Every leader worth his or her salt must learn to empower team members to make informed and autonomous decisions. Otherwise, leaders would be spending time resolving every operational detail, when they should be focused on more strategic or far-reaching tasks, such as long-term planning or innovation, which are the things that are truly essential to the long-term success of the organization.
In addition to freeing up time, delegating decision making also promotes a more collaborative and motivating work environment. By giving responsibility to team members, it fosters a sense of ownership and commitment, which can improve morale and productivity. Allowing team members to make decisions promotes the development of leadership skills and prepares employees to take on larger roles in the future.
Effective delegation also contributes to greater agility within the organization. By decentralizing decision making, teams can respond more quickly and accurately to challenges and changes in the environment, without having to wait for approval from a superior for every step.
This streamlines processes, eliminates unnecessary bureaucratic steps or bottlenecks in approval from a superior, and again allows company executives to focus their efforts on the vision and growth of the organization, while ensuring that their team is adequately addressing day-to-day execution. Ultimately, this translates into a more dynamic and resilient organizational system in the face of changing market demands, which will also intrinsically lead to a capacity for organic growth of both the company itself and each of its members.