You probably know it already: You can't do it all by yourself. The good news is that you have staff that can help you tackle the workload. Of course, there will always be items, like personnel issues, that only you can work on. But, overall, you may want to consider giving some things to others.
Here is the nitty-gritty of what you should consider before you delegate:
- 1. The tasks/projects: How tight are the deadlines? How time-consuming are the tasks/projects? What skills, knowledge, and abilities are necessary to be successful in accomplishing the tasks/projects?
- 2. Your people: How many employees do you have available? What are their skills, knowledge, abilities, and interests? What are their areas of needed development? What else are they working on?
- 3. Yourself: How much time can you devote to training someone on the tasks/projects? How much time do you have for potential edits or revisions? If you worked on this task/project yourself, what might be the consequences?
- 4. Process: How will you communicate with your staff? How will you track progress? How will you hold them accountable and provide feedback? What other processes are or need to be in place?
When you have determined what to delegate and to whom, be very clear about your expectations. This includes specifying how much authority the employee(s) have. A pre-mortem may also be useful if it is a larger project. Not sure what a pre-mortem is and want more information in general? Check out these links:
The pre-mortem: A simple technique to save any project from failure
The pre-mortem method: A practical way to do risk assessment
Successful Delegation: Using the power of other people's help
Important delegation skills for workplace success