Successful Delegation

A key subject that should be present on all management training course programmes is delegation. The ability to delegate properly is a characteristic of quality leaders. The principles and practice of effective delegation say that too much as well as too little delegation is bad and indicates managerial weakness! The two most common problems are interferring and doing it all yourself. These issues are particularly common in managers who were previously particularly successful as a member of staff themselves.

Even highly praised managers like the manager who "saved" Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, have failed at the end of the day as a result of their lack of willingness to delegate. Iacocca was so convinced of his own abilities that he had a determining influence in the design of new Chrysler models. His concepts no longer reflected the modern market trend, however, and the result was a decline in sales figures.

Therefore, try to heed the following four rules of delegation:

Rule 1. Do not delegate any tasks that you do not understand yourself!

For example, if you are a Sales Manager you should not delegate the division of an area into territories to one of your area sales managers if you yourself are unclear about the criteria that should be used to carry out this division. The starting point is a thorough exchange of information with the staff reporting to you. Read their reports thoroughly and discuss the matter with them.

If you are responsible for the work of another manager, you also need to find out as much as possible about them and their managerial skills: what has their performance been like hitherto, what do their people think of them and what are their particular strengths and weaknesses?

Only if you know exactly which tasks you are going to delegate to which people will you be able to guarantee that there will be no unpleasant surprises!

You cannot delegate responsibility for the overall result!

Rule 2. Give "well meant advice" sparingly, but consistently!

Sensible delegation often fails because of two problems. Firstly, employees are not always eager to take on the extra responsibility you have given them and secondly, managers are often not willing to release certain responsibility.

As covered on any good management training course, you cannot and should not delegate your personal responsibility for the overall result. You can, however, make your staff responsible for parts of the overall outcome. This means that you have to be willing to give away a part of your authority and live with the consequences.

Of course there will be situations that will demand a clear and irrevocable managerial decision. Henry Kissinger said, "No one has the right to be in a position of authority if they are not prepared to overrule their subordinates" and Arthur K. Watson, former head of IBM said, "It's no fun being the boss if you can't take a decision on your own once in a while".

Your credibility as a manager is reduced, however, if you use this dictatorial approach too frequently and so abuse your positional power. Think carefully before you revoke the responsibility you have already delegated to one of your staff by giving some "well-meant advice". Make sure that top-down decisions are used in a measured fashion - the key is "once in a while"!

Good delegation requires open communication. You have to know how things stand and your direct reports must know where they stand.

Rule 3. Examine your managerial skills as a team leader.

The first step in teamwork is critical self analysis. You must ask your self "what skills do I lack for successful team management and which skills do I have that helped me succeed in the past"?".

You need players for your team, not captains. This is particularly problematic when you take on a new task. Some of your players are already on the field, whereas you are still warming up. In cases like this it is particularly important to carry out a critical self analysis and analyse the existing characteristics and skills of the players you have.

Most important is that you avoid the trap of surrounding yourself with a homogenous team. You cannot win a game with eleven centre-forwards!

Rule 4. Be willing to delegate at all times!

The ability to delegate grows with experience. The American academic Robert W. Lear (who founded the Executive-in-Residence program at Columbia Business School) believed that each manager goes through three important development stages, which last from one to five years.

In the first phase, after becoming a manager, the manager takes fundamental decisions that change and mould his/her area and strategic direction.

The second phase involves discovering the outside world. For example, the Sales Manager travels around a lot, visits large-scale clients, allied companies, suppliers and remote subsidiaries.

The third phase is characterised by an even stronger external orientation. In this phase the Sales Manager is now primarily interested in the "larger vision" and is no longer interested in small, operative details.

By the end of the second phase at the latest, the Manager therefore needs a strong and responsible team to support him. A manager can only build such a team if s/he is willing to delegate certain aspects of responsibility on both a short-term and long-term basis. S/He must also be willing to show trust in his team members.

Many managers find delegation a difficult task. Attend a good management training course if you want to develop your skills more.

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