How to Successfully Delegate – At Work and Home

I have a friend who has a teenage son and she swears he has a form of learned helplessness. When she asks him to pack the dishwasher he complains that he can’t do it, doesn’t know how to fit in all the dishes. But my friend insists and he asks her a thousand questions about the task like: where do the knives go? What about the glasses? He asks so many questions that my friend knows it would be quicker to pack the dishwasher herself, but she perseveres with her son and has even asked him to take on other tasks. She knows that he has to learn about responsibility and doing his fair share. My friend should not have to do everything around the house as the mother, and the only way that her son will learn this is if she delegates tasks for him.

Who needs to learn to delegate?

All parents and managers in the workplace need to learn how to successfully delegate. Learning when and how to delegate means you are helping the people around you grow their skills and take on more responsibility. It is also reducing your workload. Effective delegation promotes team or family productivity. When you delegate work you are also telling the people around them that you have trust and confidence in them. Delegating is not bossing people around but trusting them and letting them get on with the work.

When to delegate?

When you’re deciding to delegate a task at home or in the office, first ask these questions:

• Do you have to be in charge of this, or can someone else do it?
• Does this require my attention?
• Will this work the delegated person develop their skills?
• Do I have the time to teach them how to do this?
• Do I expect this task to recur in the future?

These questions will guide you when to delegate. In the case of the dishwasher, the answer is definitely yes. The family dishwasher will need to be repacked in the future, and the teenagers need to know how to do it.

As an experiment, look at your to-do list or make one. Go through the list and find one task that you can remove from your list or give to someone else. Now feel the stress of having to do it, fall away. If you have two children, find two tasks on your list and give them one each.

Do not micromanage

But here is another important tip for parents and managers to learn: the most empowering form of delegation happens when you are able to give up most of your control over the task and let the person do it in their own way. That means you cannot micromanage. You might tell you teenager knives and forks usually go in the basket in the dishwasher, but after that, you have to let them arrange it themselves. They might find a new and more effective way of packing that dishwasher. If the dishes don’t wash properly because the machine was poorly packed you will need to explain this and then perhaps make some suggestion. But when it comes to carrying out the task, you need to stand back and let the person run the show.

Who is the right person for the job?

When delegating, it is important to choose the right person for the job. Consider the team or family members’ skills, willingness to learn, and their working styles and likes and dislikes. When possible, give people a chance to play to their strengths.

Inexperienced workers or family members may need more guidance and if you don’t have the time to teach them, it’s not fair to delegate to them.

You also have to consider how busy everyone is. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm someone by giving them too many responsibilities. Also, you can’t give one team or family member all the fun jobs and another all the dull jobs, even if they have particular strengths in some areas. You will need to be fair.

Explain why the work is necessary

It’s also vital to explain to staff and family members why the work is necessary and what you expect of them, and when it should be completed. If they know what you expect, they’ll be more likely to deliver. You may also need to be very clear about why you can’t be expected to always do it. Children are very good at taking their parents for granted and workers can also become overly reliant on a capable manager.

Sometimes people need a little guidance to see what they’re doing properly and when they can improve. Giving and receiving feedback is an essential part of delegation, but again, don’t micromanage and just expect them to do it your way. Some people suggest the sandwich approach to feedback – start with praise, add some directions for improvement and then sandwich the directions with praise.

Say thanks for a job well done!

Finally, the key to delegating at home and work is to be thankful of the efforts of others – when they do the job (even if they used an unconventional method) – say a heartfelt thank you, and be glad you are part of a team or family that works together. Saying thank you will motivate the person to help out again, and next time you might not even need to ask or delegate. The individual may take it upon them self to step up and pack the dishwasher!

Happy delegating and remember, you are not micromanaging, just delegating so you have more time to enjoy your life and your family.