by Glenn Magas

Created on: February 04, 2010

A leader’s position in a department, company, or team, is one that requires different responsibilities.  Part of those responsibilities is to delegate tasks to team members efficiently and effectively.  There is no ‘one way’ to delegate more effectively, but there are ways to do it more effectively.

Here are three key objectives to focus on when delegating tasks to your team.

1. Gather all the information on every task
2. Omit the unnecessary tasks immediately
3. Delegate tasks that require staff to perform to the best of their ability

These key objectives in delegating tasks can eliminate jobs that do not need to be done - which creates a more efficient and effective workforce.

1. Gather all the information on every task

Without proper information you will not be able to delegate effectively. Make a list of all the tasks that need to be delegated, then make a list of all the skills needed for each task in order to find the most capable team member to do those jobs

It makes no sense at all to delegate a task to a team member who lacks in crucial skills to get a job done. If the thought process is that this person will do what it takes to get the job done if given the job, this can be both time consuming and extremely costly.

By gathering all the information on every task you can begin to prioritize the important tasks from the less important ones.

Keep in mind the Pareto Principle or the 80-20 rule. The Pareto Principle suggests that 80% productivity comes from 20% of the tasks (in this case).  Keep this principle in mind as you find the most important 20% of all the tasks as you gather the information.

These are the most important tasks that need to be accomplished and focusing on these tasks will lead to high productivity and efficiency. The other 80% can be divided out once the most important tasks are accomplished.

2. Omit the unnecessary tasks immediately

Of the 80% of the tasks there will be a large portion of tasks that do not need any time spent on at all.  These tasks could be old routines that have not changed, reports and/or analysis for managers that do not even use them anymore. Or even manual tasks like filing paper work that is already managed electronically elsewhere.
These tasks become habits and routines and create pressure on a work force to get it done when they can focus on other more important things – the big 20%. A manager or leader may be surprised that a worker’s daily tasks are being done on a

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