delegating

Delegation is every manager’s bedrock responsibility. But actual training on how to delegate isn’t easy to find.  

As simple a concept as delegating duties seems to be, it can get mighty complicated in the real world. We’ve surveyed reams of material from the experts and come up with some simple guidelines on how managers can delegate effectively.

Here goes:

Deciding when and what to delegate

First, managers need to be sure that delegation is the best course of action. So they should ask themselves five key questions:

  1. Is there someone else who I believe has what it takes – background, expertise, information, etc. – to do the job? Absent that, is there someone I can get up to speed quickly to take over the job?
  2. Does the task provide an opportunity to grow and develop another person’s skills, or am I just foisting off an unpleasant task on someone else?
  3. Is this a task that that’s likely to come up again, so that if I invest time in someone, I’ll get a multiple payoff?
  4. Do I have enough time to delegate the job effectively? If there’s no time for training, feedback and, yes, an occasional redo, I may be asking for trouble.
  5. Is this a task that should be delegated? There are any number of critical functions that are best handled solely by supervisory personnel.

Overcoming objections

It would be great if everyone jumped on every idea with enthusiasm and vigor. But as every manager knows, there are almost always objections and hesitation – on both sides. So managers need to deal with the objections.

Managers

Often the biggest obstacle to delegation is the very person who should be delegating. Most supervisors must first convince themselves that delegation is a good idea and will result in a better operation overall.

Before they can do that, they’ll probably have to overcome a series of common objections to delegation: