This is the assignment/transfer of authority to another person to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person. This is a very essential component in leadership. It is not just about assigning tasks, but the leader needs to be aware of the strength and weaknesses of the person or team so that the tasks are assigned to those who have the best ability to complete in a timely manner and deliver high quality output. Entrusting is a key word here in delegation as it is also important for leaders to define the task and goal and not do all the thinking in how to and specify all the steps and how it should be done to get to the goal. This is micromanaging, which is important to draw the distinction here as a delegation style to avoid, which is where strength and weakness awareness helps you to trust they will be able to use their intellect and judgement to reach the goal.
Amongst other things delegating will help the leader have the time to do other things that only they themselves can, have the most qualified person make important decisions, get perspective from other qualified persons, develop another person’s ability to handle various tasks or more work.
Think about all the activities you have to do today.
What can you entrust to someone else to do?
What have you been doing that can be handled better by someone else?