The key to great delegation and initiative in your business

You can’t take on more responsibility and more jobs unless you are willing to delegate to others. But that doesn’t mean it's always easy.

The objective of delegation is to get a task done by someone else to save you time. As a manager or business owner it is also your responsibility to grow and encourage the capabilities of those within your team.

Here are 4 helping hands for you, put them to work in your business and you’ll improve the level of initiative of your people and improve your business performance too:

1) Share your initiative expectations each time you request work to be done using the delegation/initiative ladder. Whenever work is delegated to a team member, the ladder should always be used, it will increase the confidence of your team and help them feel like they have the right support.

2) Teach the delegation ladder to your people so it becomes a regular, habitual conversation in your business. ​Making something a habit is harder than you think, especially if you encounter resistance, but when you can prove to your team that the delegation ladder works they will see its value.

3) Have framed delegation ladder pictures or posters up in the office and encourage its use. If a member of your team asks you a question that you think they should know the answer to, just point to the poster and say, ‘I don’t know, what would you do’. This will encourage them to come to you with a suggested solution rather than a question.

4) Acknowledge and recognise initiative when it is shown – catch your people doing it right. Everyone loves to be praised for doing a good job, it’s a great thing to do and its even better to hear. Praise of their work and their initiative will only build confidence within your team.

You won’t know the delegation ladder works until you start to use it and when you do start to use it, you’ll not be able to do without it!​