Balance Tasks
Ensure that delegation isn't viewed as getting someone else to do their dirty work. Thus, an effective leader should delegate the pleasant and the unpleasant, the challenging and the boring assignments. Similarly, tasks should be balanced across workers. For example, it is quite common for leaders to delegate the most unpleasant task to the best worker since that person can be counted on to do a good job. Alternatively, a poor worker may avoid receiving an unpleasant task due to the poor quality of the final product. This type of situation quickly sends the message to the productive worker that the way to get out of receiving unpleasant tasks is to lower the quality of his/her work. Delegation is not the abandonment of tasks. As a leader, you are still ultimately responsible therefore time should be set aside to observe and meet with the subordinate for follow-through and review of the delegated areas. This follow-through will give you the opportunity to coach the subordinate in his new assigned tasks. Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too!