Your Comprehensive Guide to Effective Task Delegation

Task delegation is quite a task and even a seasoned project manager may find it cumbersome. As a team leader or a project manager, when you have a lot of tasks to accomplish for meeting the deadline, you can consider delegating tasks to your team. But, here the question arises- how can you delegate tasks effectively with task management tool to get the maximum output? Read this article to get your answer. 

Importance of Task Delegation

In a project lifecycle, task delegation plays a vital role. When you use your authority as a manager for delegating tasks to your team members or even co-workers, you simply ensure that the project will be completed on time with the collective responsibility of all the team members. 

If you try to do everything yourself as a team leader, chances are high that you will feel stressed and this situation will lead you to professional burnout. This is risky for you and your organization alike. The effective delegation, on the other hand, can assist you to utilize available sources to accomplish tasks on time without any stress. 

It is fair to mention that proper delegation can increase the productivity, efficiency of your team, and streamline processes. It results in a better outcome and improved workflow. 

Key Benefits of Task Delegation for Managers

Let’s go through some of the key benefits of task delegation for managers or team leaders before moving to the challenges of delegation. 

1. Free up your valuable time

This is one of the biggest benefits of effective delegation. After delegating tasks, you can make yourself free for core activities or tasks that need your special attention. You can also utilize this free time to help your team grow and develop. 

2. Get better outcome

Task delegation promotes collaboration and coordination among team members. As a team leader, you can give your thoughts to complete these tasks in a given timeframe and give your team members a chance to prove themselves. 

3. Increase team’s efficiency

Proper delegation can help you establish a culture of trust as you can give your team members a sense of involvement. By getting limited authority and responsibility, your team members can work more efficiently and their productivity will be increased.

Also Read- How TaskOPad Assists You to Manage Multiple Projects and Teams

Task delegation also facilitates your team members or employees to show their skills and get opportunities to grow. Though task delegation has many benefits to offer, many managers still fail to leverage these benefits for multiple reasons. 

Here are the key factors contributing to the failure of delegating tasks. 

Top Reasons Why Managers Fail to Delegate Tasks Properly

When it comes to delegating tasks, many hindrances can come your way. These obstacles can be ego, gaps in skill sets, accountability, time, and miscommunication. Some of the big reasons why a manager may fail to delegate tasks properly include-

1. Misconceptions

Delegation is not merely passing work from you to someone else. One of the biggest misconceptions for task delegation is it is considered a routine part of the workflow and a sign of managers’ weakness or a sign of taking advantage of the employee’s skills. In reality, task delegation benefits you and your team equally. 

2. Nervousness

A lot of responsibilities and the burden of tasks may make you nervous and bring the stress of letting go. You just remain reluctant to pass some of the responsibilities to team members for multiple reasons. But, it is better to keep in mind that giving responsibilities with limited authority is necessary for the growth of your team members.

3. Lack of time

This is a common reason for managers to fail to delegate tasks. Managers often think that they need to teach every team member to complete a task in a way similar to their way of accomplishing tasks, and this will need extra time. It is partially true, but once you train your team member, you can free up your time for the future. 

4. Misbelief

One of the most prevalent misbeliefs among managers or team leaders is they think that team members will not accomplish the tasks in a way they can do. This lack of trust is responsible for failure in task delegation. Team managers should remain confident in their team members’ abilities and free from any biases while delegating tasks. 

Before you initiate task delegation, you can identify the tasks that you want to delegate. You can set the priority of tasks as per the six T’s rule given by Jenny Blake, a business strategist. As per this rule, tasks can be classified as

Tiny Tasks, Tedious Tasks, Time-Consuming Tasks, Teachable Tasks, Terrible Tasks, and Time-Sensitive tasks. 

After segregating tasks another important factor to consider is finding team members with the necessary skills to accomplish these tasks. Here, advancing technology comes in handy, and you can see the work reports of various employees in real-time using a team task management tool. The task management software can also display available resources for taking new tasks in real-time. 

Another important use of a task management app is you can monitor delegated tasks and track the progress of your project on a single screen. You can foster an open atmosphere in your team by implementing feedback-based workflow while facilitating them to see their reports anytime and from anywhere using the task management software. You can also express your gratitude and appreciate your team members’ effort occasionally to boost their morale.

Concluding Lines

Task delegation is difficult but all the aspects covered here can help you delegate tasks more effectively. You can also take assistance from a feature-rich task management tool for improving the delegation process.