Delegation is the Key to Successful Project Management

Learning how to correctly delegate is the key to managing projects successfully

Learning how to correctly delegate is the key to being a successful project manager. Assessing the key skills within your team and considering exactly who should be responsible for each aspect of the project is the only way you’re sure to complete the project without any bumps in the road, or are able to adequately handle any bumps as and when they happen.

Here are a few reasons delegation is the key to successful project management:

You can’t do it all

Your project management training should have taught you that you’re responsible for the project, but your job is not to do all the work. You’re there to oversee it all and create a productive project management framework. Understanding that you don’t have to hold the world on your shoulders is extremely important, particularly if you’re new to a management role. Taking on too much yourself will only cause you to become stressed, overworked and tired - not the best attributes for a great manager.

Your team needs delegation

Without delegation your team will remain unaware of what is expected of them and so they won’t have clear paths to follow. When you give each member of your team a specific job to complete, they know exactly what they need to focus on and what you expect of them.

You’ll learn how to time delegation

You don’t have to dish out all the project tasks initially, in fact it’s usually better to withhold some of the delegation until the team is in sync and you have assessed how each team member works. You may find some work slower than others and some team members may work better under pressure. Your job is to help them access their true potential and it’s sometimes unclear exactly what that entails until you’ve worked with your colleagues for a short while. Remember there will be skills that a member of your team possess that even they aren’t aware of yet, which may take time to uncover through various exercises and activities. Their key skill may be fairly technical but they could actually excel in sales once they are given the opportunity to explore that talent.

You might delegate wrong

Learning how to redelegate tasks is all part of successful project management. A fantastic project manager understands the importance of flexibility and keeping an open mind in all areas of the project. Of course you’ll have a strong understanding of the key project components and what you need to achieve, but you’ll need to stay completely open minded within that framework in order to successfully reach completion. You will most definitely need to shift some responsibility around in order to reach the right team dynamic and may find some tasks may immediately seem right for one person when in fact they will help another excel in their performance.

Remember that all good project management training courses will teach you how to delegate tasks correctly and make the most of your team. Experience in the field is where you will start to shape your management style, establish an effective project management framework and discover how to make key delegation judgement calls that will implement the success of your project.

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