Delegating Work

by Karla R.
(US)

I am struggling with delegating work, and not being swamped with so much that ends up affecting my personal life. Thank you for your wise words. -Karla

Imelda's Response

Delegating work can be a lot of work.

You have to talk nicely to your subordinate, you may have to coach him/her on how to do the work, you have to follow up to make sure they meet the deadline and the work is up to par.

Later, you also have to give him/her the recognition and due credit for doing a good job.

Not only that, when it's time to do his/her employee evaluation, you have to spell out what he/she did and how that contributed (or not) to the goals of the department and the company.

No wonder so many managers skip delegating and just do the work themselves.

Are you tempted to skip delegating the tasks and just get it over with? After all, you know you'll get the work done the right way and on time.

I beg you not to yield to that temptation. Instead, invest the time needed to delegate tasks as appropriate to your employees.

I use the word invest for a reason. If you take the time and effort needed to practice delegating work, you'll be rewarded with a nice return on your investment.

Delegating is hard work at first, but it gets easy with time, as you get to know how far you can rely on your employees, and they get to know what kind of work you expect them to do.

As time goes by, you'll be able to issue directives to your employees and know that they will be followed to the tee.

As you practice delegating, remember to do it wisely. You want to stretch the capabilities of your employees without breaking them.

Delegation is an art that can be mastered.

When you do it well you'll have with more free time to take on more challenging tasks - delegated to you by your boss!. Plus, your employees will be appreciative that you gave them the opportunity to grow under your direction.

When you do it poorly, you may end up overworked, or frustrated because your employees don't deliver. Your employees may end up resentful because they feel you're delegating too much (overloading them) or too little (distrusting them).

Sometimes the work is just plain too much, and everyone around is overworked. If that's the case, you'll have to take it up with your boss. But that's a whole different conversation. If you want to read more about asking your boss to do something, read the section Upward Communication.