"No person will make a great business who wants to do it all themself or get all the credit." - Andrew Carnegie
We've all faced that mountain of tasks, convinced we're the only ones who can scale it properly. It's a common trap for driven professionals, but it's also a direct route to 80-hour weeks and missed family dinners.
The most effective leaders aren't the ones hunched over their desks at midnight; they're the ones who recognize when a task can be completed by someone else on their team, and then hand it over.
In this blog, we'll explore what does it mean to delegate, what tasks you should delegate and to whom so you can go from multitasking to doing focused work.
What is Delegation?
Delegation is the process of assigning tasks, responsibilities, and(or) authority from a manager or leader to a subordinate employee. It means entrusting someone else to do a part of your job or a specific task that you would normally handle yourself.
Imagine you're a marketing manager launching a new advertising campaign. Instead of handling everything yourself, you delegate tasks based on team members' expertise such as assigning graphic design to a talented designer, copywriting to a skilled writer, and media coordination to a PR specialist. You maintain overall project responsibility while leveraging your team's diverse expertise for more efficient and effective campaign execution.
What delegation is NOT:
- Micromanagement: Delegation doesn't mean assigning a task and then constantly checking in or dictating every step. It's about trusting your team to handle the work their way.
- Dumping unwanted work: Delegation isn't about offloading all the tasks you dislike onto others. It's a strategic process of assigning responsibilities based on skills and development needs.
- Letting go of responsibility: When you delegate, you're still accountable for the outcome. It doesn't mean washing your hands of a task entirely. You provide support and remain involved at a higher level.
Signs That You're Ready to Delegate
Don't wait until you're burnt out to start delegating. It's smarter to spot the signs early and take action. Here are five scenarios that tell you it's time to share the load:
1— You're constantly working overtime. Your days are getting longer, but your to-do list isn't getting shorter. You find yourself staying late at the office or bringing work home regularly. This is a clear sign that you have too much on your plate.
2— You're turning down new opportunities. Exciting projects or initiatives come up, but you have to pass because you're swamped with current work. You're missing chances to grow or innovate because you're buried in day-to-day tasks.
3— You're doing tasks below your skill level. You spend a significant amount of time on routine work that doesn't require your level of expertise. This prevents you from focusing on high-value tasks that align with your role and experience.
4— Your team seems underutilized. You notice your team members have the capacity for more work or seem unchallenged. They might be eager to take on new responsibilities, but you haven't had time to assign them more complex tasks.
5— You're becoming a bottleneck. Projects are delayed because they're waiting for your input or approval. Your team can't move forward on tasks because you're the only one with the authority or knowledge to make decisions.
A 4-Step Process to Delegate Effectively
A well-defined delegation process ensures that you're not just assigning tasks, but strategically distributing work in a way that benefits both the team and the organization. It helps you avoid common pitfalls, such as unclear expectations or inadequate follow-up, which can undermine the benefits of delegation.
Let's look at a step-by-step process on how to delegate effectively and get work done.
1—Identify Tasks Suitable For Delegation
Effective delegation strategically distributes tasks to optimize team performance and align with the company's vision. The Skill x Passion Matrix serves as a valuable tool in this process, pinpointing ideal tasks for delegation.
The Skill x Passion Matrix plots tasks on two axes:
- Skill level (from low to high) — How skilled are you at a task?
- Passion level (from low to high) — How much do you enjoy doing the task?
This creates four quadrants and helps you identify tasks for delegation.
Low Skill, Low Passion Tasks
These are your prime candidates for delegation.
These tasks don't energize you, and you're not particularly good at them. For example, if you're a marketing manager who struggles with data entry and finds it mind-numbing, this task should be at the top of your delegation list.
High Skill, Low Passion Tasks
These tasks can be tricky. You're good at them, but they drain your energy.
Consider delegating these to team members who might find them more engaging. For instance, if you're excellent at creating detailed project timelines but find it tedious, look for a team member who enjoys this type of structured work.
Low Skill, High Passion Tasks
While you enjoy these tasks, your lack of skill means you're not the best person to handle them. Instead of delegating entirely, consider partnering with someone more skilled to improve your abilities. If you're passionate about public speaking but lack experience, team up with a skilled presenter for your next pitch.
High Skill, High Passion Tasks
Keep these tasks for yourself.
These are the areas where you excel and find fulfillment. For example, if you're an engineer and love debugging code, continue doing that.
2—Choose The Right Person For Each Task
After you’ve decided on the tasks you want to delegate, you have to figure out who will take those responsibilities.
Start by assessing your team members' strengths and weaknesses. Look at their past performances and consider their current workload. Who has shown aptitude in similar tasks before?
Think about the task's complexity and importance. Match challenging tasks with more experienced team members, while using simpler tasks as opportunities for others to learn and grow. Consider the skills required for the task and who on your team possesses them or could develop them.
Factor in individual career goals. Delegating a task that aligns with someone's aspirations can boost their motivation and performance. Don't forget to consider personality traits too. Some tasks might require creativity, others attention to detail.
When delegating, it's important to consider not just what you're handing over, but how much control you're giving with it. There are two key aspects to think about: the task itself and the decision-making power that goes with it.
Delegating the task alone means you're asking someone to do the work, but they need to check in with you for decisions. It's like asking someone to cook dinner, but they have to ask you about each ingredient they use. Delegating both the task and the decision-making means you're trusting them to handle the whole job. They can make choices without running everything by you. It's more like asking someone to handle dinner entirely - they decide the menu, do the cooking, and serve it up.
Your choice between delegating tasks vs. delegating authority depends on a few things:
- How complex or critical is the task?
- How experienced is the person you're delegating to?
- What's your comfort level with letting go?
Sometimes the 'right' person isn't the most skilled, but the one who'll grow the most from the experience. It's about balancing immediate needs with long-term team development. Trust your instinct every once in a while. You know your team better than any matrix or checklist. The more you delegate, the better you'll get at matching people to tasks. It's a learning process for everyone involved.
3—Communicate Your Expectations
Once you've chosen your delegate, it's time to communicate what they need to do, and what output you expect from them. Here you can use the 5W1H method. It's a structured approach to sharing information to ensure that you cover all aspects of the task.
5Ws:
- Who: Identifies the people involved
- What: Describes the task or situation
- When: Specifies the timeframe
- Where: Indicates the location or context
- Why: Explains the reason or purpose
1H:
- How: Details the method or process
Suppose you're a team leader delegating a market research task. Here's how you can communicate it:
"I need you to conduct a market analysis for our new product [What]. This research is crucial as it will help us understand our competitive landscape and identify potential opportunities [Why]. You'll be collaborating with our data analyst on this task [Who]. I'll need the initial report by next Friday [When]. For your research, use our internal database and external market research tools [Where]. Please follow our standard market analysis template and ensure all data is properly sourced and cited [How]. This approach will give us a comprehensive view of where we stand and where we can go with our new product."
4—Follow-Up And Feedback
When a delegated task is completed, it's tempting to simply move on to the next item on your to-do list. However, by reviewing the completed work and providing feedback, you're essentially fine-tuning your delegation machine.
If the task was completed successfully, acknowledging this success reinforces good practices and motivates your team members to maintain high standards in future tasks. This positive reinforcement creates a virtuous cycle of productivity, where team members become increasingly capable and confident in handling delegated tasks.
On the other hand, if the results aren't quite what you expected, the follow-up provides a crucial opportunity for course correction.
By giving specific, helpful feedback, you're doing three important things:
- You're fixing the current task, making sure it meets the needed standards.
- You're teaching your team members how to handle similar tasks better in the future.
- Improving your delegation skills
You might be thinking, "Isn't this extra work for me? Wasn't the whole point of delegating to free up my time?"
You're right - in the short term, this does take some of your time and energy. But look at it as an investment. By dedicating time to follow-up and feedback now, you're developing your team member's capabilities. As they improve, they'll require less guidance on future tasks. This leads to increased productivity and efficiency in the long run.
The follow-up phase allows you also to refine your own delegation skills as well. By discussing the process with your team members, you might discover ways to improve your task descriptions, set clearer expectations, or provide more effective resources.
Productivity isn't just about getting things done – it's about getting the right things done in the most efficient way possible. The follow-up and feedback step in delegation ensures that you're continuously improving your processes, leading to higher-quality outputs with less effort over time.
Delegation in Sunsama
Effective delegation is a key part of productivity, and Sunsama is a powerful tool to help you in this process. By leveraging Sunsama, you can easily assign tasks to team members, track progress, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Let's explore how Sunsama can help you in delegation.
Build Your Task List
Start your day with Sunsama's daily planning ritual that guides you to build out your task list.
You will see a prompt to import certain calendar events into your task list. You can also configure your settings to automatically import calendar events for you. You may also add more tasks to your task list from your integrated tools (Trello, Notion, ClickUp, etc.), your backlog, or just add new tasks.
Tip: Set your "when do you plan your day" setting to morning time whenever you start working, so you'll automatically enter daily planning upon opening Sunsama every day.
Review Your Tasks
Arrange your tasks in the order you wish to work on them starting with the high-impact, low-effort ones. Identify tasks that can be delegated to team members. This helps you focus on high-priority tasks while distributing workload effectively.
Before delegating add notes, links, or attach files to each task to help your team get the full context of the task and avoid any back-and-forth.
Assign tasks to your teammates
Click “Add a task” at the top of your teammate’s task list to assign a new task directly to them. Alternatively, you can drag a task from your list into your teammate’s task list. This intuitive feature makes task delegation quick and straightforward.
Schedule Regular Check-ins
Set up a recurring task for yourself to check in regularly on the progress of delegated tasks. This ensures consistent follow-up and support without micromanaging.
By leveraging Sunsama you can streamline the delegation process, improve team collaboration, and maintain a clear overview of all tasks. This not only improves productivity but also helps in achieving a balanced workload across your team. Start your 14-day free trial of Sunsama today. No credit card is required.
