Delegation is an important skill for leaders. When you know how to delegate well, you can free up your time for higher-level tasks and help build a stronger, more effective team. Some leaders, though, have unrealistic expectations when they think about delegating. Like the movies, they may think their employees will undergo some magical transformation and become effortlessly productive.  

Matthew Jarvis, the co-founder of The Perfect RIA, says this isn’t how things work in real life. Instead, successful delegation comes down to how well you handle it as a leader. In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share Jarvis’ thoughts on some of the mistakes you should avoid as you delegate to your team members.

  1. Thinking of new hires as magic bullets. Jarvis admits when he hired an assistant, he expected this person to always be 10 steps ahead of him, making his problems disappear. But, of course, his assistant couldn’t read his mind. Delegation takes tremendous work and energy, and it doesn’t involve any magic mindreading or spontaneous problem-solving, he says.

  2. Not taking ownership. Some leaders are slow to accept responsibility when things go awry. Jarvis says that if your team isn’t delivering, you should reflect on what you may have done to contribute to the poor performance. Maybe you didn’t clearly communicate or didn’t ensure your team members had the resources they needed. No matter how skilled your employees are, you won’t get the desired results if you don’t delegate well.

  3. Being too nice. In reality, niceness can be cruel, Jarvis says. For example, it’s not nice to create ambiguous statements about what you want. This can leave your team members trying to figure out what you’re requesting. If you’re not upfront about your expectations, you’re setting your team members up to fail, he says.

  4. Thinking that Parkinson’s Law doesn’t apply to you. Parkinson’s Law is the adage that work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion. Just like it applies to your employees, it also applies to you. Jarvis recommends building in project checkpoints when delegating tasks. For example, you could ask your sales reps to spend two hours on something and then have them provide an update.

  5. Not knowing what kind of problem you’re facing. There are only two types of problems, according to Jarvis. When delegating, you should always know if you’re facing a people problem or a process problem. When facing a people problem, sometimes you need to help your team members update their resume and find a new employer. When you have a process problem, you’ll have to take a deeper look at yourself and your role in the delegation’s breakdown, he says.

Both first-time and experienced leaders should stay aware of the missteps they may be making when delegating. It takes some effort to get it right, but effective delegation can set your team up for success.   

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Matthew Jarvis, CFP, ChFC, is the co-founder of The Perfect RIA, an advisor training platform.