How To Delegate (& Why It’s So Important)

What Is Delegating? 

Delegating means giving someone else a task to do on your behalf. Often, you give the task to someone with less experience or authority. You’re trusting them to get the job done, even if they don’t do it exactly how you would. It’s the simplest, most effective way to share responsibility and lighten your own load. 

But this isn’t just a way to offload work. Delegation is a tool for your own growth. When you delegate, you give others a chance to learn and develop. And that means you are free to focus on the bigger picture that leadership requires. 

According to Stanford University, 35% of CEOs consider delegation their biggest area for personal development. That is a huge percentage of chief executives, so it’s worth considering why delegation is important, when you should delegate, and how you can do it well.

Why Is Delegating Important?

The benefits of delegating are huge. When you delegate, you give your team a chance to grow and learn new skills. As people take on new tasks, they build their abilities. As a direct result of this, your entire team becomes stronger and is more ready for future challenges.

Delegating also lets you focus on what’s most important. When you’re not spending your time handling low-importance, high-urgency issues, you have time to take on more strategic tasks. You can spend more time on planning and less time frittered away on routine work.

Delegation is a good way to show trust in your team as well. When you delegate, you show your team that you believe in their abilities and contributions. So they naturally become more confident, and morale improves as well.

When it comes to burnout, delegation is your best line of defense. Trying to do everything on your own is exhausting. Sharing the load keeps you and your team from getting overwhelmed.

When Should You Delegate Work?

The first sign that you should delegate is when a task doesn’t need your specific skills. If the task is routine, give it to someone who can handle it. This gives them a chance to learn and grow and gives you less busywork.

If you’re swamped and deadlines are tight, that is another good time to delegate. Give your team a chance to help lighten your load. That way, you use everyone’s time wisely, including your own. 

When a task doesn’t fit your core role, your first instinct should be to delegate if you can. Maybe someone else can do it better or faster. Delegating gives you a chance to focus on your strengths and where the organization needs you the most. 

Remember, the role of a leader isn’t to do all the work. It’s to make sure the work gets done. Delegation helps you lead more effectively.

Why Is Delegating So Hard?

Many people think it’s faster to do the job themselves. Training someone takes time and that’s a big reason why they don’t delegate.

But consider this—failure to delegate is like failing to save up for retirement. It makes things better in the short run but is dramatically worse in the long run.  

Leaders also tend to worry about the quality of work as well. This is entirely understandable, and it’s common to fear that no on else can do the job as well as they can. There is often a need for control that makes it hard to let go. 

But as a leader, your job is to use the company’s resources wisely. Training someone might take time now, but it can pay off much more later. When in doubt, consider this rule of thumb: if someone can do the job at least 70% as well as you can, it’s a good time to delegate. 

You can always check their work and provide feedback. Over time, they will get better. And you’ll have more time for bigger tasks. As you practice delegation, your team will improve their skills, you’ll be able to focus on what’s most likely to make the larger organization succeed, and everyone will be better off.

7 Steps to Effective Delegation

Even if you understand why it’s important to delegate and plan to do it, knowing where to start can still be tricky. To help you with that, I’ve put together a list of seven steps that you can follow to delegate effectively starting today.

1. Get to know your team

The first step with delegation is to understand each person’s strengths and weaknesses. You will want to make note of each individual’s skills, interests, and goals. This will help you match tasks to the right people.

People do their best work when they are playing to their strengths. When you know your team, you can use this information to delegate wisely. That will help you to build trust and improve results.

2. Find the right person for the task

Another major part of delegation is knowing what the task requires. Is it attention to detail or creativity? Maybe something else entirely? You will want to find someone who has those skills and then match the tasks to their strengths.

When the right person is on the job, it gets done faster and better. And they’ll feel more confident because they’re working in their wheelhouse.

3. Set clear expectations

According to a poll by Gallup conducted in May 2024, only 48% of employees strongly agree that they know what is expected of them at work. In a separate article, Gallup describes various factors that impact employee engagement. Clear expectations play an outsize role in overall engagement, and therefore, effective work output. 

You need to be specific about what you want. Explain clearly what “done” looks like. Make sure your staff knows when the work is due. Make it clear what they should do in order to get unstuck if they run into a roadblock.

When you lay everything out clearly like this, you prevent confusion and mistakes. That means not only will the task be completed better, but delegation will be even more effective at freeing up your time since you will have to intervene less.

4. Ask for questions and concerns

Be proactive about inviting questions. Ask your staff what they need help with and listen to their concerns. Being available for questions is a great start, but you need to take the first step and ask questions before so they don’t feel the need to track you down by email or for a meeting.

Make sure you give your staff the tools and the training they need to succeed as well. Not only will this make sure the task is done right, but it will build their confidence as well. Bear in mind that training plays a huge role in overall workplace engagement.

5. Check in for updates

Don’t wait until the end to see how a task is coming along. Check in for regular updates, or better yet, ask them to provide you with updates at strategic intervals, such as 50% and 80% of the way through task completion. 

When you do this, it will help you to catch problems early. It will also show that you are invested in their success and the overall successful completion of the task. Plus, getting regular updates can help alleviate some of the natural anxiety that comes along with delegation, especially when it’s new to you.

6. Provide feedback to identify areas for improvement

Giving feedback can feel scary. But staff appreciate being able to take your recommendations and improve upon their work. Be sure to not only point out areas for improvement, but also what has been done well.

The feedback process will give you a chance to help your staff learn from mistakes. Over time, they will get better at the tasks being delegated and their confidence will improve.

7. Praise a job well done

Don’t forget to celebrate success along the way. When you see good work, make sure you praise it. Telling individual members of your team that they have done a good job goes a long way.

It’s always a little nerve-wracking to turn in work to the boss. As a leader, you can do your part to help reduce their nerves with thoughtfully delivered praise. This is a great way of showing that you value their effort and it makes them want to do even better next time.

Conclusion

Delegating isn’t just about passing work off, though that is certainly important. When you want to build a strong team, delegation is one of the best ways you can do it. The more you delegate, the more capable your team becomes and the more time you have to make strategically sound decisions.

Letting go is tough. There is no getting around this. But it’s worthwhile to learn to delegate all the same. So if nothing else, start small and build up from there. Before too long, you’ll wonder why you did everything yourself!