Whether new or experienced managers, we need to always be mindful of our delegation skills. Most important to remember is that not only can our delegation style change, but the people, tasks, and circumstances can change also. Thus, it is important to periodically ask ourselves "How are my delegation skills right now?" because the answer may have changed!
Here is the quick list of three elements of delegation:
- Trusting people to do the job well
- Verifying progress
- Applying consequences
The question is, "Which of these areas are stronger for you, and which could use work?"
Here is how I stand.
- Trusting people to do the job well – I am very good at this in many, but not all, circumstances. I find it easy to trust in most situations. However, one thing I often struggle with, depending upon the kind of work and the type of person I am delegating to, is determining my level of required involvement with the person. I often find it so easy to trust, but sometimes go to the polar opposite and trust another personal very little.
- Verifying progress – I have always found the verification challenge a less natural act. I tend to spell out the task very well and delegate it clearly, but it takes a lot more effort for me to follow up and verify progress. I am having particular outsourcing challenges right now, and the challenge is distinguishing completion of delegated work on the basis of results versus tasks completed. I am trying to move as much as possible to the "results" paradigm, but I find that this mindset is not necessarily easy to develop for some people.
- Applying consequences – I find that this must be built into the process and understood up front. In particular, those who are delegated a task must understand why they are doing what I am asking, and what it means if they do not – what it means not only to me, but also to them.
Where do your delegation skills stand right now?
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John Reiling, PMP
Project Management Training Online
Tech Training Online
3 responses so far ↓
1 shim marom // Oct 26, 2009 at 8:23 pm
According to ‘manager-tools’ (www.manager-tools.com/podcasts/How_to_Delegate.pdf), “78% of all personnel in major corporations believe that
their “boss, manager, or superior, with whom [they have] porting relationship” “routinely does work
that would be more effectively done by someone at [my] level.”
2 shim marom // Oct 26, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Besides being an inefficient way of utilizing organizational resources is also an unethical behavior as it takes away from subordinates the ability to grow and advance in their professional career. I referred to in in an earlier post in “So you’re a manager, but do you do your job?” (see http://quantmleap.com/blog/?p=83) where I urged people to break this cycle and start demonstrating mature and responsible managerial attitudes.
3 John Reiling // Nov 25, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Shim, that is very compelling info and a compelling statistic. It would seem that the default approach for a manager should truly be to delegate. On the other hand, an entrepreneurial manager in a smaller or growing business has to struggle a bit more with this.
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