Hiring is not easy. So many business owners and hiring managers spend a lot of time finding the right candidate. Unfortunately, however, many still fail when it comes to delegating tasks and responsibilities.

There are a few common reasons. The first one is they don't know how. This is a typical problem for new managers or first time business owners.

Secondly, they may not have a systematic process to start delegating. Either the process takes too long, or it is dependent on a senior team member bringing the new hire up to speed. While mentorship is a necessary and crucial step, it is not wise to be too dependent on it.

When delegating, make sure your new hire

1. Know what they are responsible for

This is usually addressed in the Job Description written for the position advertised. A good JD will clearly spell out all about the roles and responsibilities that comes with the position. While a JD is an incredibly useful tool, just having a JD is not enough.

2. Have access to well documented process or guidelines on how to complete their tasks

If you want to stop hand holding every time you bring in a new hire for an existing position, than you should seriously consider documenting all your processes in a way that is easy for new team members to access and follow. It's very common for teams to write their procedures down only to loose it after a while. Another common mistake is not to keep the documents up to date. This confuses new hires and reduces the overall effectiveness of those documents as mistakes may have already been made. Ensure that you review and revise their procedures periodically.

3. Has a way to measure their performance in the company, or department they are assigned to

Pro tip: Performance driven individuals would not mind being measured for success, or failure. In fact, they are used to it and expect it to be a fair measure. However, KPI setting can be a murky and tough subject, mainly because it has been misused and abused. This is why every KPI must go through a reasonable amount of due diligence and deliberation so that at the end of the day, everyone in the team believes that the KPIs set are a fair assessment of their contribution. This process also helps them understand how they are contributing towards the organization's goals and objectives,

4. Know who they will report to

There has been many stories where someone was hired with no clear indication of who they have to report to. With working from home becoming the norm, this has become a nightmare. Managers take too much time to set up meetings just so that they could introduce team members and explain who is who in the organization. Remember, getting your team set up and up to speed is a critical process to ensure that everyone is aligned from day one.

At OrgEngine we believe that effective delegation of tasks and responsibilities is key to building a successful business or running an effective organization. This is why we built a tool that lets you conveniently manage all your job descriptions, processes, KPIs and organization chart. If you find this concept interesting and want to stop wasting time jumping between multiple different sets of software, you should see how OrgEngine works here.

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