Sharing The Workload: The Pros And Cons Of Delegation

Delegation is a leadership technique that can result in a lot of benefits for any business or company. But even some of the best managers struggle with sharing the load sometimes. Admittedly, it doesn’t always work out for the best in every case. There are pros and cons to every situation. Here are some of them when it comes to delegation.

PRO: Balanced distribution of workload

Leaders are sometimes tempted to do everything themselves, and for good reason. They are in their positions primarily because they are proven and competent at their jobs. But when you have a team that can help you accomplish work, it only make sense to take advantage of that. Distributing the tasks means less work for the managers, and that means more time, whether that’s for high-value tasks like decision-making or for making sure that leaders aren’t overworked.

CON: Potential decrease in quality of work

Let’s face it. Some employees just aren’t going to deliver quality of work on the same level as managers can. And that’s especially true if they’re doing a task for the first time. You know what? That’s perfectly fine. Team members won’t always do things perfectly. But as long as they can meet a minimum requirement of quality, the benefits of relieving the leaders of this burden usually outweigh the negatives.

PRO: Better trust and morale

Delegation of work is a way of showing trust in team members. And that trust goes a long way in terms of building morale. A happy and empowered team is more often that not a more productive team and that starts from the ultimate act of showing trust in the workplace: delegation.

CON: Difficult to do right

As good a concept as it is, delegation is much easier in theory than it is in practice. There are many ways of doing it wrong: micro-management and hovering, for example; or inefficient communication of priorities which leads to failure to accomplish the tasks. If the effort to delegate is half-baked, it can have the opposite of the intentioned effect, so it’s important to do things the right way.

PRO: Encourages growth

Despite all the cons listed above, the best thing about delegation is the fact that it encourages your team members to grow. Sure, they might not be as good at some of these tasks as their managers. But getting their shot at doing these tasks is what could get them there in the long run. Delegation gives everyone a chance to shine or at the very least to learn and grow and that’s just a good thing.

Delegation is a good idea for most companies, but for tasks that can’t be accomplished by delegating in-house, consider a consultation with Tukko Labs on services that could help ease the load on your team.