Art & Science Of Delegation: By Sashi Prabhu

DELEGATION-AN ART by Sashi Prabhu Can we delegate effectively to others? Do we like to delegate? Should we delegate? Can we delegate when we are at the receiving end or when we consider our function a thankless job yet a glamorous way to be in limelight? The strategy behind being able to delegate or being an able delegator is that there is an increased chance of moving up in an organization. What really is delegation? Where does the buck stop? Many executives really confuse delegation with abdication of responsibility. It makes sense to be clear about certain fundamentals of delegation. I firmly believe any executive in the middle management (with reportees) having “fire in the belly” about climbing the corporate ladder must allocate time to correspond to relative importance of issues facing them. He must set a value added time/importance of the activity, function, job ratio and do justice to it. He must possess the ability to manage his time, so as to focus & channalise his energy on high value activity, job or tasks. This will finally determine his level of achievements. This can be done only by delegating functions down the line. To relinquish your power to a reportee is not delegation. It is evasion of responsibility. Delegation in the true sense is entrusting another person a job together with authority to do it. Thus the delegate now acts on behalf of you like the emissaries of the days of yore or the diplomats of today. If you happen to be the delegate then the function, task or job entrusted to you by someone in authority comes with the necessary power to complete it successfully. Delegation saves your time and develops people while failure to delegate eats your time. Delegation is necessary in organizations. What matters in organizations is doing such things well, but of course in organizations it is difficult to do simple things well. Delegation is one such glaring example. It either does not happen too well or it does not just enough. That is very regrettable as both sins of omission & commission consume rather than save a valuable commodity called “time”. Where you could reap double the crop per acre you end up with a bad crop and then blame it on…………………………… .

Some comments made to me over a period of the last twenty years in various functions I have worked like: manufacturing, ancillary development, projects, planning, exports, costing, customer support, marketing and materials management are as illustrated. “I strongly believe that information is power. I would rather keep really important information secret. If I hand that over then perhaps one will be able to displace me.” “When I was away with influenza for a week the entire place came to a halt, so you see I am indispensable to the firm”

“I really and strongly believe in delegation but just seethe monkeys & clowns I have working for me” “Unless they are trained I will have to continue to carry two bulging briefcases” “Most of them have psychologically retired even though they are not drawing their pensions” “Even though I delegate they will not perform as I would have done so myself” “My boss will not keep coming to me and will he bypass me to my reportees if I delegate.” Research has revealed 9 top reasons why delegation does not take place irrespective of tier of the management. 1. Delegating is a high risk activity which need risk assessment. 2. We enjoying doing these things so why do we delegate? 3. It is a very slow process 4. we don’t want to sit and think 5. we would like to be “on top of everything” 6. Will our subordinate displace us from our positions? 7. No one can do it better than or as good as I can? 8. No one will come to me for solutions in that area 9. Why do I bring him into limelight for no rhyme or reason? After all I’m the mentor. We can delegate authority to do the job and hold the person accountable for the performance. If the activity is done in the right way and spirit it will generate a sense of responsibility in the delegate. As you are ultimately responsible for what happens or does not happen as an outcome. A corollary to the above is that sufficient control must be maintained in order to protect your ultimate accountability. Leadership is the second responsibility that cannot be delegated. In reality any great leader will not delegate his leadership to others as in doing so all he will be left is an empty title while the ethos of his job lies elsewhere. Another important thing to remember is that as a delegator you cannot divest yourself of the accountability and leadership. Last but not the least you should never allow any one to decide what you should delegate and what you should not. There are certain key factors that a delegator may consider and constantly review for delegating or not doing so. Complexity: the determines whether to are examples of areas more the challenge in Similarly where there profitability, do not

complexity or delicacy of function, activity or job delegate or not. A&M, policy decisions on pricing or budgets where you may feel that you need to handle yourself. The uncharted waters the more you should attack yourself. is a chance of major repurcations for good or bad on delegate to any other person.

Confidence: one is more comfortable to delegate if he can trust his subordinate. The trust encompasses the professional competence and personal qualities. One must make sure that he is not either optimistic or pessimistic in varying degrees about his subordinate in order to delegate. We need to work with them, talk to them, advice them, guide them, spend time with them, observe them support them and then reflect about them before forming our judgments. Some will need hand holding and walking through initially in the introductory phase, some would do an appropriate job with a little risk of any negative impact. The best are capable to understand the business model, company’s philosophy and work towards execution of the function without consequences or mistakes. Be forewarned that many leaders believe in intuition, but rest assured intuition could be misleading and decisions taken based on a haunch could be disastrous in the real sense of the word.’ Availability of time: crisis situation where time is short must not be delegated. The time taken to explain, cross check if the matter is understood as required by you, and action initiated by the delegate may not be there to give. Future development: delegation is centered on the routine and administrative chunks of a function. One must be however careful not to delegate all administrative work and work only on leadership. As for me I make it point to delegate everything that can be defined. This gives me the time to keep the scores on the delegated jobs and freedom to spend time in exploring new avenues or chase opportunities that lie ahead. My work style encourages me to select jobs I know best and could supervise them and delegate these once first. As a practice I work on my present activities and keep reviewing those to see if the time is ripe enough to delegate them .If the time is just ripe them I go ahead and delegate the job and am in a position to take decisions and follow up. The correct approach is to assign tasks & functions to others though you remain ultimately accountable. One needs to keep in mind to strike a balance between needs of the company and development needs of an individual. We often come across organizations where there are senior managers who do not want to delegate because they want to do it with out delegation. These people have risen from the ranks through sheer hard work. The problem commences when these people are promoted beyond their level of competence. Such organizations or departments loose their momentum as even a minor decision has to be taken at the helm. Skills of a delegator SKILL REMARKS 1) Select the right people. If the people are incompetent or unwilling to do the job even with training you should get rid of them. Having the right people to do the job is the basic need of delegation. Remember there never are bad soldiers but only bad officers. 2)training How ever high profile performers you have in your rank and file all the delegates need to be trained. Demonstrate the job Get feedback Get delegate to do it Delegate does it on his/her own Delegate reports back on completion. 3)Knowledge and reason Training and delegation is 2- way traffic. The function, activity or job must be clearly communicated and authority specifically defined. The delegate needs to know policies and goal so that he knows what he is doing and why he is doing it. 4)Support service Resist the temptation to plunge in. When the delegate approaches you for a solution never give him the answer but lead

him to it. The aim is to develop the delegate so that he can cope up and do well as you have in the past. 5)control Check the progress in your own defined way. It is important to know that it is not abdication but control that is the name of the game. To sum up Delegation begins with a sense of value. From there stems a strong desire to focus on priorities and delegate the rest as it will leave free time to think plan and act very effectively. Delegation is not abdication. Delegators often complain that they have two bulging briefcases to work with when their subordinates are running out of worthwhile work. To be giving people power to make decisions and act in your place requires courage, judgement and faith in others because at the end “the buck stops with you”. Delegation is a great motivator as it enriches the job and raises morale. Delegation does not save the organization’s time but it saves yours.