Everyone’s familiar with the Swiss Army knife, the multi-purpose tool used by lovers of the outdoors and boys - before they discover computers. Not just a knife but a screw driver, scissors, files enabling it to perform multiple tasks.

Just like delegation - a tool capable of performing more than one function: in the case of the knife, cutting; in the case of delegation, getting other people to do the things you need them to. Unfortunately many managers haven’t realised the full potential of delegation, some only use it to get others to do jobs they don’t have the time or inclination to do themselves.

So what are the various strengths of delegation?

1. Communicating your vision and aligning people to it
2. Mobilising the vision and making progress toward it
3. Motivating people by demonstrating trust and inclusion
4. Developing and stretching people, and clarifying development needs
5. Increasing your effectiveness by focusing on your strengths
6. Getting the job done to a better standard

Taking each of these in turn.

Much is written about the importance of vision in business success. A business in which the people and teams are aligned with the same stretching goal, where everyone is directing their energies toward that goal, will achieve a great deal more than one where they are pulling in different and contradictory directions due to a lack of clarity about where the business is heading.

Vision can be communicated through employee handbooks and newsletters, and in “State of the Nation” presentations by senior management. But unfortunately vision leaks out of people just like the water out of a rusty watering can, which means that not long after top management have declared their vision most people will hold onto, at best, a pretty sketchy and incomplete recall of the picture management tried to paint.

Consequently the vision message needs to be continually reinforced and re-communicated. The answer though is not to send out more newsletters or to organise more “State of the Nation” presentations but to build the reinforcement and re-communication into the daily fabric of the business. Therefore your delegation must be focussed on moving the business closer to the vision.

So think about what you choose to delegate and how it is linked to your vision of the business. Does the task you are delegating support and be consistent with the vision of the business?
If not, should you change your request to align it more closely with that vision?

When you come to explain the task or responsibility you wish to delegate, explain how it will move the business closer to the vision of the business: give it some importance! In aligning the task or responsibility to the vision you will reveal how it fits with the bigger picture, and this will almost certainly create a higher level of commitment and motivation toward performing the assignment to the standard you require.

It’s not enough to just tell people what your vision or goal is (however effectively you do it). Communication alone isn’t going to get your business closer to your vision. Taking action and getting others to follow suit is the only way your business is going to move from where it is to where you want it to be.

And what more simple way could there be of getting people to take action that moves the business than delegating tasks and responsibility?

You’re familiar I’m sure with the question “How do you eat an elephant”, and the answer: “In small bites”.

Making progress toward your vision (the elephant) is achieved in much the same way: countless hundreds of actions each of which move you and your business closer toward your goal. If I try to eat an elephant on my own it’s going to take a long time, and certainly a lot longer than if I enlist support and get twenty other people chomping away with me. You’ve got the picture I’m sure: the more people you can get working on achievement of your vision the quicker you’ll get there.

Start by breaking your vision down into themes e.g. marketing, sales, operations, finance – and then break down those themes into strategies – such as: increase productivity by 50% within 12 months – and those strategies into actions – for instance: meet with Bank to arrange borrowing.

Perhaps you’re not good at detailed planning - so find someone who is and work with them: explain your vision, and help them to convert it into an action plan.

The action plan doesn’t need to cover every aspect of everything that needs to be done to achieve your vision; it couldn’t. After all achieving a vision is always an incremental and evolutionary process. Plan at least as much as you need to get the ball rolling and create momentum and then keep planning as progress is made. Now that you’ve got a list of actions, decide who can work on them (making sure that your name is near the bottom of the list), carefully explain what it is you need, by when, ensure they understand, and agree how you’ll follow up to help them make progress. Et viola you have created progress! Simple isn’t it.

Do you recall working for a boss who didn’t appear to like or respect you and had a low opinion of your abilities? Can you recall how this made you feel? Did you feel more confident and competent when this person was around, and what actual affect did he/she have on your performance? A manager who is seen to hold onto relatively simple tasks and responsibilities will implicitly convey that they do not have faith in the abilities of their staff. This will not inspire people to put their heart and soul into their role or even to stay in your business.

Now let’s think about the alternative: a boss who trusts and respects you, who values your opinion and demonstrates great faith in your abilities. Again, how does working for this person made you feel? Did you achieve more working for the critic or the supporter? Which of the two enabled you to perform at your best? And finally which of the two should you emulate if you want your people to achieve and contribute more?

A manager who delegates important and difficult tasks and responsibilities will demonstrate they have faith in their staff and trust them to play a key role in the business. Consequently a manager like this is far more likely to be supported by a loyal team who are fully engaged in and striving to achieve the goals of the business.

Inclusive and trusting delegation can also build self-esteem in people as they successfully perform new, stretching and more difficult tasks or responsibilities and realise how much more they are capable of. Including your staff in the higher workings, decisions and strategy of your business, department, or team will increase motivation through involvement in more stimulating work and demonstrating that your staff are valued and trusted.

If people are not developed they become disillusioned as they have no prospect for betterment and enhancement of their abilities. They also become bored with performing the same increasing familiar tasks and responsibilities. A task that was originally novel, stretching and unfamiliar will over time and after much repetition loose its appeal – after all familiarity breeds contempt.

Giving people new tasks and responsibilities will extend and refine their skills and competencies meaning that you’ll have increasingly competent and capable employees working for you. If you are a manager, your long-term success is not measured by your cleverness and how much you personally do, but more by your ability to get the best from other people and develop teams that excel. As you delegate and stretch people the performance they deliver provides feedback allowing you to discover their strengths and their limitations. Consequently training and development plans can be constructed that will help people to expand into and fulfil their potential and maximise their contribution to your business.

 Would Alan Shearer be a football legend if he’d decided to be a goalie? What if Tiger Woods had decided on a career in international chess; would you have heard of him? Would Alan Sugar have become the household name if he’d become a social worker? Probably not!

When are you at your best? When you’re doing things that you’re naturally good at, have experience doing, and have developed polished skills? Or is it when you’re doing things that you struggle with, and don’t play to your strengths? The answer is so obvious that it’s a rhetorical question really.

But do you actually apply this common sense at work? Do you retain responsibility for some tasks that you’re just not very good at?

Probably.

Most of us do. For me, it’s doing my accounts. I make mistakes, it’s time consuming, and I don’t add value when I do it. But delegating it is complicated and seems like hard work. It feels easier to keep doing it than to properly delegate the task to someone else. There’s a trust issue here too: I’m nervous about trusting someone else to manage my accounts properly? Does any of this sound familiar? If not: well done / you’re kidding yourself (delete as appropriate). If it does, well done for being honest.

How much would your performance increase if you were able to spend most of your time working on tasks and responsibilities that play to your strengths? 100% or 200% perhaps? At least!

So do you play to your strengths all the time? Probably not, few are able to because of the constraints our roles place upon us. But do you know your strengths well enough to know what kind of tasks and responsibilities you have a natural talent for and those you don’t?

Start by writing a list of the things that you always seem to do well. Add to the list the situations in which you seem to perform well, and finally seek some relevant feedback from your trusted and honest colleagues.

Now take the opposite perspective and come up with a list of your limitations. Don’t overdo the limitations side though as we all have many more limitations than strengths – just focus on the ones that undermine your strengths and prevent you from performing at your best. Now whenever you have something to do, consider whether that task or responsibility plays to your strengths or depends upon your limitations. If it’s the former that’s good, if it’s the latter identify someone with strengths relevant to the task and delegate it.

If you are rushed and overloaded because you’re a poor delegator, how well will you perform the tasks and responsibilities that you hoard? Probably not very well, because you’re rushed and stressed.

However it’s unlikely that a poor delgator will be aware of this because of their myopia regarding the capabilities of their people. I once heard a speaker say “If you think that someone who works for you could do a job 50% as well as you can, then let them do it”. This, I think, is one of the wisest comments I have heard. Why 50%? Well a poor delegator usually underestimates the competency of their people. If you are generous with your praise and respect for the capability of your people then it’s likely that you are willing to delegate. However, if you mistakenly believe that you are far more capable than your people, this might in fact become a self-fulfilling prophecy – after all if you don’t develop your people through delegation it’s unlikely that they will become more and more competent and effective.

So there we have it; compelling reasons why you should delegate. What are you waiting for? Start writing a list of things you’re going to delegate, to whom, and how you’re going to do this.

Put your lack of trust aside, get out of your comfort zone, demonstrate some trust, and delegate – properly!