Many aspiring leaders I work with have a lot of responsibilities. Trouble is, things get messy, and some are hanging on to things they would be far better off sharing around.
Effective delegation is a key to good leadership. It means that you are making the highest possible value contribution to the organisation. It also means that you are sharing your corporate knowledge and giving others the opportunity to step up. The biggest benefit though, is that it creates some time and space for ‘leadership stuff’ that you otherwise may not get to.
Simple exercise: Take a clean sheet of paper and write down all of your current tasks and responsibilities. Now, put a tick next to those that only you can do. Put a cross next to those that someone else in the organisation could do. Identify five tasks on the list that you are going to delegate to others.
Use this system (CREST) to effectively delegate the tasks to others.
Context: First, explain the ‘why’ or big picture overview to the task. Why is it important?
Result: Be specific about the outcome you want. What does success look like?
Enquiry: What information does the person need to know in order to successfully complete the task?
Support: What support or assistance do you need to offer or give?
Timeframe: Be specific about when the job needs to be done by.
A bonus tip to ensure effective delegation is follow up. This will depend on how experienced and competent your people are, but let them know you are there to help them succeed.
What high value leadership tasks are you now going to focus on?