#30 Delightful delegation!

Delegation isn’t just about getting tasks off your plate—it’s a powerful tool for empowering your team, fostering growth, and building trust. In this episode of Wise Women’s Workplace, we explore the art of effective delegation from a manager’s perspective.

Learn how to choose the right tasks to delegate, communicate expectations clearly, and provide the right balance of support and independence to your team members. Whether you’re a seasoned manager or new to leading a team, this episode will help you turn delegation into a win-win strategy for your career, your team, and your organization. Tune in to discover how great delegation leads to great leadership!

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Transcript

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Wise Women’s Workplace! I’m your host, Anita Belitz, and today we’re talking about a skill that is absolutely essential for everyone: delegation. Whether you’re the one delegating or you are the one being delegated to, delegation is a key factor to your work success. 

As a leader you have to delegate if you want to be able to actually manage - otherwise you won’t have enough time to do all of your work. And if you are a team member or subordinate - almost certainly someone is delegating work to you. 

And I get really excited about delegation from both individuals’ perspectives because delegation is a great way for both of you to evolve, become more independent, and strengthen your team.  

This episode is going to focus on delegation from the manager’s perspective. If you’re the team member or subordinate, still make sure to listen though. You are going to hear about delegation from the manager’s perspective and this can help you understand the art of delegation from your boss’s perspective and give you insight into where your boss is getting it right and where they maybe aren’t getting it so right… . And maybe I’ll do an episode on how to be a great delegatee - or the one being delegated to - if you all are interested to get those insights too. 

OK, so let’s get started! 

As a  leadership trainer, delegation is one of my favorite topics. I love teaching managers how to use delegation as a way to motivate their employees. Beyond just getting work done and making sure people understand what’s expected of them, delegation can be a fantastic way to teach people new skills, give them independence in their work, improve their self-confidence in their work and in their role, help them to uplevel their skills to move towards a promotion, keep the team motivated and it’s even a great way to improve team coherence. 

But most people shudder at the topic of delegation. And I do understand why!  When I am giving a training, I am shocked at how often I hear managers say that they delegate first and foremost the tasks that they don’t like to do. How lazy! This is totally unprofessional in my opinion. Delegation doesn’t exist so that you can unload things that you dont like to do! And it’s such a missed opportunity.

Deciding what to delegate is hugely important.  But most people think of delegation like a task list. What do I (or don’t I) have time for? What do I - or don’t I - like to do? What tasks keep me in contact with the people I like to work with? Who can handle some additional work? 

Some of that sounds valid and some of that not at all ! 

OK, managers are only human - and this means that if we aren’t deliberate with the way we go about things, then we will default to what’s easiest, what is the path of least resistance, and what’s comfortable. 

And some managers are really not cool because they keep all the best parts for themselves and don’t let anyone else in on it. This is especially true when there are externals or higher-ups involved, unfortunately. Like, maybe you like to be the gatekeeper when it comes to clients or other teams.Maybe you want to be seen as the powerhouse behind the successes. 

Or maybe you’re someone who is extremely serious about your work and you just truly feel like “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” 

And then we can think about who we’re delegating to: what can they do, what will you have to teach them to do, how much time will that take, what if they mess up? Or maybe you have team members who resist getting delegated to and it’s no fun to delegate to them. 

Or maybe you’ve had bad experiences in the past - you’ve delegated something to someone and the work didn’t get done. Or they didn’t do it the way you expected or wanted them to. Or they didn’t tell you about some issues or delays until it was too late for you to do something about it. 

I get it - delegation can be tricky. And I’ve had team members who thrived with delegation and others who have fought it tooth and nail every step of the way who made me feel like it was easier to just give it to someone else or do it myself rather than have to deal with that. But the truth is that that’s just the easy way out - and it really isn’t fair to the team, it doesn’t help you do your job the right way, it doesn’t help the person grow like they could and if you give up on your request when someone’s being difficult, you are reinforcing that bad behavior and you’re going to get more of it. 

So, let’s talk about some of the important aspects of delegation: 

First of all, let’s remember that delegation happens within a relationship between 2 people (and a team). And this means that we can’t ignore the personalities of the individuals. 

• As the manager, you have to be conscious of your leadership style as it relates to your personality. Some people are mentors and love to guide others,  some managers are naturally great at getting people to do things that they want them to do, some managers are very democratic and want to share responsibility and feel like we’re all on a team, and some are just happier being very directive and telling people exactly what to do and are ready to take responsibility for what that produces. 
• And then there’s the team member, and their personality. How much do they like to receive guidance - will they welcome feedback and see it as support or will they think you’re micromanaging? How detailed do you have to be? Are they autonomous or will they feel abandoned if you leave them to do it on their own? For some people you have to be explicit about how to do things and ask for very regular updates. Others you can tell them what you want as a result and let them run with it, with periodic check-ins or even when it’s done.  Some people need you to explain  everything and give all the details so that they see the bigger picture, and some will be happy doing what their told as long as they feel like they have consulted and included in the decision making process about how the task gets done. 
• And then their’s the combination of the two of you together. Personality-wise you may have to adjust how you handle delegation. You could delegate the same task to different team members in totally different ways depending on their personality and how you interact with them. And this may require effort from both of you so that everyone feels good about the delegation. 
• And then there is the question of how that happens in the context of the team as a whole. Making sure the delegation doesn’t create friction between team members because people will understand your delegation in different ways.  

Second of all, there is the way that you delegate. 

• You have to be clear about what you want, why the task is important, why you’re giving it to them, providing the details of the framework, what you expect in regards to timelines, and making sure that they really understand what’s expected of them. 
• You have to make sure that they feel your confidence in their capability to do the task and you must always make sure - no matter how independent someone is - that they know they can come to you for help without judgement. 
• And you have to make sure to check in with people. The reason I say delegate, don’t abdicate is because many managers feel like “Off my plate on to your’s” when they delegate, and that is certainly not the point. It’s so important to follow up with your delegations by checking in with them at the frequency that you agreed to in the moment that you delegated the task. 

And finally, there’s what to do when it isn’t working perfectly: 

• First of all, always thank the person for what they’ve done. Thanks are free and the person usually always appreciates it. Congratulate them if possible by focusing on what has gone well. 
• Ask them how you can support them in getting them to where they need to go. Ask for their proposed solutions - this gives them the chance to try to solve the problem on their own, makes them more responsible for their work, and allows them to own it a bit more. 
• And then go back over those points from the original delegation to make sure your on the same page.

If you can manage delegation the right way, your team will be enthusiastic, confident, and motivated as they learn to take on new challenges. If you don’t delegate well, your team may be confused, uncertain, unhappy, unmotivated and frustrated. And you are probably going to spend a lot of time problem solving. 

If you get it right, as the manager you can stop micro-managing and you can focus on the tasks that will really move the needle forward in your work. And your employees will feel motivated, challenged, and like they are moving forward in their career. This goes such a long way to help improve employee satisfaction - it’s really a win-win. And it’s actual ly a win-win-win because the company gets better results and better employee retention. 

So I hope you’ll see why I am so enthusiastic about delegation and why I think you should give it your time as a successful manager and leader of your team. 

This week, I encourage you to start small by delegating just one task using this approach and trusting your team member to get it right on their own. It might feel uncomfortable at first, but as you build trust and see your team succeed, you’ll find that delegation becomes a natural part of your leadership style and has so many positive outcomes.

As always, if you want a career and life that makes you happy, be mindful of what you’re doing and take deliberate actions every day. Don’t just survive—take steps to thrive! I look forward to speaking with you again soon. Until next time, may you be healthy, wealthy, and wise!