Don’t you just love micromanagers? You know the ones: They give you a task and then constantly look over your shoulder. These managers give you advice on what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. If you’re like most of us, you think to yourself, “Why don’t you just do it yourself?”
Are you sure you won’t become one of those people now that you’re a manager?
Most of us are terrified of delegating. Why?
“They won’t do it right.” … Translation: “They won’t do it like I would.”
“They don’t know how.” … Translation: “I think they’re stupid.”
“They won’t like me.” … Translation: “I want them to like me.”
“They’ll do it better than me.” … Translation: “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“It’ll take too long.” … Translation: “I think they’re incompetent.”
Do you want to do everything you were doing before you became a manager AND all the things you need to do as a manager? Do you really want to work harder and longer for the same salary? I didn’t think so.
You need to start delegating. Here’s how:
1. Identify the tasks others can do
You can’t delegate everything, but you can delegate a lot of things. Routine tasks are the easiest to delegate: Conducting research, compiling data, generating reports. These are the assembly-line tasks of the modern knowledge economy. Delegate them down.
2. Choose the right people
You have to know your employees and their strengths to feel comfortable delegating. Not everyone is a whiz at Excel — be discerning.
3. Start small
You’re not going to be successful turning over a huge project to others and saying, “This is due Friday. Good luck.” Identify the less-important tasks when you start. You will get used to delegating, and your team members will get used to you giving them tasks.
4. Give authority with responsibility
This is where most managers fail at delegating. When you make someone responsible for a task, they also need the resources (and related authority) to accomplish it. If you’re unable to grant that authority, it’s not the right task to delegate.
5. Don’t disappear
Especially when you’re starting, you need to schedule check-ins to monitor how things are going (and stick to the schedule). This allows you to course-correct before things get out-of-hand or way behind. It also helps alleviate everyone’s anxiety about failing at a task.
Here’s the truth about delegating: when you start, it WILL take more effort and time than doing it yourself. However, the long-term benefits are more than worth it.
Delegating means more time for you to develop into the leader you want to be and a more engaged, committed, and trusting team. As trust grows between you and your team, you become the manager everyone wants to work for.
So now you’ve got the right delegating tools — here, you do it.
