Note: Delegation is a foundational manager skill. But it’s also a skill that they don’t teach you in school. Like many manager skills, there’s a vast difference between what you do and how you do it. The first step to being a better boss is improving your delegation manager skills. Is your delegation working for you?

Take the Work Delegation Checkup to find out.

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When you don't delegate enough to your employees then managers, employees and companies will experience the following problems:

Without Sufficient Delegation as a Manager:

  • You'll end up working longer because you are doing tasks that could / should be done by your team members,
  • You'll spend too much time focussing on details instead of planning and supervising,
  • You won't have enough time to focus on your most important priorities,
  • You'll feel like everything is dependant on you, creating stress and making it more difficult to take time off
  • Your career will stagnate at the level you're on because you're not proving your ability to manage workers

The bottom line is you will be stressed and overworked with less success and achievements.

Without Proper Delegation Your Employees:

  • Won't be growing their skills and capabilities,
  • Won't be developing valuable work networks & relationships,
  • Won't feel trusted and empowered and they will lack the bigger picture view,
  • Will feel frustrated by a lack of challenge,
  • Will feel frustrated by a lack of opportunities to use their talents

The bottom line is employees will feel stagnant, disengaged and will under perform.

Without Proper Delegation Your Organisation:

  • Will have less intellectual capital,
  • Will have less redundancy or capable people to fill in in case of sickness or staff turnover,
  • Will have a less satisfied workforce resulting in higher employee turnover,
  • Will have lower output because of less capable and under utilized staff (not to mention slower output because of bottlenecks),
  • Will have less innovation and creativity because of lower skills and engagement

The bottom line is the bottom line will be less profitable. The company will stagnate.

What Does The Science Say?

What does the science say about the importance of delegating…

Managers aren’t delegating enough…

According to a 2007 study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity 50% of the 332 companies surveyed are concerned about the time management and delegation skills of their managers. 

Effective Managers Delegate

Effective managers grow their staff by delegating assignments that stretch them. Effective managers know that they are not the experts at everything.  Effective managers know that there are tasks that their staff can do:

  • Instead of them,
  • Better than them,
  • At a lower cost than them.

Effective managers are experts at engaging people with the right skills to do a better job than they could do themselves.

Next Steps - Improve Your Manager Skills With Delegation Essentials

Delegation is an essential manager skill, to be a better boss, start with improving your own manager skills with delegation training. Delegation Essentials is a free, online management training course. And you can even earn a certificate for your resume.

Comments:

Do you have any tips, comments or questions about the pitfalls of not delegating enough? Please share in the comments below.