Assign work or tasks to your direct reports and not only does it free up time for you to focus on the big priorities but you're developing and instilling confidence in your team members at the same time.
Or so the logic goes. Yet whether it's a lack of confidence in others' abilities, a control freak or micro-manager mentality, the skill of delegation doesn't come naturally to everyone.
So what can you do improve? I asked +Jill Geisler, author of 'Work Happy – What Great Bosses Know', for her top three tips.
How to become a better delegator
1. Prioritise
“Ask yourself, ‘What are the most important things I do for this organization, that only I should do?’ This tells you what NOT to delegate so you can decide what duties to share with others”
2. Coach, don’t fix
“Coaches help others learn how to do the work or make good decisions. Fixers do the work and make decisions for them. You will never effectively delegate tasks or decisions if you fear others won’t perform as well as you”
3. Build trust – in all directions
“Delegation works best when your bosses trust that you do it wisely and your staff know that you trust them – and why. You build that trust through clearly defined roles, responsibilities, spans of control and feedback”
You can find out more Jill and her work at jillgeisler.com and her columns on the Poynter Institute’s website. Her iTunes U podcasts have been incredibly successful with over 12 million downloads to date. Jill can also be followed on Twitter @jillgeisler.
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