“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all
credit for doing it.” --Andrew Carnagie Success in delegation is not measured by how you go about delegating, to whom you delegate, or how often you delegate. Your success will be judged by results you achieve through delegation. Effective delegation does not just add to your achievements…it multiplies them. In most cases, absence of effective delegation will slow down your progress faster than anything else. If you want to leverage your time, delegation is essential. Delegation is more than just assigning work. It means making others accountable for results. It means giving someone else latitude to make decisions about how to go about reaching those results. It means letting go.I know someone who used to bring work home every night. Each night after dinner with his family, he would go into den and work for several more hours. One night his six-year-old daughter asked her mother, “Why does Daddy always go into den every night after dinner?” The mother explained that Daddy had a lot of work to do that he wasn’t able to finish during day. The daughter replied, “Then why don’t they put daddy in a slower class?” When his wife told him what their daughter had said, it jolted him into reality. He decided from that point on that he would not take work home with him anymore. The only way he could get all work done was to delegate some of it to others. As he learned to delegate, he dramatically improved his management skills and was eventually promoted to president of company.
Here are some tips for effective delegation:
1. Select right person for job. You select delegatee for one of two reasons: This individual is best qualified and can deliver best results…OR…This individual will most benefit from learning experience of taking on this job. This project will contribute to his/her experience and development, which company will draw on at a later time.
2. Provide enough information. Provide “big picture” so delegatee can see how work fits into overall operation. Don’t hoard information or keep them in dark. Determine what success looks like so he/she has a clear picture of what you want to accomplish.
Point out win-win. What’s in it for him/her. “Having you take this responsibility will allow me more time to focus on XYZ, and you’ll have opportunity to learn more about what’s going on outside of our department, which will better position you for that promotion you are working towards.”
3. Delegate entire job to one person and give them full authority. This will heighten individual’s interest in project and provide a deeper sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when task is completed. Although ultimate responsibility lies with you, when you delegate something to someone, be sure that others know that you’ve given responsibility and authority to that individual, and that they area accountable for producing results.
One manager brings little plastic footballs to his staff meetings. When he delegates a project to someone, he writes project name on football. Then he tosses ball to delegatee and says, “You’re responsible for XYZ Project. Don’t drop it.” -- a dramatic way to let delegatee and other staff know that he/she has been given responsibility, authority, and ownership for project!
4. Focus on results, not on process. Delegate responsibility, not work. Too many managers confuse delegating responsibility with offloading work onto someone else. When assigning a project, allow delegatee freedom to exercise some personal initiative. Focus on what you want, not how to do it. Let him/her develop methodology for how to achieve goal.
There are exceptions to this. For example, if you work in an industry that requires tight control over certain processes and procedures which must be followed, then how becomes important. (An example would be how to draw blood at a blood bank. Not following sanitation procedures could create disastrous results.)
