Managing the Manager: How to Delegate as a Manager

Author: Charles Category: General

Managing the Manager: How to Delegate as a ManagerWe have all heard of training the trainer, but as a manager it is important you are also managing yourself properly.


All too often, managers find themselves losing time and having their daily schedule swept aside as they work through and deal with employees throughout the day.

Maintaining your own workload while ensuring the whole office or team continues to deliver results is absolutely crucial.

Take a look at these signs and ask yourself if any of these productivity zappers seem all too familiar…

  • Your important work gets pushed to the side as you react to issues of the day.
  • You feel bogged down spending time on emails and minor tasks instead of making the big decisions.
  • You believe you are the only one who can do the job right.
  • You work late after everyone has gone to make sure you can finish your day’s work.
  • You’re a bit of a control freak, think you can do it all, only to find yourself feeling spent and exhausted.
  • You are feeling tired and worn out while your team looks fresh.

If you are doing too much as a manager, it is time for you to think about how well you are managing your own tasks. I know you’ve heard it a thousand times — being a good manager is about delegating – but how much delegating are you actually doing?

Good managers are actually decision makers who delegate the majority of their work.

Here is a look at how to start managing yourself and delegating your workload properly.

Track what you do each day.

You can’t measure what you don’t track. Spend one week journaling each task you do. You will be able to identify what tasks are consuming your time. You can simply note down your workload or you can use software tools found easily online to time track how long each job takes.

Look at what you need done each day.

You may find that you don’t have the people you need to complete the work you are doing. Consider training people to do the work you wish to delegate or consider hiring needs.

Don’t forget the big picture.

Delegating tasks with the big picture in mind is about giving your employees real participation in the project at hand. Simply delegating menial tasks will not benefit the larger goal and their job satisfaction. Each employee should be essential to the process of the company reaching its goals.

Communicate with your people.

Participate with employees as they do their work. Give advice and share your experience in a positive way. Let employees know when they are doing what you would do, and what you would not.

Share your dreams.

You may have a bigger picture and a goal in your mind, but that does not mean everyone else working with you does. Sharing the bigger picture with your people is essential for them to associate with the larger goals of the company — after all, everyone will benefit, right?

Trust your people.

This is a big one. If you can’t trust your people, you don’t have the right people working for you. Often managers are faced with this issue when they make the decision to delegate their workload and take a progressive approach to developing a team.

Barbara Ashton is the President and Founder of Ashton & Associates Recruiting.

Ashton & Associates Recruiting… Placing Powerful People. Every Time.

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This post has been approved for public release by Barbara Ashton. All certified posts carry this Google Authorship link to Google.