You have heard people speak of the importance of delegating work and responsibilities, but you still question its merit and value. You don’t know whether it is the right thing for you to do as you want to be in control and trust yourself the most (maybe even, only yourself?).
Let me begin by stating that trusting yourself is extremely important as long as you don’t become possessive and it doesn’t develop into a less than productive environment known as micromanaging. Also, in order to grow and expand one must be willing to delegate at some point, and this will happen to you as well. Sooner or later you will need to delegate some of your responsibilities and you shouldn’t run away from it, but rather you should embrace it.
Why one should delegate is fairly obvious (or so I hope), but here’s a brief list of very valid reasons.
WHY should I delegate?
- You CAN’T and shouldn’t even try to do everything yourself
- Demonstrate TRUST in your team; relinquish control and empower them
- FOCUS your time and efforts where they will produce the greatest value
- No one likes to be MICROMANAGED
- Everyone is of EQUAL value
On the other hand, even more importantly, it is essential to know how to delegate in order to ensure greatest value and contributions.
HOW should I delegate?
- Provide TRAINING
- Share clear PROCEDURES and specific task/project DETAILS
- Specify desired OUTCOME and communicate TIMELINE (DUE DATE)
- Be available for constant COMMUNICATION and FEEDBACK
- Everyone (yourself included) is ACCOUNTABLE for their work