Delegation is often easier said than done, however with some planning, you can give your employees more responsibility in a way that works for both yourself and the team. Guest writer, Serena Dorf, outlines seven proven methods to do just that.
Everything is rapidly changing in the business world today where employees are expected to manage themselves and their time without necessarily being supervised. This is totally different from the traditional system where employees were supervised and always took orders from the top.
You have probably been to organisations which employees love their workplace and take more responsibility from their managers because they simply want to. And you were wondering how you can give your employees more responsibility.
How to give your employees responsibility
While giving your employees more responsibility, it is important to ensure that your employees do not start feeling tired and demotivated due to workload. Most of the time, employees can take more responsibilities due to their own curiosity or excitement which later becomes a huge burden which hinders their productivity and the overall performance of the organisation.
As a manager, there are seven important things you can do to give your employees more responsibility effectively.
Have a clear vision
A clear vision is important in any organisation which wishes to grow and expand its activities. A clear vision is not only important to you as a leader, but also to your employees in showing them the way ahead.
Knowing where they are heading will help them be enthusiastic about their destination thus take more responsibility. Once the vision is clear, all departments will collaborate with each other to achieve the vision. When training your employees, always remind them of the organisation’s vision.
Become a role model
As the saying goes, walk your talk and people will listen. If you take more responsibility, your employees will also take more responsibility.
Remember, your employees are watching you. And they know when you are telling the truth or lying. Instead of taking most of your time trying to encourage your employees to take more responsibility, why don’t you take more responsibility yourself? Most employees simply follow what the leader is doing.
Become what you want to see in your organisation first before encouraging your employees to take more work.
Reward your employees
When your employees take more responsibility, they might be doing it because it makes them feel wonderful or helps them move ahead in their career.
But one big reason why they take more responsibility is because they want a praise or any another form of reward. So just give it to them and see what happens. Praising an employee will make him or her take more responsibility in the future and even encourage other colleagues to take more responsibility.
If you do not reward your employees, there will be a negative perception towards responsibility and this will lead to poor performance of the organisation.
Choose your words
When your employees take more responsibilities, they are likely to make mistakes because they are doing what they are not very familiar about. And it is very normal.
It is important during these moments to correct them using encouraging words rather than being a critic. In fact, no one loves living or working with a critic. Do not focus on the weaknesses of your employees but their strengths. Tell them what they can do better in future rather than telling them what they did wrong.
Correction is essential for anyone to perform better but it is only effective when it is done well. As the saying goes, correction helps, but encouragement helps more. Focus on what can be improved and not what cannot be changed when you give your employees more responsibility.
Image: Unsplash
Get a commitment from your employees
When you want to give your employees more responsibility, you should get a commitment from your employees that they want to work and realize the vision of the organisation.
Help them make a decision to work harder no matter what comes in the way. You can also ask for their commitment using the percentage question. You may ask, to what degree are you committed to make this task or project a success? 10%? 50%? 100%?
Once a decision is made, nothing can stop your team from performing well.
Understand the process of taking responsibility
Good performance is not just an act. It is the final result of a process which can be replicated over and over again if it is understood properly.
When you notice a certain member of your team performing well and taking more responsibility, find out what he or she does and how you can help other employees to implement the same process. This will motivate your employees to perform better because it came from their colleague and not outside the organisation.
Expect success
Most managers agree with this concept but just do the total opposite.
When you supervise every little detail being done by your employees, in other words, you are saying that you do not expect excellence from your employees. You expect failure. Expect excellence from your team and project it. Your team will not help but perform excellently.
In Summary
You need to give your employees more responsibility for your organisation to grow and prosper. It is important for them to feel happy and motivated to take more responsibilities rather than tired and demotivated.
How can you make them take more responsibility? These seven tips discussed above enable you to make them take more responsibilities. Try them out today and see the results!
About the Author
Serena Dorf is an enthusiastic content writer at EssayOnTime. She is passionate about writing, personal development, psychology, and productivity. In her free time, she is reading classic American literature and learning Swedish. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter.
