One of the fundamental jobs of management is to delegate the tasks that have to be completed. As easy as this sounds there are a number of serious questions: what should be delegated, to whom should it be delegated and probably most important of all the difference between delegation and abdication.
The answer to the first question is easy – every task should be delegated. The job of setting standards and creating the framework as to how the tasks should be completed is a management function. Setting and achieving targets and reporting to Senior Management is a management function. Talking to staff individually as appropriate making sure they are crystal clear about what has to be done and the standards required is a management function. Finding better cheaper and faster ways to perform any task is a management function. Plotting a clear course for the short, medium and long term, is a management function. Indeed the seniority of a manager depends on this term, Junior Managers have responsibility for the short term, Middle managers have responsibility for the medium term and senior managers have responsibility for the long term.
All other tasks should be delegated. Now who should you delegate each task to? As part of your new role as a result of reading these pieces, no doubt you now have a really good handle on each of your employees, you know what they are good at, you know what they like doing and equally you know what they are not so good at and the things they hate to do. Armed with this list, you should allocate the tasks in accordance with the strengths of each individual. Now when I talk about strengths I am talking about strengths as defined by management guru Marcus Buckingham (you really should check him out if you are interested in this stuff. I have read loads and haven’t come across anyone better!) which is not your traditional view.
Without giving everything away according to Buckingham a strength is something that makes you feel strong and a weakness is something that makes you feel weak. By this definition someone could be very good at doing something and that would still qualify as a weakness.
When allocating tasks you should also consider each individuals personality and processing style to make sure the job is a perfect fit, then you have to assess each person’s workload to make sure it is reasonable and achievable.
Talk to people in advance and ideally before you have the final plan in place, if you give them an opportunity to put in their own ideas they will be much more receptive to changes. The fact is most people are resistant to change and most see it as a threat rather than an opportunity. If they think you are trying to railroad in a bunch of changes that will increase their workload and maybe even the hours they have to work for little or no additional reward, you inevitably will meet resistance. If you explain the logic of what you are trying to achieve and why you want to achieve it, you will get a much better result.
As well as talking to people in advance, you have to block off time to train them up in every aspect of the new job, explain it in sufficient detail – some will want to know everything from how it works to why it works to how it fits into the overall organisation. Others simply show me the steps I have to do and I’ll do it. Make sure you respond to your staff in a way that they are happy – not you! Handing someone a task and walking away is what I call abdication – as a manager you have responsibility for how every task in your department is performed, and it is your responsibility to make sure everyone knows what they are doing and the very best way to do it.