreed, realistic,  time-bound, ethical, and recorded (SMARTER) goals. This helps to reduce any ambiguity around what delegates are aiming to achieve with their delegated tasks or projects. These goals are also useful tools for reviewing the outcomes of tasks afterward.

Another point of clarity that can improve delegations surrounds the roles each person plays in the team. If employees don’t know who they can ask for information or help, or who to delegate certain types of tasks to, they can feel set adrift. 

Creating a team charter can be a useful way to provide clarity on the group’s goals and dynamics. Alongside identifying what the overall purpose and boundaries of the group are, a charter sets out the individual roles and responsibilities for each member. It also outlines the best communication methods for reaching each. Making this document available to everyone empowers the team to collaborate effectively with colleagues on delegated tasks and projects.

Conclusion

Delegation is an important way to involve more of your team in the processes that keep your company operational. By addressing hurdles related to trust, overloading, and clarity, you can start to set a good foundation for success. Remember, though, that there may be specific hurdles related to your team, company, or industry. Take the time to assess these and get to know their root causes. From here you can work with your team to devise the most effective solutions that boost the power of delegation to you, your colleagues, and your company.