Intellectually you know that you can’t do everything.  You know that in order to get everything done you have to ask others to help, you have to delegate. 

Yet time and experience has told you that when you delegate you lose control and things go haywire.  Your solution then is to micromanage the process to ensure the outcome you want.

You know though that no one likes being micromanaged and while it seems that this would ensure quality, it doesn’t.  You’re left with thinking there is no solution…you have to do it all
yourself or accept subpar outcomes.

But that isn’t your only option.  You just have to get good at delegating.
Most people think that delegating is handing out tasks, setting deadlines, getting out of their way and crossing fingers that everything works out.  There is actually a lot more, if you want the outcome to be successful.

Delegation is planning and organization of time and talent, against
priorities.

You don’t delegate because you fear loss of control….

When I talk to leaders about delegating what I hear is “delegation means loss of control and the work won’t be high quality”.  They worry that the work won’t be done as well as if they handled it themselves, they will have to redo it once it’s complete since the end product won’t meet their standards or it will be late causing all sorts of potential problems. 

On top of this they have concerns about their own reputation when it’s not done well. 

It’s no wonder that you don’t delegate. 

Remember you can’t succeed if you hold onto everything.

There is no way you can do it all, even if you are well intentioned and incredibly talented at juggling many things. Something will inevitably not get done, you’ll miss a deadline yourself,

won’t be building your teams’ capabilities and will end up stressed out, overwhelmed and flat worn out.

Your job as a leader is to develop the potential of those you lead.  

You can’t do this if you are micromanaging or not delegating.  The message to them is “I don’t trust you” and you can’t have a high-performing team this way. 

If you don’t delegate you won’t know what others are capable of.  You’re stuck in a cycle of not having the talent you need (or you think that’s the issue), having to do it all, not helping others grow and develop, which means you have to do it all.  Stop the nonsense and remember you will never be able to scale, or move up in the organization if you don’t learn to delegate and stop micromanaging.

The problem is what and to whom you are delegating.

Be smart about what and to whom you delegate.  Delegating something because you don’t have time to handle it, or don’t want to is a recipe for problems. 

Before delegating ask yourself:

• Is this something someone else can do easily? 
• What is my motivation behind delegating?
• Does the task/project require a specific area of knowledge or expertise that only a few others have?
•  
• If it goes off track, or fails, what is the implication to the team, department and company?
• Does this require me to be involved with training, working closely with the individual or team or can I provide guidelines and define the expectations and feel comfortable they know
  what and how to do it?

If the task is simple, turn it over to someone else.  If it’s something that will be handled
regularly, find time to work with others to ensure they know what to do, and turn it over.  On the other hand if it’s complicated or failure is not an option, maybe right now isn’t a good time to let go. 

Consider how much time you have to be involved with the team whether it’s training, running interference or handling problems.  Their success often depends on your availability.

Communication is key to success.

Delegating isn’t giving instructions, even if they are crystal clear instructions, and walking away.  One of the reasons projects/tasks don’t meet your satisfaction is you haven’t built in
check points throughout the term of the assignment.

Knowing the team is struggling or a deadline is likely to be missed in enough time to take corrective action is imperative for success.  This only happens if you have scheduled and regular times you are touching base with the team on progress, and problems.

Good leaders know they have a responsibility to the team, and their company to provide leadership which includes keeping in touch with the team, instead of trying to deal with a problem at the 11th hour.

Next steps:  Delegating doesn’t mean losing control, but it does mean you have to invest time to make certain the outcome is what you want. 

Take our delegation quiz below. 

You’ll find out if you are a controller, gambler, quarterback or an avoider delegator and how your style is working for, and at times again