Team Empowerment on the Road: A Guide to Delegating Tasks and Easing the Burden of Traveling Jobs.

Travelling for work can have some upsides. You get to see a little more of the world and interact with new people. Yet, it can also be a challenging experience. It’s not unusual to find that the pressure to juggle multiple tasks while contending with travel triggers experiences of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Not to mention that disruptions to your productivity may affect your workplace efficacy.

This week’s article is written by the wonderful Katie Brenneman. Thank you, Katie, for writing this for me.

One of the solutions to ease the burden of travelling for work is to delegate tasks to other team members. This isn’t simply about passing your responsibilities onto someone else. Rather, with a mindful approach, you can utilise delegation to both minimise your pressure and empower your team to achieve great things.

Identifying Suitable Tasks.

To effectively delegate to ease your burden on the road, you need to first identify what can practically be delegated. After all, even when you’re travelling, some tasks will need your personal attention, most often those related to management. By taking time at the beginning or end of each day to assess your tasks, you can distribute them appropriately.

This can require some attention to detail. So, it’s important to be organised here. One way to achieve this on the road is to set up a portable workspace in your vehicle. If you have a truck, you can set up a small ergonomic desk and filing cabinets in the bed. This helps you to comfortably and cleanly review documents related to your tasks. Setting up on-board Wi-Fi with a compatible cell plan also allows you to reliably access cloud-based files and project management platforms. As a result, you can review the details of each type of task and the workloads of your staff in real-time.

So, what characteristics should you look for when assessing for delegation? One aspect to keep in mind is the level of technical expertise required to complete each task. Alongside this, consider the specific skills of each staff member so you can match tasks accordingly. Look at the schedules of your staff, too, to see how much time they might have to commit to tasks. From here, you can portion out aspects of your workload in a fair, effective, and sustainable way.

Confidently Reaching Out.

So, you’ve identified what tasks might be appropriate for delegation. Many leaders have trouble with the next step: actually reaching out and asking for help. It’s fine to take pride in your position as a leader even when you’re out of the office. Nevertheless, holding on to this too tightly can limit your productivity and see you risking burnout.

It may help to think of delegation as a key management strategy for reducing your workload to prevent you from becoming overwhelmed. Alongside time management practices and automation, delegation is a recognised way to improve efficiency and strengthen your relationships with your staff. This always begins with having conversations with your delegates that express your need for help in a frank, yet confident way.

How can you do this effectively while on the road? Well, face-to-face discussions are often best, as instant messaging and emails aren’t particularly nuanced forms of communication. The last thing your team needs is to feel your requests for help come across as abrupt, demanding, or even that you’ve lost control.

Taking a moment to video call gives you a chance to communicate not just in words but with your body language. If your staff can see that you’re calm, confident, and positive about the delegation situation, they may feel better about it, too. The time you’re taking to chat with them also shows a solid level of respect.

Inspiring Greatness Through Delegation.

Another thing to remember is that delegation isn’t just good to ease your burden on the road. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to encourage your team to level up their skills and experiences. You can inspire them to achieve great things for your business and for their personal progression through a mindful approach to delegation. When sharing tasks, lean into the management qualities that show a level of professionalism they’ll want to replicate themselves.

Things your team wants in a leader that boost their faith in you and empower them to achieve throughout delegation include:

Clear communication.

Being able to talk to each employee so they understand what’s required of them is essential. This may be different for each member; some may respond best to a positive tone of voice, while others need straightforward detail. Alongside communicating in their preferred manner, make sure they see you’re open to answering questions, as this will help both their productivity and their confidence in the delegated tasks.

Team cohesion.

Employees often want to know that their manager recognises the importance of the entire team. When delegating tasks, make it clear what it is about the specific team member’s skills and what they bring to the group that makes them right for the task. But also highlight how team members with different skill sets may be able to assist in certain aspects if they find them challenging. This shows your confidence in them alongside your awareness of the group dynamic.

Importantly, take the time even when on the road to give the team members positive feedback on their efforts. Highlight specific aspects that you felt they excelled in. This is a boost to their self-confidence, which can improve their receptiveness to delegation in the future and spur them to achieve more.

Conclusion.

With an organised approach and focus on team empowerment, you can utilise delegation to positively reduce your on-the-road workload. This involves regularly assessing appropriate tasks to delegate alongside confident communication, among other elements.

Remember, though, that delegation on its own isn’t enough. It’s also important to keep training your staff with fresh skills. This not only enables you to delegate more complex tasks when required, but it also enriches their professional experience.

Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specialising in lifestyle, mental health, education, and fitness-related content. When she isn’t writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.

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