How to Delegate - A Short Manual for the Big Dog

You’re the big boss, the owner of the company, but you’re still pulling much of the weight despite having very competent staff on your team! This could be occurring for a couple of reasons: 1. You are not comfortable letting other people tackle important tasks within your business, or 2. You don’t know how to delegate important jobs to your best staff. Either way, efficiency suffers when the distribution of effort is unbalanced. Here are a some tricks to get you assigning to-dos like a pro.

Don’t Doubt Your Team - One major mistake that employers make when delegating assignments to their team is getting overly involved in the process of completing the tasks. It’s called “micromanaging.” Not only is it a waste of your time as the boss, but it can also create the “too many cooks in the kitchen” effect and bog down efficiency. Try stepping back from the assignment and trust your well-trained team to do the heavy lifting on their own.

Set Goals For Each Delegation - If you are uncomfortable with delegating vital assignments to your team, then try setting a schedule for your team when you originally delegate the assignment. Give your team a chance to tackle the issues, but make yourself available to assist with problems if need be.

Establish a Chain of Command - Just like the organization within the military, a chain of command for your team can help with the delegation of tasks. Having a supervisor or manager around to make sure that tasks are getting done well and on time can take stress off of your plate. This person will need some authority amongst your team, so be prepared to let someone else handle problems before you involve yourself.

By following these simple tips you will be on your way to a more efficient and effective team. After all, why have employees if you are just going to tackle the to-dos all by yourself? Once you have established yourself as a delegator, you will find that you can focus on the more vital parts of running your business.