Too much to do, too little time? The solution is – delegate. This is a skill that is usefully employed not only at work but also in the home. Good delegation after all is critical in developing and improving performance in others. However, poor delegation often happens - that is when people get told to do a job or take something on. Delegation is not dumping an unwelcome task on someone else. More often than not this results in things going wrong, breakdowns, upsets and so on.

The best way to delegate is to assess the work that has to be done against the availability of people and their skills. Bear in mind some tasks may be routine and repetitive, some may not. When you assign work to someone you can retain the decision-making responsibility, should it become necessary to decide upon an alternative course of action. Delegation can, if you wish, go one step further and hand authority to make decisions to the other person.

Some people avoid delegating, using the excuse is: "It's easier to do it myself." If that sounds familiar, what usually happens is overload and stress for the reluctant delegator. Others perhaps lack the confidence or have tried to delegate in the past and failed.

Delegation, like most skills, can be learned. Always plan delegation well in advance by working out exactly what you want done. Consider how much support and guidance will be required by the delegate. Have a review date and check understanding, but allow a 'buffer' period at the end, in which failings can be put right. Try if possible to delegate 'whole jobs' rather than bits and pieces. Having delegated, stand back. Do not 'hover'.

Tasks which can be delegated are work that can or should be done by another person or another department, routine tasks which don't require decision making or repetitive tasks which require decision making and could help a young member of staff develop.

The best way forward is to set a delegation plan and timetable. It can take something like eight to twelve times longer to delegate a job effectively as to actually do it – believe it or not that's true. But if you have confidence in your ability to delegate properly in the first place you will save yourself hours and hours of time in the future.

By Frances Kay