If you’re a solo business owner, you may delegate certain tasks to contractors or freelancers. And if you lead a team, you may delegate some responsibilities to your direct reports. Delegation is an important skill to learn. When done well, it can save you time and allow you to work on higher-value tasks. However, when done poorly, delegation can lead to headaches and frustration for everyone involved.

This is because delegation isn’t simply doling out tasks for someone else to do — it’s about providing some of your accountability to someone else to complete the work, says Ben Brearley, MBA, a leadership coach and consultant. You’re not delegating if you are simply telling people what to do and how to do it. To delegate thoughtfully and effectively, you must step back and let other people have some say in how they do the work.

In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share Brearley’s thoughts on how to delegate better and more often.

Consider the frequency of the work. To delegate thoughtfully, examine how often a task gets completed. If it’s a one-off project or task, it may not be a big issue. However, if you’re needed to continually step in and complete the work, you may want to consider investing the time training someone else to do the work. Brearley says this might take more of your time now, but in the future, you’ll have built capability into your team, and you can delegate the work instead.

Check your beliefs. Thoughtful leaders are often introspective, Brearley says. Maybe you don’t delegate as often as you could because you don’t feel your team is ready or capable. Or maybe you keep certain tasks for yourself because you simply like doing them. If you try to delegate without monitoring your own beliefs about your team members, Brearley says it may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, you may check in on your employees frequently because you don’t think they can work autonomously. This, in turn, shapes their attitudes and they may begin to feel like you don’t trust them or think they’re capable.

Clarify the priorities. This is a critical step in delegating because you need have a clear understanding of what you want your team to accomplish. Ideally, Brearley says you’ll set the priorities, which will flow down to each employee. But what do you do if team members say they’re too busy to take on the delegated work? Brearley says this is where your priorities come into play. If someone is working on something that isn’t a priority, they should focus on the delegated task first.

Don’t delegate menial tasks to talented people. Remember that delegating isn’t assigning all the boring stuff to someone else. While time management is a benefit of delegation, it shouldn’t be the primary focus, Brearley says. If you’re mostly delegating boring, menial or unpleasant tasks to your team, you’ll get a reputation for being lazy or using your authority to avoid certain types of work. On the other hand, Brearley says if you delegate work with a focus on up-skilling others and helping them develop, people are more likely to be interested in accepting it.

It’s worth learning how to grow your delegation skills as a leader. It may not always feel comfortable turning over the reins, but this is how you can grow professionally and how you can help others grow as well.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers

Source: Ben Brearley, MBA is a leadership coach and consultant, passionate about developing thoughtful and effective leaders.