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To Delegate or Not: A Guide to Delegation

Besides relieving you of to-do items, delegation sends a powerful message to employees. What kind of work gets delegated to whom; to what degree is that delegation fully entrusted; what is the outcome and, if successful, what rewards await; and what baked-in values of the delegation are aligned with the company’s mission.

Knowing when to delegate a task or not can be crucial to efficiency with high-quality outcomes. Here’s where a visit to Xapa’s Xperience, “To Delegate or Not,” will help. You’ll gain the insights and build the skills you’ll need to make better delegation decisions.

Here are some ideas.

To Delegate or Not To Delegate

  1. Of course you should delegate tasks to free up valuable time, so you can focus on work that (you think) only you can do. Much more importantly, delegating empowers others with new skills to feel invested in their roles.
  2. Assess the task and the team to identify the best candidate for the job:
    • Who has the necessary skills?
    • Who needs to learn this responsibility?
    • Who has the time?
    • Who would invest themselves in the outcome?
  3. Avoid delegation when: It takes longer to explain the task than to do it yourself.
    • The job (you think) requires your personal touch, or must be done in a specific way.
    • You enjoy the task and it falls within your job responsibilities.
  4. Do delegate tasks that:
    • Are frequent, repetitive or teachable.
    • Don’t require direct supervision.
    • Have multiple ways to be completed.
    • Are outside your core responsibilities (even if you enjoy them).
  5. Don’t delegate tasks that are sensitive, personal, or inappropriate for others. These tasks require your direct oversight to ensure they are handled with the necessary care and confidentiality.
  6. Use the SMART criteria to delegate tasks:
    • Specific: Clearly defined and understood.
    • Measurable: With identifiable outcomes.
    • Appropriate: Suitable for the entrusted’s skill level.
    • Reachable: Achievable within the given timeframe.
    • Timebound: With a clear deadline.
  7. When you delegate a task, also delegate the authority needed to complete it. Inform your team that your delegate has the authority to make decisions related to the task.
  8. Establish a schedule for regular check-ins and updates. Ensure people know they can come to you with questions or to stay aligned. This ongoing support will help keep the task on track.
  9. If the delegation doesn’t go as planned, forget about blame or scolding. Instead, figure out where the breakdown occurred, call out what could be improved, and make necessary adjustments for future delegations. Like always, make any failure a learning opportunity for all.
  10. Give honest feedback to your delegate, even if it’s just gratitude for the smallest of tasks. In turn, keep a growth mindset as you listen their feedback, too. Thank them, and model the behavior you expect in others.

Experience it for Yourself

Effective delegation is about striking a balance between empowering your team and maintaining control over critical tasks. Complete the Xperience “To Delegate or Not” in the Xapa World mobile app to get a personal assessment, build your skills and practice delegation.

Empowering others with the personal growth inherent in delegation helps us all build a better and more joyful world, one person at a time. That’s Xapa’s mission. Send us your feedback! We want to hear your stories.