If you have ever worked in a team which delegated roles that fit people's interests and abilities – you’ve likely seen a team sail through with better results and less conflict. When individual team members work from their strengths, they tend to avoid conflicts and perform better.
It’s also true that team members have less reason to remain in conflict with one another when talents are valued and rewarded from each. People are happier when they can use their natural proclivities, and so serotonin is generated in ways that promote the learning process. The entire group benefits when delegation is organized. Through expert delegation, high-performance minds rise to the challenge to create excellence alongside others’ similar quality. 
Research points to the fact that conflict comes often to teams that fail to organize or delegate. People who feel they lead and then end up doing most of the work, can be central to the conflict and lack of performance by others. Who wants to support, bossy, self-important “do-it-all-myself” colleagues, who subtly make others feel inferior?
Here are 5 smart skills to help teams delegate for higher quality in more enjoyable circles…
1. Create a calendar and fill in all the dates for projects due. Then add the interim dates to mark the parts that are due along the way. Be sure that the group agrees to the calendar before it is finalized and then invite people to pick their parts so that all roles are filled.
2. Discuss the end result for any project in ways that show you value others’ offerings and will help to make room for these in concrete steps. Ask many two-footed questions so that people can see their part in your plans and can help to progress the work.
3. Mark dates on common calendar to show deadlines for each part due, and ensure these dates require work in a few days earlier than the final project date, so the entire group can edit and make last suggestions.
4. Inspire others to create quality outcomes - by your tone and your words. In that way all team members feel encouraged to both lead and follow – depending on whose talents are required at any time.
5. Fill in roles for each team member, so that people are working from the multiple intelligences and so that all roles are covered. Ask for a volunteer point person to ensure due dates are kept and work is in for final review, and another point person to submit the final work after all have had a chance to make last suggestions.
6. Inspire even a poorly motivated team, simply by applying smart skills that spark hidden and add words, actions or incentives that make any project meaningful for all concerned. Alfred Whitehead claimed that we have lose the joy of learning and discovery together – when we forgot to “romance the joy of learning.” Ask any newlywed how that works and you’ll hear about romance that ignites, passion, delight, anticipation, celebration and enjoyment.
When was the last time you helped to organize early, or added these sparks to fire a team’s collective intelligence, as a way to ensure meaningful results and a takeaway for the entire group? Worth a try?
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