Delegation

written by: Carl Wilson; article published: year 2007, month 06;


In: Categories » Business » Negotiation and communication » Delegation

The best executives are those that have the sense to pick good people. With an increased emphasis on teamwork, you will be called upon to co-operate and share the workload. From time to time, you can ask someone to assist by taking on an activity that you have done up to this point. In this section we discuss what you should delegate, to whom, and how the delegated task should be done.

WHAT

  1. You simply cannot do everything, be everywhere, and control all decisions. Give your colleagues credit for being able to cope with some of your less demanding tasks.

  2. Clear any ideas about delegation beforehand with your boss.

  3. Document your activities for a week. Divide tasks into two categories: those that only you can do and those that can be delegated. Here are some examples of the latter group:

    • routine jobs;

    • collecting data;

    • attending routine meetings unrelated to your major tasks.

WHO

  1. Decide who would be suitable to help you reduce your workload. Consider

    • their interest in the tasks;

    • their available time;

    • their skill levels.

  2. If you identify people who have the time and interest but not the appropriate skills, offer to train them in the new tasks.

HOW

  1. Meet formally or informally, as the situation dictates, with the people to whom tasks will be delegated.

    • Explain the purpose of the meeting.

    • Describe the task that needs doing.

    • Confirm the goal(s) of the task, making sure the delegate agrees.

    • Agree on a completion date.

    • Make clear the importance of prompt and accurate performance.

    • Divide large projects into a series of mini-goals with their own timelines.

    • Don't forget to stress the benefits of the new responsibility. These might include enhanced status, opportunities to learn, exposure within the company, or a chance for promotion.

    • Make sure the delegate is aware of, and accepts the scope of, the task and the duties involved. Indicate your mutual agreement with a handshake.

  1. Hand over responsibility and authority along with the task. Indicate to all concerned that you have confidence in the delegate's ability.

  2. Encourage the delegate to bring up any concerns or doubts about the task before beginning, and help solve them before they become problems.

  3. Monitor performance to make sure your directions have been understood.

  4. Continue monitoring with decreasing frequency as the delegate becomes familiar with the task. Give positive feedback for a good performance and helpful, uncritical advice if there are problems.

  5. Give delegates enough room to carry out new responsibilities in their own style, if appropriate.

  6. Let your boss and other colleagues know that you have delegated the task and to whom, and that your delegate has the authority to carry it through. You, however, bear the ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of the delegation

legal disclaimer

1) Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article as well for any and all copyright infringements by authors and writers. E-articles is a free information resource. If you suspect this article for any copyright infringements, please read the Terms of service and contact us to investigate the problem.
2) The E-articles directory team is not responsible for inaccuracies, falsehoods, or any other types of misinformation this tutorial may contain and will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by a user through the user's reliance on the information gained here. Please read the Terms of service

Useful tools and features

Translate this article to...    Send this article to you or to a friend

Link to this article from your page   
If you like this article (tutorial), please link to it from your web page using the information above. Linking to this page, this is the only way to help us improve our service, the same time providing your visitors with a way to improve their online experience.

related articles

1. Employee Recruiting
Job Descriptions and Requirements Many positions naturally demand certain requirements with respect to education, experience, and qualifications. For instance, it is customary for CFOs (Chief Financial Officers) to be qualified in accounting and finance and usually to have an MBA. However, in many cases, companies define prerequisites that are not essential to the nature of the position, but are rather the result of norms. In practice, many companies find that relevant experience, if it is accompanied by profound profes...

2. Incentives to Tie Employees to the Company
Over and above the monetary compensation, many companies invest considerable efforts in creating a work environment that will bond the employees with the company and encourage them to stay with it. Recruiting a talented employee is only the first stage in the battle to keep him or her with the company. In times of prosperity on the capital market the demand for good workers is high, thus increasing the turnover rate of employees. Companies are required to make significant investments to train employees for their positions in th...

3. Employee Compensation in the Technology Segments
One of the main objectives of companies in general, and startups in particular, is to navigate the company to a path of rapid growth that will enhance its profits and establish its financial stability. Since the development of products is based primarily on the human factor, the recruitment of talented employees and enhancing their bonding with the company are crucial elements on the road to the company's success. As in any field, companies, including startups, also seek to compensate their employees in order to bring out the b...

4. Reasons Why We Are Poor Listeners
Lazy listening is enormously costly to our success. Most of us think we are good listeners, but that overconfidence may be the reason for our downfall. Nothing puts a sales call in jeopardy faster than poor, inattentive listening. Customers don't take long to get a sense of your listening commitment, especially given the fact that 90% of communication is nonverbal. That's right, 90%. About 55% is through obvious body language and 35% is by how you say it. Given these overwhelming statistics, it's pretty tough to convinc...

5. The Five Principles of Creative Negotiation
Dealing with conflict and differences is rarely an easy task. Barriers to creative negotiation can be numerous and are often the saboteurs of a potential sale. Remember: your goal is to reach win-win-win-win settlements with qualified customers. To that end, I offer these five principles of creative sales negotiation: Principle #1: Attitude First Are you a good negotiator? Your answer reflects your level of confidence in your negotiation skills. Creating a positive mindset involves basic attitudinal charac...

6. WHAT IS WRONG WITH MEETINGS
Review the following questions and check the ones that can be answered with a “yes.” - Have you attended meetings where you did not get the information you needed? - Have you attended meetings where the atmosphere was hostile or abusive? - Have you attended meetings where most of the decisions were postponed? - Have you attended meetings where the purposes was unclear? In all the cases where the answer was a yes, the meeting was not an effective coordination tool....

7. USING PROJECT MEETINGS AS SUCCESSFUL COORDINATION TOOLS
For project meetings to serve as communication and coordination tools they have to achieve the following goals: - Inform project members - Provide opportunities to contribute expertise and knowledge - Achieve agreement and support for the outcome To attain these goals this article has focused on three aspects of meetings: 1. A well-defined purpose 2. A tangible outcome 3. A comfortable and supportive atmosphere All three are important for successful and effective communic...

8. How to make meetings a valuable communication tool
What do meetings that one experienced as valuable to attend — meetings one keeps going back to — have in common? Here are some responses people gave in a survey for a project post-mortem: - The meetings address issues of concern. - It is important to get everyone face to face, but also limit the time spent doing so. - Everyone gets the same information. - Everyone is made aware of the changes. Personally, the Sunday church meetings and the weekly toastmaster’s meetings are ...

9. How to make meeting participants feel confortable
Meeting participants will feel more comfortable, if: - A meeting adheres to a common format. - The facilitator provides guidance. - The facilitator uses context-free questions to solicit needs and feelings. People feel comfortable if they know what they can expect. Think of that recent Sunday church meeting. How is it different from the one before? It is the content that is different, but not the format. A common format makes people feel comfortable that they can participate and that they know how. Thi...