When to Delegate?

When to Delegate

It is very important to understand when to delegate. Delegation should not be understood as merely getting the task off the plate. And it is not that one should always be delegating whatever is given to him. Delegation helps everyone when done appropriately, however that does not mean that you can delegate just anything. There are five key questions you need to ask yourself to determine if delegation is appropriate:
1) Is there someone else who has (or can be given) the necessary information or expertise to complete the task?
2) Does the task provide an opportunity to grow and develop another person's skills?
3) Is this a task that will recur, in a similar form, in the future?
4) Do you have enough time to delegate the job effectively? (You'll need to train people adequately, answer questions, check progress, and manage any rework that is necessary.)
5) Is this a task that you should delegate? Tasks critical for long-term success (for example, recruiting the right people for your team) genuinely do need your attention.

If you can answer "yes" to at least some of the above questions for a job, then it could well be worth delegating it.

Other factors that contribute to this include:
- The project's timelines/deadlines.
- How much time is there available to do the job?
- Is there time to redo the job if it's not done properly the first time?
- What are the consequences of not completing the job on time?
- Your expectations or goals for the project or task, including:
- How important is it that the results are of the highest possible quality?
- Is an "adequate" result good enough?
- How much would failure really matter?
- How much would failure impact other things?

That being said, having all these conditions present is no guarantee that the delegated task will be completed successfully either. You also need to consider to whom you will delegate the task, and how you will do it.

Tomorrow - Who and how - Delegate a task