Art of Delegation

Development of any organization depends on how it delegates various responsibilities from the upper levels to the down levels. The practice of delegating the tasks to the down the line requires each and every category of employees to get involved in the process of development. This facilitates the employer to distinguish the good and average performers in the firm and helps him to take remedial action in the interest of the organization. Delegation carries tremendous influence on the overall growth of any organization irrespective of its structure, product range and demographic presence. The persistence to delegation brings targeted goals for the firm and makes it grow boundlessly. The delegation of responsibilities is an art, and who masters it rules the corporate world.

What to delegate, how to delegate and when to delegate is a manager’s prerogative. If it is put into practice on regular basis, it will not only ensure the manager’s growth, but will also fortify the employees’ talents and ultimately help the organization to flourish. But in most of the cases, it is seen that the manager shies away to delegate with an apprehension that the employee would topple his authority or he may not be capable enough to perform the task to be entrusted to him.

What to delegate

A manager is to ensure that the responsibilities initially delegated to a particular employee do not carry serious consequences or they do not obstruct the business goal achievement process. Once the manager is assured of employee’s abilities, talents and integrity to bear the burden and discharge the delegation, he may cast upon him the responsibilities of more important assignments. By doing this, a manager may save on his precious time and divert his attention to other development-oriented activities to secure growth of the firm.

Before delegating a particular task out of his functional responsibilities, the manager has to precisely identify the jobs whether they can be worth delegating. For example – if the manager finds an employee best suitable for designing some components of a product, he will assign the total responsibility of designing of the product to that specific employee. Likewise, if he finds an employee strong enough in written communication, he will entrust the customer communication portfolio to him.

How much to delegate

A true manager always finds an opportunity to distribute some of his vital or trivial assignments among his employees. He prioritizes his responsibilities and delegates some of them to his employees. Delegation of responsibilities, of course, helps a manager to upgrade his own skills in addition to keeping himself aware of the employees’ talent level. But it is really a skill to make out as to how much workload is to be passed on to his junior colleagues which they can bear. However, before delegating, he has to ensure that the employee, whom he entrusts the job, is capable enough to shoulder particular assignment and complete the same within a specific timeframe. The manager has to have enough intellect to sense employees’ capabilities and thereby upgrade his own skills, experience and knowledge about respective employees.

In addition to having the talent of judging employees’ abilities, the manager should know the need of providing related aids to his employees for carrying out the assigned jobs. Further, Jobs are to be thoroughly explained to the employees before they start the same. He should be assigned with a job as a whole and not as a part so as to enable him to understand the concept, sustain his mettle and complete the job to the level anticipated by his manager. However, in the process of taking work from his subordinates, if the manager finds that the person is not doing well, he may lessen the workload to make him more efficient.

When to delegate

There is a specific moment of taking up any task. The manager should know the correct time to delegate the responsibility to his employees. He should also be able to identify the physical and mental preparedness as well as the approach of his employees towards the work to be assigned to them.

Further, one important thing to always remember is that a manager should not start breathing on the neck immediately after delegation; otherwise moral boosting power of the employee, instead of getting augmented, will get weakened, and his performance will go far below the expected level. In other words, an employee should be given enough time to execute the tasks entrusted to him. However, the progress and his skills are to be reviewed regularly, and if required, an interim training necessary for the job is to be provided to him, and above all, strengthening his confidence is to be done. This way, the employee gets energized to perform the assignment to the manager’s satisfaction. Think of a situation where almost all employees are delegated and charged in this fashion, and the managers are at ease to shoulder bigger responsibilities having direct bearing on the growth of the organization.