If you lead a team, delegation may not come easy to you. You may be used to closing deals yourself or jumping in to write proposals. It feels easier and safer to just handle it on your own. While it can be hard to let go of some things, your team doesn’t grow if you don’t delegate.
How do you loosen your grip and still get great results? Writer Sarah Goff-Dupont has a few ideas. She contributed a post for Atlassian that covers how you can map tasks to people, get buy-in and let go of your impulse to micromanage. We share her guidance in this issue of PromoPro Daily.
Get input from your team when assigning tasks. Goff-Dupont recommends doing some capacity planning to get an idea of what your team can reasonably accomplish in a week. This will also help you get a feel for each team member’s capabilities. The more you cater to people’s preferences, the more engaged and productive they’ll be, Goff-Dupont says.
Set the context to instill a sense of ownership. Delegation is especially difficult if you don’t believe your team members care about the work as much as you do. To instill a sense of ownership, Goff-Dupont suggests building a shared understanding around 2 questions: “why this?” and “why you?” Start with why the task matters and then explain why you feel the assignee is the best fit for the task.
Focus on the ends, not the means. Once your team member is off and running, Goff-Dupont says it’s your job to get out of the way. Let your team member approach the work in their own way. She says it’s OK to define targets so they know what to aim for and set guardrails so they know what’s out of bounds. This can keep you from getting overly involved while still trusting that the work will get done.
Check in (just enough) and debrief afterward. You’re not micromanaging, but you still need to follow up. Goff-Dupont advises asking what’s going well and what’s challenging. Ask your team member if they’re still confident in their ability to deliver on time and if there’s anything you can do to smooth the path for them. She says the best managers ask these types of questions regularly, not just leading up to an annual review.
Remember to celebrate their good work. Maybe it’s a shout-out on Slack or a few kind words in the next team meeting. Whatever you decide, it can boost your staff members’ confidence. Give yourself a pat on the back, too, Goff-Dupont says. When you’re wired to do the work yourself, it’s an accomplishment to hand over the reins without micromanaging.
It can be tricky to let someone else take the reins, especially if the work reflects on you. But when you set clear expectations, give the right context and check in just enough, your team members may surprise you in the best way.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Sarah Goff-Dupont is a contributing writer for Atlassian. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including Harvard Business Review.
