Delegation is a skill. It’s also a skill that a surprising number of managers need to improve. It’s impossible to do everything yourself, and it’s key to draw on your team, their unique skills and abilities, to get the job done. But there’s more to delegating than just moving tasks off your plate. Here are a few not-so obvious benefits that make delegation even more important.

Delegation Helps Empower Your Team

Furthermore, by delegating tasks to your team members, you are making better use of everybody´s time. As a result, the team as a whole will get so much more done. The truth is, you won´t be able to finish everything yourself and you don´t want your team members to sit around idle, so by delegating tasks to them everybody has an adequate workload. Additionally, that work is empowering to your team, and helps them achieve more than what they are able to do on their own. Show them you know they can bring value to different projects and their skills are needed within the larger context of the organization by empowering them through delegation.

Delegation Builds Trust

Delegation shows you trust your employees to do a good job with important tasks. That, in turn, builds their trust in you as a manager. Creating that culture of mutual trust will help your team get through the tough times, muddle through critical conversations, and address problems in productive ways. This is not only good for the working culture in the team, but also for the self-esteem of the employees you are working to develop.

A good way to do this is by talking directly with the employee about what sorts of projects they feel comfortable taking on. You don’t want to set them up for failure by giving them a project that is outside of their scope or abilities. The only way to define what will and will not help you build that culture of trust is an open and honest conversation around capabilities, interest and bandwidth.

Delegation Teaches New Skills

By involving your team in certain tasks, you will also be actively helping them develop their careers. New projects and new skills help build resumes and make employees more valuable in the job market, while also making your team more productive. This is a clear win-win, because employees are actively looking for ways to grow their careers and are looking to you to help them identify the areas where they can make valuable improvements. This also helps the team and the company grow, while making employees more versatile, more employable, and more important to the business, as well.

As their manager, you can make your employees jobs more interesting, challenging, and even enjoyable by delegating new projects to them. So, don’t feel limited in the projects you delegate. If an employee has expressed interest in taking on new challenges, support them as they continue to grow by delegating new and challenging tasks.

Ready for more?

For more thoughts on how to be a stronger leader through delegation, connect with the career and staffing experts at Ag 1 Source today.