4 Ways to Improve Delegation

As a manager you may sometimes feel overwhelmed with workloads and timelines.  You are responsible for assigning tasks, ensuring tasks are performed and your ability to make swift decisions may be limited by your organizational structure.  These are all processes of the decision-making hierarchy in your organization.  In this post we will look at the “Performing Tasks” process as this area tends to give managers the most difficulty as delegation is required and is most often the hardest to master. 

The decision-making hierarchy in your organization should run smoothly.  However, trouble often occurs when communication between managers and subordinates in regards to delegation and accountability is not clearly defined.  Delegation begins when a manager assigns a task to a subordinate.  Accountability falls to the subordinate, who must then complete the task.

Common Management Characteristic Flaws

Often the managers are not comfortable or confident when delegating to others.  These managers often exhibit several characteristics:

1)     They assume that employees can never do anything as well as they can

2)     They fear that their subordinates will “show the manager up” in front of others by doing a superb job

3)      They want to control everything

4)     They fail to do long-range planning because they are bogged down in day-to-day operations

5)     Are in the dark about industry trends and competitive products because they are too involved in day-to-day operations

Solutions to Common Management Characteristic Flaws

While managers may not display all these characteristics certainly all of us can relate to a few of these over our careers.  Below are some solutions to these common manager characteristic flaws:

1)     Managers should recognize that they cannot do everything themselves

2)     If subordinates cannot do a job, they should be trained so that they can assume more responsibility

3)     Managers should recognize that if a subordinate performs well, it reflects favourably on that employee’s manager

4 Strategies to Improve Delegation

So when you and your team take on the next project consider these 4 strategies to improve delegation.

1)     Decide on the nature of the work to be done

2)     Match the job with the skills of subordinates

3)     Make sure the person chosen understands the objectives he or she is supposed to achieve

4)     Make sure subordinates have the time and training necessary to do the task

What is your most common challenge when delegating work to your team?

Resource: Business, Seventh Canadian Addition, 2011, Pearson Education, Inc.