One of the biggest challenges that technology leaders face, is the transition from working “in” a business, to working “on” it. Why? Because they haven’t quite learnt that delegation is powerful.
Whether you’re overseeing a powerful Salesforce team, or you’re responsible for nurturing cloud stars, eventually you’ll need to learn how to share tasks among your employees to boost productivity and workplace efficiency. This is particularly true in the tech industry, where roles are growing increasingly complex.
While at first you might have the stamina to push yourself harder and work later, eventually, all managers come to a point in their career where they need to tap into the potential of their hires. After all – you recruited these people for a reason.
The Concerns That Hamper Delegation
Delegation helps to empower companies, engage staff, and support employers.
When you’re devoted to keeping your team or department running smoothly, it’s tempting to do everything yourself. If you have tasks piling on top of you, you might think:
- I don’t have time to teach someone how to do this
- I don’t trust someone else to do it right
- I don’t know who I should be delegating to
- I can do it better/faster myself
While these thoughts plague a lot of managers, the truth is that they’re often unwarranted. If you hire the right people, to begin with, you’ll be able to trust your tech talent to complete tasks just as well as you do. What’s more, regular training sessions can be implemented to ensure all recruits have the right skills.
The Benefits of Sharing the Load
Despite common managerial concerns, the benefits of delegation are significant.
When you share your workload with your team, you can:
1. Reduce your risks of mistakes: Having too many irons in the proverbial fire at once can mean that projects are rushed – increasing the possibility of errors. Delegating to the right people can help leaders to focus on the tasks that truly need their attention.
2. Build engagement: Showing your staff that you trust them to take on important tasks makes them feel appreciated and respected. This can improve company culture, make people feel more devoted to their workplace, and even minimise employee turnover.
3. Stimulate new skills: Leaders who give team members the chance to tackle delegate tasks nurture new talents in their recruits. This ultimately benefits the firm by ensuring that hires are ready to tackle any challenge.
The question is, how do you make delegation a more natural experience within your company culture?
1. Learn to Let Go
The biggest issue preventing delegation is that leaders struggle to let go. While being dedicated to your post is important, it’s crucial to allow your team members to help when you’re overwhelmed. Achieving success in a business is rarely a task that’s accomplished solo.
Ask yourself what’s stopping you from delegating a task, so you can dissect your concerns. For instance, if you’re nervous that assigning a cloud computing project to someone else means it won’t get done well, why do you feel that way? Would you feel more comfortable if you gave your team more training on cloud technology?
2. Play to Strengths
Leaders gradually learn the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates. Every employee in your group will have their own specific set of skills. Some may be more suited to tasks that involve moving data into the cloud, while others might be proficient in updating and implementing cloud technology.
If the people you work with seem similar in their education or experience, look at how delegating specific tasks can support their development plans. It’s also worth being consistent. If you assign the same types of task to the same people, eventually their talent for those projects will grow.
3. Be Willing to Provide Support
Convincing yourself that assignments can be completed effectively by other people can take some time. Sometimes, providing adequate instruction, training, and support can help to put your mind at rest.
If your team members have the same knowledge as you, they’ll also have what it takes to finish an exercise successfully. However, it’s worth giving them some time to get used to the change of pace, particularly if the project involves skills outside of an employee’s job description.
Leaders who don’t have the time to teach new abilities themselves can even delegate this task to a professional instructor or invest in online learning materials. Your staff will appreciate having something new to put on their CV, and you’ll end up with a more talented team.
4. Remember Feedback
Finally, feedback is a crucial but often overlooked part of the delegation experience. It works both ways. If your hires have done an excellent job with a task you assigned, offer them praise and thanks. On the other hand, if they’ve fallen short of the mark, provide constructive criticism to help them perform better next time around.
At the same time, remember to invite your people to share their thoughts on your delegation practices. This helps you to determine whether you’re assigning the right tasks to the right people. It can also define whether you’re giving your team enough information.
Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to unlock the full potential of your staff. They’re there to help the business succeed – just like you.
About Resource On Demand
Resource On Demand is Europe’s first specialist Salesforce Recruitment Company, now also focusing on growth Cloud markets. We assist innovative and disruptive organisations to grow their technology teams. Supporting companies to fill Cloud roles that span across Digital Marketing, Marketing Automation, Human Capital Management and the growing Salesforce.com suite of skills.
The team at Resource On Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 Cloud professionals each year.
To find out how we can support you call us on +44 20 8123 7769