How to Turn Followers into Leaders (and Ease Your Workload in the Process)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Shane Elmore for writing today's blog post. Shane served as Pulsara's Vice President for Clinical Innovation and Development from 2013-2022. You can connect with him on LinkedIn. 

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"If you delegate tasks, you are creating followers. If you delegate authority, you are developing leaders." - Andy Stanley

Delegation is one of the best-kept secrets of the world's most productive leaders. There's nothing inherently difficult about delegation -- and it can be applied in any industry -- so why don't you do it more?

I bet I have some idea why. Here's my guess at three reasons you don't delegate: 

1. You don't trust your team.
2. Ego: You think you can do it yourself, and nobody can do it like you can do it.
3. You don't know how.

This blog post can't help you with the first two issues; they require a lot of introspection and work on yourself and/or your team before I can even begin to offer my insights. But if the reason you don't delegate is that you're not sure what the best way to do so is, read on!

Shane's Five Tips For Better Delegation

1. Select the right person -- This shouldn't be challenging if you know your coworkers well. Just remember that title and position don't qualify a person for the job. Know your team and what they are capable of. Look for the potential in people and give them the task that pulls the talent out of them. Be familiar with their strengths and weaknesses and assign accordingly.
2. Explain the results you want -- One of the most important attributes of a team leader is the ability to cast a vision. Describe in as much detail as you can what the results will look like if executed with excellence. This will help your team understand clearly what is expected of them.
3. Avoid misunderstandings by having frequent check-ins -- Schedule these as frequently as needed to ensure the job is performed to your standards. Be careful that you give enough time to make progress. Otherwise, the check-in will be counterproductive and you will seem like you're micro-managing. During your meetings with your team, be sure to evaluate progress as it relates to the overall project.
4. Delegate the whole task -- If you are delegating a task and holding them responsible for the results, give them the job in its entirety. Again, you want to be sure to avoid micro-managing, or your delegatee will become frustrated and wonder why they are doing any part of the task at all. If you don't trust them to make important calls about a project, don't assign it to them in the first place. 
5. Provide input, not interference -- Take the above step to heart, but by all means, if you delegate an important project to someone, don't hold back on giving them productive and important feedback. Some leaders wait until the end when regular course corrections would yield better results. When possible, provide the feedback in the form of questions that teach them how you think. The people you delegate to are smart and capable, or they're not the right person. Don't spoon feed them or micro-manage, but do let them figure out complex tasks with you as a safety net.  

It's imperative that you learn the skill of delegation. This is how you grow your team that is bigger than you. If you have high-level leaders on your team who aren't growing, you won't have them for long. Delegation will help you develop your followers into leaders.

If you hire employees with integrity who are competent, then this will work for you. This is not a quick fix or a formula; it's a guide to use as you practice and develop your own skills as a leader. Now go out there and get more done!