Want more success for your team, your business, for you?  Then learn to delegate.  Effectively!

The Pareto Principle suggests that 20% of your activities generate 80% of your results… so it makes sense that you should spend 80% of your time on those particular activities.

How much time are you spending majoring in the minors?  Are you spending too much time on activities that are not within your core genius?

Your core genius is when you are doing tasks:

• you are really very good at;
• that you love to do; and
• that give you the best return on the time you have invested.

Consider all of the tasks that you are currently doing which do not meet the core genius criteria.  These are activities which may be better performed by someone else, which could be effectively delegated.  If someone can do a task 80% as effectively as you can – then it is a prime candidate for delegation.

Consider the opportunity cost of doing a task that could be delegated… how could you have better spent that time?

Delegation is one of the keys to better time management and skill building.   We are talking about delegation here, not abrogation.

Here is a great tool that we call The 4 D’s.  Our suggestions is that you keep these four words where you can see them each day, as a reminder – this process needs to become a habit.

Before you commence any task, you should ask yourself in this order…

If you know delegation is an important key for your success, why is it that you don’t delegate more often?  We hear excuses such as…

• No Time – “I have no time to teach a team member the tasks.”
• No Energy – “It takes a lot of energy to follow-up and keep team members on task for success.”
• I Can Do It Better – “I know what needs to be done and can do it better and faster so I’ll just do it.”
• Why Should I? – “Why should I train someone to do my job?”

If you are in a leadership position, part of your job is to take the time and the energy to train others to do more so that you, your team, and your organisation are more successful.

So what are the benefits of quality delegation?

1.  You multiply yourself – The more you delegate, the more you create team members that can accomplish much more in much less time.  You are known as someone who gets things done with self-directed teams.

2.  You create a motivated group – The more you delegate, the more your team members are motivated because they see you as someone who trusts them and their abilities to get things accomplished.  Because your team is motivated, they take more initiative to create solutions, be more creative, and are willing to take on more responsibilities.

3.  You master stress and time management skills – You are forced to prioritize your tasks and realize that there are tasks that you do not need to do, yet would be perfect tasks to develop your team members.  By learning how to prioritize your tasks for delegation, you will be less stressed during the workday and go home at the end of the day satisfied that you accomplished more.

4.  You are known as a person who develops people – The more you delegate, the more you will be known within the organization as a person who develops people.  Team members will want to work for you because they know you have a motivated, creative working environment.

5.  You create opportunities for yourself and others – By delegating tasks to others, you can then take on more advanced tasks that will prepare you for future opportunities when they become available.  Also, as a leader, you never want your team members to be with you in the same position forever.  So, delegating tasks continuously prepares them for opportunities that may come their way.

The danger is that if you do not delegate well you will experience the boomerang effect of upwards delegation.  If you do not delegate at all, you are potentially capping your ability to progress as well as the development of your team.

Download the 4 D’s Resource for free now

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