Three Reasons why Delegation Should be Your Development Priority

On one level, this seems self-explanatory….after all you are the leader of an organization and you can’t do it all by yourself, right? But shallow thinking about delegation sells short this powerful tool. When mastered, delegation becomes much more than load sharing or task allocation, it becomes a powerful team building tool.

1. Demonstrate Trust – the foundation of every high performing team is trust. The best way to generate trust as a leader is to give it. Delegation is a great opportunity to concretely demonstrate that you trust the intentions and capabilities of your team.

2. Build Capabilities – good delegation is done with purpose - to challenge and build capabilities. It can take some investment from you to teach and guide in the short run but the dividends of investing in building your team’s capabilities is huge.

3. Improve Engagement – When you demonstrate trust and belief in your employees through good delegation, you will receive commitment, ownership, and engagement in return. Good delegation can create a virtuous cycle within your team where people will feel valued, challenged, and empowered to do their best.

Great leaders take the time to develop and use good delegation skills and practices because they are a growth multiplier. An inability to see this or to be able to effectively delegate can quickly become a career limiter for a leader as they become the bottleneck to their own growth.

Where should you be delegating today that you aren't? How will delegating it help you and your team one year from now?