Delegation: The Key to Great Managers

Have you watched or participated in a team sporting event recently? Or, have you watched an instrumental concert? What’s similar about these two events is that the manager doesn’t do the work. He delegates. In other words, he gets his job done by getting help from others. Sounds simple enough. However, the way some managers feel about delegation can best be described by a line in a recent commercial: “Please mother, I’d rather do it myself.”

Many managers do it themselves. And their efforts may be well directed but the team plays poorly. Team members either end up with simple unchanging tasks or wait to be told what to do. People are being paid to watch a one man band. Quality music isn’t the result.

Delegation

Delegation is the process of assigning or entrusting work to others. Management without delegation, lacks quality. And managers fail to delegate for numerous reasons. Each reason is very real in the ineffective manager’s mind.

First, we all know that we can do a job better than anyone else. The problem is that while we are doing the job, we cannot do anything else. This is an example of poor leverage in a management setting. An example of good leverage would mean that our resources are working for us through others efforts. A dollar invested in a savings account earns interest. The leverage is the interest earned by that dollar when we “delegate” it to a bank rather than hide it under our bed. We gain by earning from the efforts of others.

The Short Run

Second, the short run perspective has become a major problem in our society today. American managers must meet short term goals and objectives. All efforts are directed to an immediate solution and little or no attention is given to what can happen in the future. Delegation suffers in the short run. An untrained employee cannot become productive by waving a magic wand. Through training, however, that individual can take future responsibilities. Good managers make

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some sacrifices in the short run to obtain benefits over time.

Failure

Third, the risk of delegation is failure; failure that the employee will not do the job correctly or that the work will be done late, or the work will not be done at all. All of these are possible. Managers have to take risks. The risk factor decreases as employees are trained.

The question managers have trouble with is, “where do I begin?” The answer is simple. Begin at the beginning with every new employee. Train them to take responsibilities, to learn their jobs, to learn related jobs and even to learn other jobs in the organization.

Risk drops dramatically where training is implemented. A major benefit is that employees feel better about themselves when given things to do that are meaningful in their job areas.

Hiring Procedures

The fourth reason is not being sure of subordinates’ capabilities. That is an easy fear to correct. Most managers have the right to say who will be hired and who will not. The problem occurs when applicants do not receive proper screening. Managers have to take the time to establish criteria for all persons applying for employment in the organization.

Simple tests exist, or can be prepared by the manager to determine if the applicant has the skills necessary to do the job. Sadly, most managers do not really know what it takes at the front end when people are hired. They only determine a person’s lack of confidence or aptitude after they have been hired. Hire people with the proper qualifications, train them continuously, and they will perform.

Errors

And finally, the question of a limited warning system means that the manager has little or no time to recover once an error has been made. Close supervision in the early stages of an employee’s training can reduce the risk. Face it. There will be occasions when employees make mistakes, everyone knows about it, and that’s life. However, it is not the end of the world. A good manager learns from such situations and takes immediate steps to insure that the incident will not occur again.

The reasons for using delegation far outweigh the reason for ignoring it in the workplace. Delegation produces a “multiplier effect” for managers. Their individual efforts can be multiplied many times through the delegation of work assignments to competent, well trained employees. There is no fear in this situation. Only results, and plenty of them. Delegation in management is like interest in baking. It is the extra effort that never stops working. And, the manager can sit on the sidelines figuring out how to best use all their resources. Delegation is the key that makes good managers, great managers. v