Are you an effective delegator? Effective delegation is one of the key skills to be mastered in becoming a great leader and equally important for developing your people.  Why don’t we do it?  The first step is to understand and then address your barriers to delegating.  Why are managers reluctant to delegate?  Here are a few reasons and I’m sure you can add to the list.

• A reluctance to give up what you do well and what you have been recognized for in the past.
• A concern that no-one else could do it as well as you can.   Could you coach them?
• A concern that you lose control.
• A reluctance to burden others with additional work so you do it all yourself.   Are you falling further and further behind and coming up short as the leader or your organization?
• Or perhaps you don’t know how to effectively delegate.

Understanding your barriers to delegation is a start.  Using delegation as a part of a strategy to improve your overall effectiveness as a leader.  The consequences of not making delegation an important tool to help you and your staff more forward  and not delegating well can have unattended negative outcomes.  We’ll cover that aspect in a subsequent management tip.