A leader has many jobs but one of the most important by far is the ability to delegate.
Delegation effectively means the ability to take tasks and then assign them to other people. Now this might seem like an easy job – in fact it might even sound like something you do in order to get out of a job. In reality though, delegation is one of the most important tasks there is for a leader and it’s something you need to work hard to get right. Let’s take a look at why this is the case and how to do it right.
The Jack of All Trades Leader
A good leader needs to be someone who is able to understand the basics of every department under their instruction. This means they need to have a wide general knowledge, even if they aren’t someone who has a lot of in-depth understanding on any one given topic. The reason this is so important, is that it is going to allow you to get involved with every department and discuss with them what they need to be doing, what problems might have arisen etc. When your programmers tell you that ‘Jeff doesn’t comment properly’, you need to know what that means.
By definition though, this means there are going to be people who are better than you at every task. And that in turn, means that you need to be able to assign tasks to people in order to get the best job done.
Taking a Step Back
And once you’ve done this, you then need to be able to step back and trust that person to do their job and do it well. The mistake that many of us make, is to assume that people won’t be able to work without our supervision. This is called micromanaging and it is something that no one appreciates!
Work On Your Business, Not In It
The next reason it is very important to be able to delegate is that you need the time to be able to steer your business. Your job as leader is to make sure your company is going in the right direction. You need to be able to see the bigger picture, to predict the future and to help your company get where it needs to go.
To do that, you need to work on your business. That means you can’t be working in it!
