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If individuals are too closely supervised, they will end up feeling restricted in what they do and how they do it. In addition, the person supervising the work will have wasted their own time. If a task has been delegated without ensuring that people are fully trained and capable of the new responsibility, the work is unlikely to be completed effectively and more time will need to be spent putting it right. Based on The New Manager's Survival Manual by Clay Carr[1], this article examines how the right balance can be struck when delegating a piece of work.
There are several stages you should go through when considering delegating a particular piece of work to an individual:
- Look over the five levels of delegation before delegating the work.
- Think about the individual’s skills, knowledge and ability and decide upon the highest delegation level that is appropriate for them.
- The task should be explained to the individual and review and completion deadlines agreed and noted. The work should be reviewed but the person delegating the work should not interfere since this would defy the point of delegation. Those capable of the task will find it irritating, those lacking in confidence will start to rely on it.
The Five Levels of Delegation
1. Full Delegation
This is the approach of choice when delegating to an experienced person with whom the delegator has worked before and whose judgment can be trusted. The person taking on the delegated work should be made aware of the deadline that has been given for the task and given all the relevant information relating to the task. From past experience, the delegator should know that the person taking on the delegated work can be trusted to complete the task before the deadline.
2. Significant Delegation
This approach should be used with an individual that can be trusted, but isn’t considered fully competent just yet. In this situation, two deadlines ahould be set: the time by which the work should be fully completed; and a review date when the delegator can meet the individual and go over what they have already done, thereby allowing some time for correction or readjusting of direction, if necessary. The delegator should also ask the team member if they have any other pieces of work that might conflict with this one.
3. Limited Delegation
In some situations it is beneficial to ask the person taking on the delegated work to come up with a variety of ways of doing a delegated task. The delegator can then decide which of these options should be proceeded with. This is limited delegation. Two deadlines should be set in this instance. First, the deadline for the person taking on the delegated work to generate ways of doing the task. Second, the deadline for them to actually complete the task.
4. Minimal Delegation
This is for an individual who is either new to the job, or needs some development, but who is showing signs of improvement. Minimal delegation involves informing the individual of the task and telling them what, how, and when to do it. Times when the delegator and the person taking on the delegated work can meet and discuss progress should also be agreed.
5. No Delegation
Not delegating to anyone is an option for any task but, where possible, delegation should always be considered in order to manage your workload, develop the skills of others and motivate them by increasing the variety of their work.
References[1] Carr, C, The New Manager’s Survival Manual (John Wiley & Sons, 1995), pp 115–117.
