Importance of delegation

Even "Super-You" needs help and support. There is no shame in asking for assistance. Push aside the pride and show respect for the talent others can bring to the table. And, remember that there is no such thing as a single-handed success: When you include and acknowledge all those in your corner, you propel yourself, your teammates and your supporters to greater heights.

If you work on your own, there's only a limited amount that you can do, however hard you work. You can only work so many hours in a day. There are only so many tasks you can complete in these hours. There are only so many people you can help by doing these tasks. And, because the number of people you can help is limited, your success is limited. However, if you're good at your job, people will want much more than this from you. This can lead to a real sense of pressure and work overload: You can't do everything that everyone wants, and this can leave you stressed, unhappy, and feeling that you're letting people down. On the positive side, however, you're being given a tremendous opportunity if you can find a way around this limitation. If you can realize this opportunity, you can be genuinely successful.

One of the most common ways of overcoming this limitation is to learn how to delegate your work to other people. If you do this well, you can quickly build a strong and successful team of people, well able to meet the demands that others place.

This is why delegation is such an important skill, and is one that you absolutely have to learn! And to figure out how to delegate properly, it's important to understand why people avoid it. Quite simply, people don't delegate because it takes a lot of up-front effort.

After all, which is easier: designing and writing content for a brochure that promotes a new service you helped spearhead, or having other members of your team do it?

You know the content inside and out. You can spew benefit statements in your sleep. It would be relatively straightforward for you to sit down and write it. It would even be fun! The question is, "Would it be a good use of your time?"

While on the surface it's easier to do it yourself than explain the strategy behind the brochure to someone else, there are two key reasons that mean that it's probably better to delegate the task to someone else:

First, if you have the ability to spearhead a new campaign, the chances are that your skills are better used further developing the strategy, and perhaps coming up with other new ideas. By doing the work yourself, you're failing to make best use of your time.

Second, by meaningfully involving other people in the project, you develop those people's skills and abilities. This means that next time a similar project comes along, you can delegate the task with a high degree of confidence that it will be done well, with much less involvement from you.

Delegation allows you to make the best use of your time and skills, and it helps other people in the team grow and develop to reach their full potential in the organization.

Next, it’s important to look at when you should delegate. Delegation is a win-win when done appropriately, however that does not mean that you can delegate just anything. To determine when delegation is most appropriate there are five key questions you need to ask yourself:

· Is there someone else who has (or can be given) the necessary information or expertise to complete the task? Essentially is this a task that someone else can do, or is it critical that you do it yourself?

· Does the task provide an opportunity to grow and develop another person's skills?

· Is this a task that will recur, in a similar form, in the future?

· Do you have enough time to delegate the job effectively? Time must be available for adequate training, for questions and answers, for opportunities to check progress, and for rework if that is necessary.

· Is this a task that I should delegate? Tasks critical for long-term success (for example, recruiting the right people for your team) genuinely do need your attention.

If you can answer "yes" to at least some of the above questions, then it could well be worth delegating this job.

That being said, having all these conditions present is no guarantee that the delegated task will be completed successfully either. You also need to consider to whom you will delegate the task and how you will do it.

How Should You Delegate?

Use the following principles to delegate successfully:

· Clearly articulate the desired outcome. Begin with the end in mind and specify the desired results.

· Clearly identify constraints and boundaries. Where are the lines of authority, responsibility and accountability? Should the person:

· Wait to be told what to do

· Ask what to do

· Recommend what should be done, and then act

· Act, and then report results immediately

· Initiate action, and then report periodically

Where possible, include people in the delegation process. Empower them to decide what tasks are to be delegated to them and when.

· Match the amount of responsibility with the amount of authority. Understand that you can delegate some responsibility, however you can't delegate away ultimate accountability.

· Delegate to the lowest possible organizational level. The people who are closest to the work are best suited for the task, because they have the most intimate knowledge of the detail of everyday work. This also increases workplace efficiency, and helps to develop people.

· Provide adequate support, and be available to answer questions. Ensure the project's success through ongoing communication and monitoring as well as provision of resources and credit.

· Focus on results. Concern yourself with what is accomplished, rather than detailing how the work should be done: Your way is not necessarily the only or even the best way! Allow the person to control his or her own methods and processes. This facilitates success and trust.

· Avoid "upward delegation". If there is a problem, don't allow the person to shift responsibility for the task back to you: ask for recommended solutions; and don't simply provide an answer.

· Build motivation and commitment. Discuss how success will impact financial rewards, future opportunities, informal recognition, and other desirable consequences. Provide recognition where deserved.

· Establish and maintain control.

· Discuss timelines and deadlines.

· Take time to review all submitted work.

In thoroughly considering these key points prior to and during the delegation process you will find that you delegate more successfully.

To conclude this chapter, let’s summarize the key points:

At first sight, delegation can feel like more hassle than it's worth, however by delegating effectively, you can hugely expand the amount of work that you can deliver.

When you arrange the workload so that you are working on the tasks that have the highest priority for you, and other people are working on meaningful and challenging assignments, you have a recipe for success.

To delegate effectively, choose the right tasks to delegate, identify the right people to delegate to, and delegate in the right way. There's a lot to this, but you'll achieve so much more once you're delegating effectively.

CONCLUSION

On the basis of the work carried out we have come to the following conclusion.

An effective manager pays attention to many facets of management, leadership and learning within organizations. So, it's difficult to take the topic of "management success" and say that the following ten items are the most important for success. But there are some management skills without which I don't believe it is possible to be a successful manager.

Moreover, the most important issue in management success is being a person that others want to follow. Every action you take during your career in an organization helps determine whether people will one day want to follow you.

A successful manager, one whom others want to follow:

• Builds effective and responsive interpersonal relationships. Reporting staff members, colleagues and executives respect his or her ability to demonstrate caring, collaboration, respect, trust and attentiveness.

• Communicates effectively in person, print and email. Listening and two-way feedback characterize his or her interaction with others.

• Builds the team and enables other staff to collaborate more effectively with each other. People feel they have become more - more effective, more creative, more productive - in the presence of a team builder.

• Understands the financial and marketing aspects of the business and sets goals and measures and documents staff progress and success.

• Knows how to create an environment in which people experience positive morale and recognition and employees are motivated to work hard for the success of the business.

• Leads by example and provides recognition when others do the same.

• Helps people grow and develop their skills and capabilities through education and on-the-job learning.

• Be an effective organizer of your own time

• Pay attention on what is really important within working process

• Admit, that even very high-skilled manager is not able to do everything by himself, so be able to delegate responsibilities.

Of course, it is impossible to learn everything only by reading some advice, because at first, every company is different: it has its own problems, teams, etc. And secondly, this advice should be followed and maintained in practice. The Dean of the department where I study says: “We are paid not for our knowledge, but for our skills”, and I totally agree with it. This term paper is one of many ways to get knowledge. As for skills, we have all life to get them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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3. Marc Mancini “Time Management”, McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (April 7, 2003)

4. Palmer Stephen and Cooper, Gary “How to Deal with Stress: Kogan Page, 2007

5. Patrick Lencioni “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable”, Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (April 11, 2002)

6. Richard Templar “The Rules of Management”, Pearson, 2011

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[1] http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 953