A leader is only as good as the team behind them, working to support the business and product.
Whether you’re responsible for a team of two or of 20, your focus is on being a great leader and manager and getting the most productivity from your team while helping them grow.
Knowing how to delegate to your team is important for communication and productivity, and will help your business reach its goals.
So what do you need to delegate to your team effectively?
Make a list
Creating a list of upcoming tasks for your team and asking for volunteers is a surefire way to get the task done by someone passionate about it. If you’re worried about the quality, encourage collaboration to get the job done to the best standard possible.
By opening your tasks, you give your team the opportunity to upskill and to prove their skills to you and the business.
Prioritise
It’s easy to get caught up in the panic of deadlines. Having a thorough workflow of your incoming projects and sorting them by what matters most to the business is your key to growth.
Ranking smaller tasks in a campaign or project and delegating them as standalone tasks will help them be ticked off quickly – as the saying goes, many hands make light work.
Know your team’s workload
Whether you use a project manager like Monday or Trello, or a regular check-in on progress and tasks ahead, knowing the workload of your team members is essential for you to delegate efficiently.
If you have a few go-to people for quick tasks, making sure you double-check their workload and time-sensitive tasks is a great way to make your team feel appreciated and acknowledged.
Read more: How to Grow Your Team
Upskill your team
Investing time and energy into your team to grow their skills is essential to getting the most out of them – a highly skilled person has the potential to complete a task in one hour that may take another three.
It has a side effect of helping them feel valued and supported – many employees start searching for new opportunities because they feel stagnant and/or unsupported in their current role.
Some organisations offer regular professional development opportunities for their employees – if your business doesn’t have a budget for this, keep an eye out for free events or courses through local business groups or event platforms such as Eventbrite.
Communicate clearly
If you’re assigning a task to someone, make sure you’ve laid out exactly what’s expected and allow and encourage questions.
There’s nothing worse than completing a task only to find out the 5-word brief you received had numerous assumed requirements and tasks.
Fostering an internal culture that lets people ask questions and seek clarifications helps avoid mistakes, improves communication all around, and increases productivity by eliminating back-and-forth.
Set and manage expectations
Communicating with your team and the wider business is essential – being transparent about existing workloads, backlog, and timeframes for projects helps manage expectations and prioritise requests.
Part of this is also filtering out tasks that don’t fit within your team’s expertise or roles – a marketing team is unlikely to be much help repairing a software issue.
Read more: 7 Ways a Small Business Community Can Help You Grow
Cultivate vulnerability
Creating a culture where it’s encouraged to reach out for help when needed is great for you and your team’s wellbeing and productivity.
Knowing your team will reach out to each other and you if they feel overwhelmed or stuck is a sign of great management, and will likely lead to higher retention and happiness.
Trust your team
Knowing that you have chosen a great team capable of helping your business fulfill their goals is key to getting things done.
Micromanaging is normally counterproductive, and can make your team members feel unconfident and uncertain of their skills.
Offering to be an extra set of eyes or a mid-project review is a way to be invested in the task and ensure it’s on the right track without being too intrusive or effecting the productiveness of your team.
Read more: What is Coworking and Why Should I Care?
Having a motivated and happy team helps you focus on growing your business – learning how to delegate and manage your team is a small part of looking after their overall wellbeing.
Hub Australia offers fully-equipped workspaces for small and large teams, providing all-inclusive bills and utilities as well as organising regular networking, wellness and professional development events for yourself and your team.
If you want to find out more about how coworking with Hub Australia can help you and your team succeed, contact us today.
