Delegating Work: A Super Zippy Guide to Releasing Your Death Grip on Control
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Summary: Delegating work can be challenging, as it requires relinquishing control and investing time in training team members. However, effective delegation empowers employees to grow and allows managers to focus on strategic tasks. Key strategies include delegating authority alongside tasks, applying the 70% rule, setting clear expectations, and remaining adaptable throughout the process.
Most of my conference sessions are inspired by the real-life problems we struggle with as a firm. For this year’s DrupalCon in Nashville, I tackled a challenge that most managers face at some point – how to delegate work to their team.
Trusting your team members to take on work that you are already doing successfully is tricky for a number of reasons. You have to give up some control over how things are done. You have to set aside time to pass on information, answer questions and figure out a game plan for overseeing the work. And for those of us in technology, it can feel like you aren’t doing “real work” when you move from coding/contributing to managing.
But at the end of the day, being a manager is about bringing your employees up to your level. Delegating gives your team a chance to learn and grow, and it creates the time in your schedule to focus on strategic work.
There’s loads of advice in the presentation, but you definitely want to:
- Delegate authority, not just work
- Use the 70% rule
- Be crystal clear with expectations
- Make delegation a moving target
Watch the full presentation here –