How to delegate effectively: Tips for entrepreneurs

Dr. Susan Biali Haas, a mental health expert in burnout prevention, says learning to better delegate will allow you to find more time for performing the high-level work you were meant to do.

“Typically, managers and owners are not finding enough time to focus on things like vision, strategy and long-term planning. I point out to them that there are things stopping them from doing the important parts of their role,” says the Vancouver-based doctor who also lectures and coaches.

“Once they start delegating, I have them pay attention to how good it feels to have those things off their plate so that they can be doing those higher-value activities.”

A manager’s mindset: Why do I avoid delegating?

For many managers and owners, not giving a task to someone else comes with a host of excuses.

• “It would be easier to do the job myself.”
• “There’s no time to teach my employees all these new tasks.”
• “I don’t have the administrative support to set up new mandates for my employees.”
• “We’re too short-staffed. I’m taking on this extra work because no one else has the time to do it.”
• “My team is already working so hard. I don’t want to overburden them.”
• “I don’t know who could take on this particular work.”

Patrick Bruning, Professor of Business Administration at the University of New Brunswick, says that some reasons for not properly delegating work do make sense.

“You may believe that the task involves sensitive content and should be performed by a person with an appropriate level of approval,” he says, giving the examples of legal papers, private correspondence and industry secrets.

“You might also have a real sense of responsibility and want to serve as a role model. Or you might find that doing the task yourself provides some form of tangible or symbolic benefit, such as a commission or promotion opportunity. Or you may simply just enjoy the task and are reluctant to give it up.”

While those might be legitimate reasons for not delegating, you can still find yourself with too many tasks on your plate, which will impinge on your own productivity and your mental health.

Red flags: Signs you’re overwhelmed with work

Taking on too many tasks and needing to delegate some of that work comes with some warning signs:

• You’re feeling bogged down with routine tasks
• You feel stressed and short-tempered
• You’re not trusting your staff
• Important tasks are not getting get done
• Employees seem unsupportive

What to do when you are feeling overwhelmed

If you’re overwhelmed as a manager, start asking yourself these questions:

• Are there employees at my company who do not have enough work?
• Who would be enthusiastic about taking on additional tasks if the opportunity arose?
• Who among my employees is in a good position to be further challenged?
• Are there tasks that I am currently doing that are very similar to those another on my team is doing? Could they take some of them over?

When things are calm, note down your priorities

Biali Haas says that when you are overwhelmed, the stress centres in your brain, sometimes referred to as the limbic system, are activated. But at the same time, the executive function and logical part of your brain, your cerebral cortex, is suppressed.

“So, we become more emotionally overwhelmed and anxious, and feel increasingly stressed,” she says, suggesting that at that point, you need to work on calming yourself down—addressing that limbic system—but also bringing the executive brain areas back online.

“Take some deep breaths, take out a piece of paper and start identifying what’s most important for you to get done and what you can let go. Planning and prioritizing can be a great way to feel like you’re taking back control, to calm the emotional brain.”

How to become better at delegating

There are several short- and long-term actions you can take to increase your ability to delegate:

• Note down what you do as a manager
  Write down all your tasks over the course of two weeks, along with how much time you spend on them. Entrepreneurs who do this can often discover they spend surprising amounts of time on work that someone else in their team could be doing. Try delegating some of it and shift your focus to tasks that only you can do and which bring the greatest benefit to your company.
• Take an inventory of your talents
  Look at your strengths and weaknesses and find out where you might need some help. Some managers are not suited for certain tasks and will select people from within their company who have the right skills to complete them.
• Coach and develop a motivated employee
  You might want to start working closely with someone who can take on new tasks. This type of mentorship can help the person take over some of your extra tasks.
• Have clearly defined roles
  “People need to focus on the most important things that they need to do. When they do that, a lot gets done,” says Biali Haas. “At the same time, we sometimes need to put down our work to help someone else who is struggling. So, it’s a balance.”
• Recruit future managers
  Look out for the potential managers when hiring. That value will emerge as they develop. “They will become more capable so they can excel at future tasks delegated to them,” says Bruning.
• Design overlap into your units
  The jobs at your company need to have enough overlap so that colleagues can transfer or delegate tasks to people capable of completing them.
• Limit your tasks
  Bruning suggests that you limit the number of tasks you do in a day. “Every time you are doing a task that you feel you shouldn’t be doing, it’s an indication that you might not be delegating enough,” he says, suggesting you look at the tasks you’ve been taking on and practice delegating those that aren’t high priority, strategic or require your specific set of capabilities.
• Allow employees to really take on a job
  It’s important for employees to have the freedom to do the task they have been delegated to do, and for you to realize that they might make some mistakes as they learn.
• Look at coaching for you and your managers
  Ensure that owners and managers get relevant experience developing their own self-awareness, knowing what they can take on and what they need to let go of. A management coach can be helpful in this situation.
• Know the limits of delegation
  Make sure not to create extra burdens for both the worker and the manager by micromanaging or by putting too much on the plate of an eager employee.

Examples of successful delegation

Bruning offers two case studies where managers learned to successfully delegate: