Delegate More to Increase Productivity

Delegate more to increase productivity. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well it would if I was suggesting that if you delegate work to others it will result in increasing your own productivity. But, what if I was suggesting that doing so would actually increase the productivity of your people, would you still believe me?

Believe it or not, the more you delegate projects and work assignments to your employees (along with the associated authority to make decisions in support of completing the work), the greater the level of productivity you’ll experience from your employees.

Why?

If you snoop around your business today you will likely find that the majority of employees work in silos; deal with limited autonomy in making decisions on how they work as a result of processes or policies; and at least in some instances are managed by leaders who limit their ability to make decisions as it relates to their work.

What’s the result? Lack of motivation, low morale, team dysfunction and interdepartmental dysfunction. Not so fun.

This might seem like I’m stating the obvious, but as humans we have a brain and to remain focused, motivated and incentivized, we need the opportunity to use our brain. Structure, procedures and management were often created to counter act in favor of creating “consistency” and “predictability” in work.

So why not break the mold? Reduce (that’s right!), reduce the number of procedures you have in place and instead invest time in educating employees in how to make decisions as it relates to their work. You could reduce the number of “supervisors” and replace them with team champions, selected by the team.

The solutions to this epidemic are endless and the results are quite powerful. By delegating work and the autonomy to make decisions pertaining to the work to the very people doing the work, you’ll find an increase in productivity… and morale… and motivation… and focus.

So where will you begin?

P.S. If you’d like more ideas on how to increase the autonomy of your employees, grab a copy of my book “Operational Empowerment” now available on Amazon. Last I checked there were still a few copies in stock.

© Shawn Casemore 2016. All rights reserved.