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How To Delegate Effectively

Delegation involves assigning responsibilities or tasks to other people. To delegate effectively, one should identify specific tasks for delegation, ensure the right person is chosen for each task, provide clear explanations and expectations for tasks, and follow-up to evaluate results and provide feedback. Delegating responsibilities appropriately can save time and money, develop skills in employees, and motivate staff, while poor delegation can cause frustration for all parties.

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33 views25 pages

How To Delegate Effectively

Delegation involves assigning responsibilities or tasks to other people. To delegate effectively, one should identify specific tasks for delegation, ensure the right person is chosen for each task, provide clear explanations and expectations for tasks, and follow-up to evaluate results and provide feedback. Delegating responsibilities appropriately can save time and money, develop skills in employees, and motivate staff, while poor delegation can cause frustration for all parties.

Uploaded by

dua tanveer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Delegate Effectively

Delegation is the assignment of any responsibility or authority to


another person to carry out specific activities.

Delegation empowers a subordinate to make decisions, i.e. it is a


shifting of decision-making authority from one organizational level to
another.

In general, delegation is good and can save money and time, help in
building skills, and motivate people. On the other hand, poor
delegation might cause frustration and confusion to all the involved
parties.

The person who delegated the work remains accountable for the
outcome of the delegated work.
To Whom Can You Delegate?

Lateral Lateral

Direction of delegations
Delegation upward

Sometimes someone above you assigns you a responsibility that


shouldn’t be yours.

Other times, someone delegates to you so incompletely that you can’t


possibly perform the task competently.

Go to the person involved to seek “guidance.”

 Express your enthusiasm about the project, but say that you feel
you don’t yet fully grasp the intent, procedures, or goals.

Clarification might eliminate your need to delegate upward.

Or your feedback may make the other person realize that he or she
shouldn’t have delegated this task,
Delegating upward isn’t always a matter of trying to “pass the buck”
back to someone.

Sometimes it’s a matter of finding a way to pass it forward to someone


better equipped to do it.

You might even suggest that a colleague would be better suited to the
task
Delegating downward

You can delegate to those you manage and/or supervise.

This is delegating downward, when you have full authority over the
person to whom you’re delegating

Targeting the right person for the job should be your main priority.
And if there’s no appropriate person, you may have to hire one.
Delegation can be sideways (lateral), too.

That’s the situation when you and the person to whom you’re
delegating are more or less equal in rank or level of authority.

Here is an examples of delegating laterally:

You write easily and well, but hate to talk on the phone.

Meanwhile, a colleague hates writing but is a master of phone


skills.

Consider swapping responsibilities, if there’s enough flexibility in


your organization to do so.
What Can You Delegate?

What types of tasks should you delegate?

1. Tasks you don’t want but that others might.

2. Tasks for which someone else might be better qualified.

A good place to begin exploring delegating possibilities is with

 a list of daily tasks—particularly routine ones—that might fit into


either of the above categories.

If you can find even one or two routine tasks that you might be able to
delegate, you’ll free up time to do those things you simply cannot
delegate.
Why Is It Hard to Delegate?

Six key reasons people give for not delegating a task.

1. I’ll lose control of the task.


2. I’m the only person who can do it right.
3. I’ll look bad for giving it to someone else.
4. I’m afraid that I don’t have the authority to delegate.
5. If the person to whom I delegate the task succeeds, I may become
dispensable.
6. I just never thought of it.
The Key Steps of Delegation

Deciding to delegate is a minor part of the battle. Doing it right is a


much bigger challenge.

Here are 12 steps for masterful delegation:

1. Identify the task to be delegated. Once you’ve freed your mind


from thoughts that defeat delegation, this step should become the
easiest of all.
2. Trace out, on paper, the assigned project’s flow. Keep a record of
the task delegated and the date you made the assignment, as well as
dates for status review and task completion.
3. Find the right person. Once you’ve flowcharted the job, you
should be in a better position to assign it to the right person.

It’s important to be aware of the unique talents and aptitudes of the


people you work with and who work for you.

Very often, people are capable of performing tasks—and would enjoy


being asked to perform them—that no one has ever asked them to do.
4. Explain the assignment : Sit down with the person to whom
you’ve delegated and walk through your flowchart’s steps. Encourage
questions.

5. Explain the benefits. Everyone is concerned with the WIIFM —


the What’s in It for Me?—before buying something or buying into
something.

If you want to defuse resistance to the task you’re delegating (and the
it’s-not-my-job syndrome), make liberal use of benefits language.
6. Specify your standards. Quality and accountability are two
concepts that should guide all of your delegating.

As when you create goals, you must convince the person to whom
you delegate that you hold high expectations.

Until his or her performance meets your standards, the task will
remain incomplete.
7. Discuss deadlines. Has anyone ever given you a job to do without a
completion date? Did it somehow feel less important?

Deadlines help firm up prioritization.

When you delegate, always set deadlines, including intermediary


status review dates.
8. Establish a reporting method

Must feedback be written? Oral? Lengthy? Summarized?

 Articulate your expectations to the person you delegate to.

 Doing so will ensure professional, responsible, and orderly


feedback.

 An added advantage: if written, the report can be easily


shared with others.
9. Encourage questions. At the end of your explanation,
encourage the person to ask any questions that may be still
unvoiced.

If none are forthcoming, do a comprehension check; have the


person summarize the assignment as he or she understands it.
10. Conduct unscheduled status checks.

 Feel free to informally drop in on anyone to whom you’ve


delegated.

 Be prepared to adjust procedures and goals as necessary.

 The worst-case scenario: you may even have to pull the project
and find a new person to do it or do it yourself.

 No matter how well you plot things out, the unexpected is to be


expected.
11. Evaluate results. Ask yourself the following questions:

 Did the person meet the deadline? If not, was it because it was
unreasonable?
 Did the person achieve all goals?
 Did the person meet, exceed, or fall short of your expectations?
 Did the person realize the promised benefits?
 Was this the right person for this task?
 Would you delegate to this person again?
 Was the final report thorough?
12. Praise/Suggest Improvements. Physically, it’s not easy to pat
yourself on the back.

Emotionally, it’s very easy. Delegating was an achievement for you.

Give credit where credit is due—to the people to whom you


delegated.

What if things didn’t turn out as well as you wanted?

 At least recognize the effort, suggest improvements for next time.


 Transform the whole process into a learning experience for you and
for the person to whom you delegated.
Pocket Reminders

❏ We can delegate not only downward, but also laterally and upward.

❏ Delegate tasks we don’t like but that others might like and tasks for
which others are better qualified than us.

❏ To delegate effectively, get past the fear of losing control, of


thinking we are the only person who can do it right, the belief that
we will look bad or that we don’t have the authority to delegate, or
the fear that we become dispensable.

❏ Follow all 12 steps to effective delegation and flowchart the tasks


delegated to ensure that we and others understand them.

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