April 13th 2007
GTD, Work
3 comments
With delegating, the first and most important thing to bear in mind, is whether the task is appropriate for delegating in the first place. If, for instance, you can do it better and more quickly than other people, it may not be appropriate to hand it off to someone else, and vice-versa. However, if you need to manage your time better it is a viable option. Below is a guide to how to delegate effectively:
- Explain the tasks clearly and precisely. You are the one who knows exactly what the job involves, they don’t. It’s up to you to transfer that information thoroughly.
- Remember the basic rules of productivity: explain why you are doing it and what you want the outcome to be. Just because you are delegating the task to others does not mean that they don’t need to know these details as well.
- Likewise, timeframe the task. When you delegate, you don’t then want to worry about when you will hear progress reports or how quickly things are moving forward. It allows you to be aware of progress without constantly hovering around the project.
- Explain why you are giving the task to the persons involved, what they can get out of it and what their boundaries are. This way they are clear about what is expected of them as individuals/as a team.
- Give the people you delegate to the responsibility of the project. If you are telling people exactly what to do, micromanaging the project and not allowing for any initiative that is not delegating. Rather than seeing it as doing a project for someone else, it becomes personal to them with all the responsibilities and expectations that accompany it.
- Give recognition! The key is to be positive and when criticism is required be constructive with it. Let them know where things are going wrong and discuss together how it can be rectified (if you just tell them how to fix it you are no longer delegating, as mentioned in the previous point).
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