Chronicle Editor
Fredrick Qaphelani Mabikwa
DELEGATING is the act of sharing or transferring responsibility for a task to another person. It is a process where someone with authority gives another person the power to perform a specific task while maintaining accountability for the outcome. While leaders often delegate work to members of their team, delegating can also take place among peers when a leader asks a colleague to share a work responsibility, so an important project can be accomplished on a deadline.
Some leaders are slow to delegate due to a lack of trust in their team members. They are unsure if any of the team members are able, ready, or prepared to take on the task.
This lack of trust further makes them doubt if anyone on their team can do the work as well as they can. Some are impatient, feeling it may take longer to explain how to do the task than to just do it themselves, thinking: “When I have more time, I will teach my team members how to do this. For now, I just need to get it done.”
Some are the “good” bosses, thinking, “I don’t want to overburden my staff”. They believe that by delegating and giving their staff extra work, they will become unpopular and lose respect. Some leaders do not delegate because they do not know what they can delegate; they cannot separate and itemise their duties. At times, not having role models to delegate to can also cause leaders to under-delegate.
We want to consider the benefits of delegating. One of the most important traits of a strong team is a genuine culture of trust among the team members. Such a culture is created by the leader, who has the sole responsibility of creating an environment where all team members’ trust and can depend on each other. Naturally, people want to follow leaders who they feel truly care about them as individuals and care for the team as well.
Employees want to follow managers and supervisors who have a heart for wanting them to grow. The best way to build that trust is to help your team know that you have confidence in their abilities and that you want them to be valuable contributors to the organisation’s overall success. They must be made to feel that they too matter through occasionally assigning them extra challenging tasks that traditionally belong to the leaders.
Most leaders and managers tend to forget that their key result areas are policy formulation and strategy.
In other words, they are employed to think. Unfortunately, most of them, because of a failure to delegate, find themselves failing to cope in these roles and some even find themselves on the shop floor working with the skilled and semi-skilled operatives. Because of the drive to meet targets or surpass them, some of the leaders and managers often take on more projects than they can handle alone. The fear of failure drives them to avoid delegation for fear that someone else will not get the job done properly.
When managers are juggling priorities at the same time, the chances of making mistakes increase. Delegating tasks to the right individuals is critical in this case since it allows managers and leaders to focus on their key functions, which are mainly planning and organising. When leaders fail to delegate effectively, employees are often afraid to take initiative and display their creativity.
Employees would feel apprehensive about bringing new ideas to the table, to the detriment of the organisation. When employees truly feel that their skills and talents are being appreciated and put to good use, they are fully engaged and happier overall.
Employees can only showcase their creative talent when their leaders give them the freedom to tackle delegated tasks in their own way. When an employee creates a difference through accomplishing a delegated task in their own creative way, they feel empowered and driven to do even more for their employer.
Managers and supervisors should therefore not feel threatened when their subordinates, through personal initiative, become productive. This can lead to creativity breakthroughs which can benefit the entire organisation.
“There is no rest for the head that wears the crown,” goes the old adage. Many a time, many leaders are overwhelmed by a mounting list of responsibilities. With the world economic recession affecting many economies, there are many employee lay-offs, leaving thinned-out teams in most organisations.
This scenario forces leaders to take on more tasks that they wouldn’t ordinarily take under normal circumstances. This is the opportune time for leaders to share responsibilities in a more team-based approach, freeing up space for themselves for the tasks that are most important to running an effective team. They also create more time for self-care, which helps to manage stress and burnout, keeping them healthy, motivated, and excited about their roles.
For effective delegation to happen, the tasks delegated must be specific and clear. When employees are not clear about the expectations, they can be set up for failure.
There is a need for a full explanation of the delegated task, why it is important, and the basic parameters for doing the work. When the need arises to delegate, consider who the best employee to give the tasks to is. As a manager or supervisor, there is a need to know your employees. Know what each of them can and cannot do; employees are gifted differently. Highly specialised tasks like project management will require that you assign those to your most organised employees. A recurring problem you may need to assign to your most creative employee.
Sometimes it’s important to understand all the key parameters of the delegation. What is required in delegating the task? Is it some specific training, resources, or authority? The manager must ensure that the person doing the task is fully empowered and not set up for failure.
This may mean clearly communicating to other team members that you are delegating full authority to a certain team member and that they need their full support and co-operation to accomplish the task.
Evidently, delegation is not a simple task. If it were, we wouldn’t see so many leaders resisting it regularly. Yet when leaders fully embrace the many benefits of delegation, they hold the keys to unlocking much more potential and greatness from their teams. As a manager or supervisor, in order to appreciate the diverse strengths of your team and allow them to share and shine, you need to delegate.
Delegating, if done well, not only reduces your own workload, it develops your employees, gives you and your team a bigger range of skills and impact, provides emergency back-up, creates inclusive opportunities, empowers employees, and retains the much-needed talent who are experts at getting the job done right.
Online Reporter