As an engineering manager, one of your most important tasks is to effectively delegate work to your engineering team. Delegating tasks can be a challenging but necessary part of being a successful manager, and it requires both practical skills and soft skills to do it effectively.
On the practical side, effective delegation starts with a clear understanding of the task at hand and the skills and experience of the team members you are delegating to. It’s important to match the right person to the right task and provide clear instructions and expectations for the work. This will help ensure that the task is completed
efficiently and effectively.
Engaging in regular, one-on-one conversations with team members can provide valuable insights into their skills and experience. This can also be an opportunity for team members to share any specific areas of expertise or interest that they may have.
Matching your team members for their optimal tasks requires assessing both their technical strengths, and their teamwork skills. Observing how team members approach their work and interact with others can provide valuable information about their skills and experience. This can also help managers identify areas where team
members may need additional training or support.
In addition to the practical skills, effective delegation also requires strong soft skills. This includes good communication, trust, and empathy. As a manager, it’s important to communicate clearly and regularly with your team about their tasks and provide them with the support and resources they need to complete their work. This can
include providing guidance and feedback, as well as removing any obstacles or roadblocks that may be hindering their progress.
“A manager with effective delegation skills will also use their soft skills to spend time asking the team about what areas they can improve on.”
Although a key role of management is to provide guidance and feedback to their employees, a manager with effective soft skills will also spend time asking about what areas they can improve on as well. Building trust with your team is also crucial for effective delegation. This means being transparent and honest about the work and
being open to feedback and suggestions from your team members. It also means showing empathy and understanding when it comes to the challenges and obstacles they may face.
Set your employees up for success with some lessons learned to help them avoid pitfalls. Good ones to reflect on are;
- What big lesson have you learned from doing this type of project in the past?
- What interested parties, or people with helpful info, should your employee be sure to talk to?
- What are the big, but unobvious, pitfalls to avoid?
It’s best to give an employee a maximum of three tips when you hand them the project. If you offer too many tips, you run the risk of telling your teammate all of the “how”. It’s very beneficial to allow individuals to connect their own dots to help them grow. It’s equally important to remember that the way that any similar projects were
tackled might not work for them; they’re a different person with unique skills, experiences, and approaches.
To show your team how committed you are to supporting them, get tremendously clear on 2-5 actions you’ll take to support your team while they’re working on this big project. Each type of support should begin with a verb, like “Reading and giving you feedback on early drafts in Google Docs.”
You can also include points about what work you are not going to do. Identify any decisions or activities for each specific project that will now be fully your team’s responsibility.
Telling your teammate what you won’t be doing for this project can create just as much clarity for them as what you will be doing to support them! It can also decrease confusion down the line about who is responsible for different aspects of the project. Successfully delegating to your engineering team involves giving them room to do this
important work themselves. Offer a few solid guidance points to help them gain early momentum or avoid major mistakes you foresee.
Overall, effective delegation is a critical skill for engineering managers. By combining practical skills and soft skills, managers can ensure that tasks are delegated effectively and efficiently, leading to a more productive and successful engineering team.
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