One of the reasons why delegating can be so frustrating is that it’s sometimes hard to accurately tell your team members what you actually want them to deliver.
However, when you start explaining more clearly what it is you want, you set your team members up for success, instead of failure. And delegating is going to be a much better experience for everybody.
Most leaders have a personality type that doesn’t really enjoy working with checklists. I certainly don’t. So that’s why I’ve made this checklist not for your use, but to simply share with your people.
Whenever you delegate a task or project to someone, ask him or her to ask you questions until they have all the information they need.
Delegation Checklist For Team Members
- The title or description of the task or project.
- The expected outcome, and the best, ideal outcome. Formulate this as a concrete goal. If possible, make it measurable.
- I understand why this task or project is important and valuable.
- I know how many total hours (or days) I can spend working on this.
- I know what the deadline is to have this task fully completed.
- I know how my boss/manager/team leader wants to be updated and kept in the loop for this task/project. I know what kind of feedback he or she wants to receive, when I should give it, and in what way I should give it.
- Binary Emails, Messages, Proposals
- Action plan
- A meeting to discuss the task/project and plan
- Draft versions of …
- By email, message, phone, live meeting, …
- I’ve asked for and received any relevant checklists and procedures.
- I’ve received any other background information that is relevant.
- I’ve asked any questions I have about this task/project.
- I’ve summarized the task/project to my boss/manager/team leader to make sure I have completely understood what he or she needs me to do.
- I’ve sent an email to my boss/manager/chief/team leader with the content of all our agreements regarding this task/project.
- I’ve put any relevant deadlines on my calendar and have booked any meetings needed to discuss this task/project and my progress.
- I now have everything I need to complete this task/project to everybody’s satisfaction.