Why you need to get better at delegating – and how to do it

It takes a great deal of hard work to reach the top and even more to stay there, and delegation can often be the last thing on your mind.

However, studies have shown that CEOs who are good at delegating work to their staff actually generate 33% more revenue than those who aren’t. And managers are able to delegate 20% of their work without any negative impact on their own productivity, or the productivity of their team.

But, while the benefits may be clear, delegation doesn’t come naturally to all of us. So how can you get better at it? You need to start at the planning process, because that is when you can prioritise each task and ask yourself if it really needs to be you doing the work.

If it doesn’t need to be you, you can analyse the strengths of your team members to work out who is best suited to which task. (This can also be a good way to initiate a better training and development programme to upskill your team.)

Your own self-awareness is key to good delegation too, as something called ‘self-enhancement bias’ can come into play, where you value work that you’re involved with higher than the rest of the work.

Clearly this is something to avoid, so make sure you assess and rank each task carefully. With better delegation, you, your team and your business will all benefit. To help you get better at delegating, check out the tips in this infographic.

Photo by True Agency