10 Delegation Strategies From Famous Leaders (And How to Apply Them)

In any workplace and in any industry, effective delegation skills are considered essential. As a manager of a team, you are trusted to assign the right people for the job. While we tend to speak about delegation in terms of entrepreneurship, it’s vital for businesses of all sizes to manage responsibilities effectively.

Effective delegation skills are complex and require a high degree of emotional intelligence and a strong understanding of the skill base within an organization. It is not enough to simply pass on responsibility from senior management down the command chain.

The right people need to be chosen for delegated tasks, which requires an open mind about every team member and what they’re capable of. Without this, companies will struggle to hire people with the skill sets needed to deliver results and, ultimately, what everyone is chasing — growth.

A Gallup study of the 500 most powerful CEOs in America found that leaders with strong delegation skills are able to create more jobs, higher revenues and post higher growth figures than those without.

OnDeck recognizes the value of delegation skills within a business and has drawn together 10 key strategies from famous entrepreneurs. Whether you are an aspiring start-up founder, a CEO or even a team manager in your field, read on to see how the world’s most successful business leaders manage responsibilities in their teams.

Before, During and After Delegation: The Best Strategies from Famous Leaders

The first challenge for any team manager, especially in smaller start-ups where the business is their own, is letting go of the idea that they need to do everything themselves. For many, the fear comes from losing control and identity of the business they worked so hard to establish. This resistance at the start of the delegation process has troubled even the most successful entrepreneurs in their first years.

These 10 strategies will help you let go of the resistance and develop effective patterns of behavior that will make delegating tasks to colleagues at all levels of your organization run more smoothly.

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The Benefits of Effective Delegation

An effective delegator can make their business run much more productively and can, ultimately, deliver better results through effective resource management. One of the most powerful benefits of effective delegation is that by creating an environment where valued colleagues are trusted to deliver on important tasks, the manager has extra bandwidth to focus on strategy.

This can be particularly valuable on the C-Suite, as leaders don’t become bogged down with delivery issues within the business. Instead, they can prioritize high-level growth strategy and the fundamental decisions that can only be made at management level.

Delegation strategies also prevent burnout and overwork within teams. Not only does it mean that managers spend less time focusing on tasks that other people in the organization are qualified to do, but clear delegation practices allow for responsibilities to be distributed evenly across teams. As a result, staff have clearly-defined roles and expectations, making teams more productive.

The benefits of effective delegation make it easy to see why America’s most successful CEOs possess these skills in abundance. It’s a cornerstone of people management, and getting it right can lay the foundations of a strong team culture and workplace dynamic.

Sources

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