Are you a CEO or in charge of a business or organisation? It's a lot of responsibility to rest on your shoulders, but you should be the person for the job. It's unlikely that you became a CEO by accident, so you have good business acumen, strong leadership skills and a keen eye for detail. However, it is literally impossible for any CEO to be able to oversee and manage every aspect of a complex, busy company or organisation. That's why you need to learn the art of delegation. This helpful article will share all about that art, and why every CEO needs to master it. We'll share how you can delegate and the benefits it offers the company. Continue reading to learn more about this valuable topic.
Diversity of Thought, Ideas and Experience
By delegating effectively to the managers or people leaders who directly report to you, you're encouraging an atmosphere of diversity within your company. Each manager brings their thoughts, ideas and experience to the table within your company, and they all, hopefully, also bring years of professional knowledge to the table. By effectively delegating to your direct reports, you're embracing this diversity of thought, ideas and experience. For example, your business may be faced with a tricky situation or complex problem that you're struggling to solve by yourself. By delegating the problem to your teams, you're both recognising their expertise and skills and ensuring that the problem is approached from a diverse perspective. It's as the adage goes, a problem shared is a problem halved.
Avoiding Burnout
The term burnout shouldn't be new to you - it's been around for decades. It usually means when someone's occupation, in this case, CEO, becomes too tiring, exhausting and intense, and results in that person no longer being able to work fully with the commitment and energy the role requires. When you're burnt out, you'll find that you have no energy for anything, even the things that you used to find enjoyable, such as your leisure activities. Working for long hours each day as a CEO might be expected to do, can trigger an episode of burnout, as can being too stressed at work, working on a large project, or focusing too much time and energy on one task.
This is why delegation is especially important when you're low on time or resources, and it might mean thinking outside the box. For example, if you're managing a digital marketing team that is overworked by a big campaign, consider outsourcing specific tasks like outreach to a link building company.
To avoid burnout as a CEO, you need to effectively delegate tasks to those who can manage them and reduce your individual workload to a manageable level. This way, you can free up your valuable time to focus on the bigger picture and ticket items, such as developing strategy for your company, focusing on growth, and overseeing the work from the balcony rather than the dancefloor.
Allowing Teams to Develop Skills
As a CEO, you should be focused on your teams and allow them the time and space to develop their own unique skill sets and professional development. By delegating tasks to your teams, you're trusting them with important work that will benefit the company. In addition to company benefits, your team will also benefit from the increased responsibility and tasks to achieve, as it lets them build their professional capacity and capability and grow into their roles. After all, staff play a huge role in a company's success, and by allowing your teams to hone their skills and grow as workers, you're investing in the wellbeing of both your staff and the company as a whole. They will appreciate you delegating tasks to them, as this gives them the opportunity to sink their teeth into meaningful and rewarding work, keeping them engaged and happy at work and, therefore, boosting productivity.
Employees Need to Feel Trusted
Staff work their best when they feel supported at work, and they know that their management has complete trust and faith in their professional abilities. By delegating work to your teams, you're demonstrating that you have trust in them. Whether it's giving the lead role on a project to a certain manager or delegating a marketing campaign to a specific team, you're placing much trust in your staff by delegating work to them. They will love this and go above and beyond for you and the company. No one likes to feel micromanaged or watched like a hawk when they work, so it's important to take a back seat once you've delegated a specific task to a person or team of staff. They will feel trusted to do their best, which is what you pay them for, and they will perform at peak capacity with your complete trust and respect. A CEO needs to place trust in their teams and sit back armed with the knowledge that their staff are capable, professional and worthy of the trust you've placed in them to get their job done right.
Opportunities for Training and Learning
By delegating work to staff, you have a unique opportunity for them to identify gaps in their professional skill set. Suppose a certain task requires a certain amount of upskilling and learning for a team or manager; all the better. Invest in their training and development, and allow them time to attend a short course or microlearning activity so they can build up to a level where they are capable of achieving the task you've assigned them. An attitude of learning and keeping an open mind is invaluable to a successful company, and fostering this atmosphere of learning, iteration, and continuous improvement is a great achievement for any CEO.
Outsource Where Required
Part of delegation as a CEO means identifying gaps within your company, and when these gaps can be filled in-house or outsourced as required. For instance, if your teams are spending too much time on administration, such as bookkeeping or payroll, you may find that outsourcing these roles to a dedicated company that only performs these functions is a winning strategy for your business. Outsourcing means that your internal teams can focus on more crucial work, freeing up their time and energy and allowing them to achieve great things for the business.
A Delegation Summary
This helpful article has discussed the art of delegation and why every CEO needs to master it. We've discussed why delegation is important, how it can encourage diverse thought, how the company can benefit from delegation, and how you can avoid burnout as the CEO. As delegation builds trust in your teams and allows for learning and development where required, you can see why it's essential to delegate work as appropriate.
