Seven tips on how to delegate effectively
As a project professional, you may be used to feeling stretched. If you’re making every decision while also fielding a barrage of questions from an army of stakeholders, you’ll end up worrying about the big picture and every tiny detail all at the same time.
This is where delegation comes in. Now more than ever, project leaders shouldn’t be holding themselves responsible for total command and control. Delivery is becoming increasingly complex, with project professionals dispersed and the operating environment shifting all the time. Teams need to become more agile and resilient. If you monitor their progress too closely, you risk stifling their creativity and autonomy.
The upshot? Ceding control may in fact make your management stronger, as you gain the space you need to clearly see the risks and opportunities that lie ahead. Here are seven tips for masterful delegation…
1) Pick your battles
According to business psychologist Paul Hannam, there’s a significant psychological component to delegation, because we can only juggle so much before performance drops.
“Many of us struggle with cognitive load,” he says. “Leaders who don’t delegate are burning their most precious fuel on tasks that don’t need their expertise and experience. The smartest leaders protect their energy for decisions only they can make, and they delegate everything else.”
2) Get comfortable letting go
David Marquet was captain of the USS Santa Fe, a struggling nuclear submarine. He dramatically improved the vessel’s performance by empowering its crew to make decisions and take the initiative themselves.
“Leadership should mean giving control rather than taking control, and creating leaders rather than forging followers,” Marquet wrote in his classic leadership text, Turn the Ship Around.
Marquet shifted control to the lowest possible level and cultivated leadership skills across the organisation, and within a year the submarine went from being the worst-performing in its fleet to the best.
3) Focus on relationships
Gordon Mackay, Project Management Capability Lead at Sellafield, says: “Effective delegation isn’t secured by commanding and controlling through exercised authority. Rapport will emerge and collaboration will flourish when you establish mutual respect.”
Focus on open, two-way communication, trust your people and take time to explain why you’re giving them the task, what it requires and why it matters.
4) Reflect on your own achievements
Research from the University of California and George Washington University found that managers who felt powerful in their leadership roles were happy to delegate tasks. Those who felt insecure were less willing to hand over control. If you’re struggling to let go, taking time to reflect on your own achievements can help boost your own sense of self-worth as a project manager and make it more comfortable.
5) Empower people
If you want people to take responsibility themselves, you have to support, train and mentor them so they gain confidence in their autonomy. When they believe in their skill set, they will begin to see what they can achieve for themselves. Just make sure you give people all the necessary tools and resources to accomplish the task at hand. And remain close enough to give a second opinion on big decisions, praising people for a job well done.
6) Never take tasks back
If you find yourself completing jobs you’ve delegated to others, everyone loses. If they get stuck, it’s simply a chance to learn. Coach them through the process, and make sure they have everything they need to complete the task themselves.
7) Invite growth
Instead of dictating how a task should be completed, present the problem and allow people to bounce solutions around. This fosters ownership and encourages innovative thinking. This idea is modelled in the Hersey-Blanchard curve: the further along the curve a team moves, the more autonomous they become – and the more rewarding the work will be.
“The shift from micromanagement to strategic delegation fundamentally transforms compliance into ownership by activating core needs for autonomy, mastery and purpose,” says Hannam. “This is how your team grows – and how you do, too.”
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Dave Waller is a writer based in Cornwall. His work involves listening to people share stories of forging their own path and making a positive contribution to the world. And then crafitng it in a way that's fun to read. This could end up anywhere from the business pages of The Times to a stage at the Edinburgh Fringe.
He's also very interested in the blurring of lines between observing and participating – he keeps coming back to music, and its power to create space for people to learn and grow and not treat each other quite so badly.
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