The Starting Point of Delegation
THE STARTING POINT of delegation, like the starting point in all successful management, is for you to take some time to think about the job before you do anything else. Think through exactly what has to be done, by you and by others. A good exercise is for you to write out the objective of a job, especially a complex job, and then make a checklist of every action that must be taken to complete the job on time, and to the required level of quality.
Many of the problems in management come from taking action without thinking. By contrast, success in management is usually the result of taking time to think before you act. And there are few areas where this is more important than in the area of delegation.
There is an old saying, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Every minute spent in planning saves ten to twelve minutes in execution. Make a list of everything that has to be done in the completion of an important task or the achievement of an objective. The more time you take to plan the task before you begin, and to write down every step, the faster you will complete that task when you begin work.
Thinking through the job—what has to be done, when it has to be complete, and to what standard of quality—is the starting point of effective delegation. Unfortunately, many managers delegate first and then think through the job later.
Ask the Right Questions
You should approach each job or assignment as if your career and your future depended on it. The bigger and more important the task, the more seriously you should approach it in the first place. Ask the right questions:
What am I trying to do?
How am I trying to do it?
Could there be a better way?
Start off by thinking about your situation today, where you want to be in the future, and the very best way that you can get there.
Be Your Own Management Consultant
The job of the management consultant is to ask questions about what you are doing and why you are doing it that way. Peter Drucker said, “I am not a consultant; I am an insultant. I don’t tell people what to do. I just ask them the hard questions that they need to answer to decide what to do for themselves.”
An excellent exercise to engage in as a manager is to identify your assumptions, and then test them. What are you assuming to be true? What are you assuming consciously, and what are you assuming unconsciously? And most important, what if your assumptions are not true? What if the ideas on which you are basing your decisions are not correct? Then what would you do?
Should You Do It Yourself?
For every task, you have to decide whether you should do it yourself, delegate it to someone in the company, or outsource the task to a specialist outside the company. You can only make these decisions if you take the time to think through the task first.
IF IT MAKES SENSE, DO IT YOURSELF
Sometimes, the assumption that you need to delegate a task is wrong; it makes more sense to do it yourself. Early in my career, I was a copywriter for a large advertising agency. In that position, I read every book I could find on writing professional copy and eventually worked my way up to writing advertising copy for national accounts.
To this day, I can write excellent advertising on almost any subject, for any product or service, quickly, easily, and well. A member of my staff could spend hours writing a piece of advertising copy for our website or for other promotional materials and still not do a particularly good job. But I can write that same amount of copy in a few minutes, and it is ready to go to press.
This is one of those areas where it makes a lot of sense for me to quickly write the advertising copy rather than delegating it or hiring someone else outside the company to do it.
FIND THE RIGHT PERSON
If, however, you should be delegating a task rather than doing it yourself, who is the best person to whom you can delegate it?
When delegating, be sure that you match the activities to the right people. Delegating an important task to a person who does not have the demonstrated talents or aptitudes to complete the task can be a recipe for disaster. You want your people to stretch, but not too far.
Many individuals and organizations have gotten into a lot of trouble because they have delegated an important task to someone who did not have the ability to do the job properly. Remember, only past performance is a true predictor of future performance. Always delegate the job to someone who can perform the task quickly and efficiently, and bring it in on budget.
Another assumption that managers make is that, whatever the task, it has to be done by someone within the company. Today, however, there are companies that specialize in certain activities and you can outsource an entire task to them and get it done faster, better, and cheaper than if you did it internally.
It All Begins with Planning
Perhaps the biggest single payoff you will ever enjoy as a manager will come from planning. And all planning begins with paper and a pen, and making a list of what has to be done, and when, and how, in advance. So, take the time to think through a task or job first, and ask the right questions, before making your decision about whether and how to delegate it.