Tonya : 0:00

Hello, hello, hello and welcome to another episode of the Operations Toolbox for Business Leaders podcast. I'm your host, T D Harrison, and today we're going to be talking about a topic that is extremely critical for every leader. Critical for every leader, that's what I said. That topic is delegation that's what I said. That topic is delegation.

Tonya : 0:25

Delegation is extremely important to the success of every leader and yet more than 70 percent of leaders struggle to delegate effectively. 70 percent that's more than half of us that are struggling or have struggled with delegating effectively. You see, effective delegation is an art. It's an art and it's a science that can literally elevate your team's performance and give you the bandwidth to focus on strategic priorities. This is the difference from being burned out and overwhelmed and achieving the things that you need to achieve.

Tonya : 1:11

So why do leaders struggle with delegating? First of all, I want you to think about the fact that most of us are extremely high performing leaders, extremely high performing leaders. A lot of us are used to doing things alone and doing it very well. So when we talk about some common reasons, I want you to think about that. Common reasons that leaders struggle with delegation include losing control We've always been in control. Think about it Lack of trust in their team, which is something that we can deal with, believing that they can do the task quicker or better themselves, and concerns about the team capability. These are all things that we can control right. So we're going to get to the effect of delegating.

Tonya : 2:09

So that's why, when we're talking about delegating, one of the things I talk to leaders about is the mindset, because a lot of these start in the mind. When you have been a solopreneur or a independent contributor for so long and you've been successful and effective at it, you tend to have some of these doubts, right. So that's why changing the mindset is going to be so critical is going to be so critical. You have to now think about the fact that if you really wanna go quicker and you really wanna go faster, if you really want to go quicker and you really want to go further, then you need more than just yourself, and this is where your team comes in to help you get to where it is that you want to go faster and to get further. That's the mindset that you now need to have. My team is there to help me. It's not to cause me extra work, so I shouldn't have a team and still be burned out and working all of these hours and doing all of these things Nine times out of 10, it means that you haven't delegated effectively or you haven't hired the right team. So the number one thing that you have to do is deal with your mindset. So you need to start working on that, but that's not gonna happen overnight. I'm gonna give you some tactics that you can implement as you're working on your mindset.

Tonya : 3:47

All right, these are some things that I've learned over time that have been very successful and helpful in my leadership career and on my journey. The first thing is identifying the right tasks. Now, we all have a lot of tasks. When I'm working with my clients, I like to get them to identify all of the tasks that they do and then put an asterisk by the ones that only they can do. This is because it requires their direct involvement or it requires their skill set, so they're gonna put a little asterisk next to those. Now, that means that all of the other tasks that we have they are up for grabs. They could potentially be delegated.

Tonya : 4:33

Now, when we're thinking about what tasks we want to delegate, you want to run through what I like to call a filtering system, where you're going to ask yourself a couple of different questions, right? So some of these questions will be like if I delegate this task, is it going to free me up to do something else that is more important that truly requires me to do? Or will delegating this task help someone else learn a new skill? Does delegating this task play into some of the strengths that I already have on my team? Does delegating this task allow me to achieve some of my goals quicker? Does it allow my department or my business to run more efficiently? These are some of the questions that you want to ask yourself after you have identified all of the tasks that can be delegated.

Tonya : 5:33

Now that you know all of the tasks that could potentially be delegated, now you have to identify the right team member. Now, if you have a small team, this is going to be more dependent on the skills, whereas if you have a larger team, it could be based on capacity, right? So if you have a large team and you have several people that perform the same task, it could be based on the capacity of the different ones, right? So think about your team. Now that you have all of your tasks listed, you can start identifying the right team member. This is going to be dependent on a couple of things, right? So when you look across your team whether it's a large team or a small team you want to be looking at a couple of things. It's a large team or a small team? You want to be looking at a couple of things. What are the skill sets of my team? I need to understand the strengths, the weaknesses and the potential, right? So somebody may not have a strength yet, but they have the potential to get there. I need to be able to understand these things about my team before I start just delegating.

Tonya : 6:41

It's not always about choosing the person who's most experienced. It may be a task that requires an open mindset, so I have to consider all of those things. I'm looking to find the best fit for the task. I'm going to look at my team members. I'm going to look at their current workload, because I have to consider capacity. I don't want to put them in the position that I was in, where I'm burned out and now I'm burning them out. So I definitely want to look at capacity as well. I want to think about the conversations that I've had with team members, right? So some of them may express that they like doing certain things. They may like doing graphics, they may like doing reporting. I want to think about those things as well, because we also want to make our team members know that they are an important part of the team, and a part of that is letting them contribute at the level which they'd like to contribute. This may be going above and beyond and doing that they weren't initially assigned to do, but they've expressed interest in doing it. Think about all of these things when you're talking about identifying the right team member.

Tonya : 7:58

So, now that I have my task and now that I know who I want to delegate to, the third tactic you want to use is you want to make sure, when you are assigning the task or the project, that you provide guidance and support. Remember the story I talked about at the beginning of the podcast, where, if you've ever felt like somebody has dumped on you, they've given you a task and ghost it. We don't want to be that manager, we don't want to be that leader. So we want to make sure that when I'm assigning the task, I am clear and make sure that they understand exactly what the task is, what the project is, what it encompasses and what my expectation is right. All of that has to be clear. I have to give them clear guidance, and then follow-up is crucial to ensure the task is progressing as expected. So I need to follow up, but I want to do this in a way that doesn't come across as micromanaging, so there's a balance when it comes to this. I want to make sure that they know that I am here, so I could do this by setting up regular meetings to check in how are you doing? Do you have any questions? Anything like that. I want to make sure they understand that they can reach out to me and ask me questions, if they need to ask me questions. This is going to build trust on your side and their side on your side and they their side. Now, because you have provided them with this guidance, because you are providing little follow-ups throughout the way, you know how the task or the project is progressing. They know that they can depend on you to be there. Now you are developing this trust. This is one of the things that usually stops a lot of leaders from delegating because they don't. They don't trust, they're losing control. So this allows you to have the best of both worlds.

Tonya : 10:13

Now the last one, number four, this tactic, this part of it this is where A lot of leaders struggle the most. Relinquish ownership. Give it to them. It does not mean that it's not on your radar anymore that's not what it means but it means that you are now going to be able to turn this over to them as something that they are going to do Right. So, as a business leader, they they are going to do Right. So, as a business leader, they're still going to report to you. You're still going to know how things are progressing.

Tonya : 10:53

But when you relinquish ownership, you're also giving them a certain amount of flexibility. Think about it. You've already provided them with the essentials. They have clear expectations, they have deadlines, but you want to give them room to do it the way that they need to do it Right, as long as it gets done in the time that you said it needs to get done, and the outcome is the same. You want them to make it theirs, because what happens is they may find a better way of achieving that task or their project, and when they feel like it is theirs now they have ownership of it the quality of the task or the project goes up. Okay. So this flexibility can lead to innovation and, again, ownership. They're going to find good team members. I'm telling you right now. They are going to find more efficient or creative ways to achieve the desired outcome, and that's exactly what you want.

Tonya : 12:17

When we hire people, we're not looking for mini-me's, we're looking for people that can compliment us. We're looking for people that have areas of strength that we don't necessarily have. We're looking for people that, ultimately, are going to make us better, our team better, our business better. So remember, your role as a leader is to guide, not to dictate, every single step. You want to empower your team to take ownership of their tasks, make decisions and even make mistakes. I know, I know, I know, but remember, we make mistakes as well, so we want them to make mistakes. That's where the real growth happens. Okay, so those are the four areas that you can start working on Now. Got to have a call to action as we wrap up today's episode.

Tonya : 13:15

I want to challenge you to think about your delegation habits. Are there tasks that you're holding on to that someone else on your team could handle? Are you creating opportunities for your team members to grow and develop through delegation? Are you allowing them to be innovative, more efficient and take ownership. Now, if you're ready to elevate your leadership game, you got to start by identifying one task. We're starting slow. Identify one task that you can delegate this week. Run through the steps and remember great leaders build great teams. An effective delegation is a key part of that process. All right, that is it. If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to subscribe to the Operations Toolbox for Business Leaders podcast. Share it with your network, share it with your friends, share it with your peers and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us to create more content that serves your needs, and if you have any topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes, be sure to drop us a message. Thank you for tuning in and until next time, keep leading with purpose and precision. I'll see you soon.