The reason why businesses and teams exist is to do jobs that are too large, too complex or too challenging for any one individual to do on his or her own.
So why do so many managers still try to do everything themselves?
Assigning work to others is an integral part of getting things done efficiently, however many people feel uncomfortable with delegating.
Do you find yourself saying things like these to yourself?
"It’s just quicker to do it myself.”
"They won't do as good a job as I can."
"He won't want to do this job."
The next time you want to delegate a task, take a few minutes to plan who you will delegate to and how you will communicate your requirements.
We've been teaching this 9 step process to managers for many years now with great success.
1. STOP! Think before you act - "Should I be doing this task/job myself?"
2. Identify the right person - consider availability, competence, skills etc.
3. Plan before you delegate - standards, timelines, resources etc.
4. Decide on responsibility / authority / accountability.
5. Briefing and clarification - communicate clearly the 'why/what/how/when'.
6. Set progress reviews - monitor progress, deadline, standards.
7. Delegate in full - allow people to do the job.
8. Completion - evaluate the process, provide feedback, build goodwill.
9. Have a backup plan if job/project is significant - what to do if things go wrong.
We've been teaching time management for many, many years now, so if you'd like to have more in-depth training, we have a Time Management for Managers course that we run several times a year.
On this course you learn how to stay focused under pressure, improve productivity, reduce precious management time on ‘fire fighting’, analyse current work practices and generate options for managing your workload effectively.
See our short courses for more information.