Those who succeed in business understand how crucial the art of delegation is, but many aspiring entrepreneurs and struggling young professionals still haven’t grasped that they need to empower others if they themselves are to ever succeed. In the 21st century economy, delegation is going to grow to become even more important, rendering it a necessity that you master the art of delegation if you don’t want to get left behind.
Here’s how you can learn to delegate with ease, and what you need to know about how to empower others to succeed without giving away too much authority.
Delegation is all about respect
At its core, delegating responsibilities to somebody else is admitting that you trust them to some degree to get the job done. Whether it be trusting someone to walk your dog, or handle your finances. It’s imperative that you view the art of delegation as intrinsically linked with trust from the get-go if you’re ever to succeed. Great businesses are solid relationships alike are built on strong foundations of trust, so get any ideas that you can delegate to those you don’t know or trust out of your head. Untangling your hectic organizational hierarchy is no easy feat, however, and learning how to trust others itself can be a huge hurdle for many.
The first thing you should be doing is reading up on how to declutter your organization, which is likely inundated with absurd strategic decision making that’s bottled up due to a lack of delegation. If your corporate structure isn’t allowing you to delegate work to others, your company will be floundering right from day one. It’s also important to remember that your organization will grow over time, which will necessitate even more delegation further on down the line.
Learning to win over the trust of your workers is another task altogether. You can’t force someone to trust you; just because you have authority over them or more work experience doesn’t mean they’re going to kowtow to your every demand. Rather, you’ll need to be kind, professional, and inspiring in order to win the respect of your underlings that you hope to delegate more authority to. Read up on the proven ways to earn the trust of those working for you, and you’ll be on the right track towards delegating more effectively in no time.
Once you’ve earned the respect of your workers, you also need to figure out how to let go, de-stress, and permit yourself to feel confident in your decision to delegate. You must remember that you’re not the only one who can be trusted with important work, and that others need to be brought onboard if your business venture is ever to succeed. If you trained your team properly and have faith in their competence, you’ll have a much easier time of trusting them when you delegate a crucial task to someone else.
Understand it can’t be done overnight
Some managers and business owners still mistakenly believe that they can earn the trust of their workers and start delegating right off the back, a hopelessly wrong strategy that will crater any possibility you have of succeeding. When it comes to delegation, understand that it’s a marathon instead of a sprint and will take more than free PowerPoint templates to impress your employees. If you rush into things and delegate authority to someone who isn’t prepared, they’ll not only fail but also will turn you away from the concept of delegating important business decisions altogether. Don’t be afraid to take your time and wait for someone competent before beginning to delegate.
Once you’ve made the decision to delegate authority to someone else, you need to step back and let them work without interfering. There’s nothing worse for a junior employee who just got granted some new authority than to have their boss breathing over their shoulder as they exercise it for the first time. It goes without saying that you should step in if any abuse of power is detected, but for the most part you need to step back and allow your newly-authorized employee to get to work after you’ve delegated some new responsibility to them.
Take a few deep breaths and read up on how to avoid micromanaging if this is a particular irksome step for you. There
are a number of free Powerpoint templates that can help illustrate process delegation that may
be relevant to you. Many business owners hate giving up an inch of their own
territory, especially if they built their company from the ground up, and
subsequently micromanage every decision made by a junior employee even after
they’ve delegated new authority to them. This is a surefire way to handicap
your workers from the get-go and ensure that you’re constantly under a burden
of stress. Above all else, be prepared to walk away and trust in your decision
to delegate after you’ve made it. Keep these tips in mind and entrust your star
players with authority slowly but surely, and your business will soon be more
effective than ever before.