Why You Should Delegate [PDF]

Why You Should Delegate The introduction to this training module is a great example of why a team leader should delegate. Only when the leader of the LL2 began to delegate did the team reach success. This section discusses the benefits of delegation for you, and your team members. (We acknowledge that while there were numerous barriers to delegation, the benefits far outweigh any perceived disadvantages.) By the end of this section, you should: Understand why delegation is an essential part of being a leader. Recognize the important benefits of delegation. Start to think of ways that you may delegate to your team.

Benefits For You The following three benefits are ones that are directed toward the team leader.

Save Time As a leader, you must take time to think about goals, not just activities. As the LL2 leader learned, she had to give herself no tasks so that she could spend time managing her team. Let your teammates pick up the routine tasks like scheduling meetings and calling speakers. It is unwise to spend your time doing tasks that your team members are capable of completing themselves.

Achieve More By not delegating, you place a heavy burden on yourself. Like the LL2 leader, eventually you may become so overwhelmed that your performance and your health suffer. Even though she had given herself all of the tasks, none of them were complete! Delegating routine work will relieve some of your stress and give you more time to do your job.

Increase Your Value Delegating can help enhance your credibility as a leader. By allowing your teammates new ways to show their responsibility, you get their respect and loyalty. Having extra time will allow you to look for more challenging tasks that can increase the value of the activities you are planning.

Benefits For Your Team Members The team leader is not the only one who sees the advantages of delegation. Your teammates will see the following three benefits for themselves.

Development When you delegate you will teach your team members new skills and give them the opportunity to develop themselves and achieve their goals. This makes them more versatile and a more important part of your team.

Self-esteem When you give a teammate a task, it shows that you have trust and confidence in them. Having interesting and challenging work feels good, and being trusted to complete the job raises self-esteem. Having strong self-esteem can motivate your teammates to accomplish everyone’s goals.

Job Enhancement Having interesting jobs or tasks in a team makes the work more enjoyable. When you give your teammates more responsibility and authority, they will begin to use their own initiative and their imagination. This can lead to new ideas and solutions to problems that you may not have recognized, and like the senior retreat committee, your team will feel appreciated.

Benefits For Your Team Delegating will provide the following six benefits for your team.

1. Efficiency Delegating tasks to your team members ensures that all of the tasks are completed. Like the LL2 leader, you won’t be able to finish everything by yourself. If you as a team leader do tasks that could be accomplished by your team members, you waste both your time and theirs.

2. Flexibility When you delegate tasks to your team, move the tasks around to different members. This will increase the skills of everyone and the flexibility of your team. This may prove important if one of your members falls ill and must be substituted with another.

3. Teamwork Delegating new tasks to team members allows them to build contacts with others whom they do not normally work. This can lead to greater teamwork and communication networking.

4. Balanced Workloads When you delegate effectively, you can make sure that everyone has an equal amount of work. The perceived fairness in spreading out the work will gain you respect from your team members.

5. Aid Communication An important part in delegation is making sure that your teammates understand why they need to accomplish their tasks. Explaining this need gives you the chance to relate the tasks to the goals of your organization. This will help your teammates understand your team’s objectives.

6. Retain Good Team Members Delegating tasks to team members keeps them interested and motivated, and can keep people from dropping out of your team. By demonstrating that your team uses everyone’s talents to the utmost, you will keep your team members happy. We have now covered the benefits that delegation gives to you, your teammates and your team. The following Key Points page will focus your attention on the most important aspects covered in this section so far. Next Section >>