5 Delegation Disasters

There is a fine art to delegation. When done well, it evens the workload, helps develop new skills, is a vote of confidence and can prepare people for additional responsibilities.
Done poorly is can result in poor results, extra effort, resentment and frustration.
Here are 5 things you want to AVOID when delegating:
1. Hoarding. Delegating only the mundane work or the work you don’t want to do. Delegate some plum assignments. Give people some tasks to do that allow them to shine.
2. Fuzziness. Being unclear on the task, the outcomes, the deadlines and your expectations. As with many things in life, how it starts is how it goes. The better you set the task up – the better the outcomes you’ll get.
3. Micromanaging. Set it up clearly. Define your non-negotiables. And then get out of the way.
4. Narcissism. Expecting that someone will do it “just like you.” They won’t – so get over it. In fact, they may even do it better than you.
5. Dumping. Delegation does not mean dump and run. It frees you from doing a specific task, but that does not mean you don’t have to do anything. You have to do different things. Consider coaching and providing feedback, reviewing progress at regular intervals, and conducting an “after action” review to solidify learning.