What is responsible delegation?
A survey conducted by the London Business School revealed that only 30 per cent of managers felt they could delegate and, of those, only one in three were considered good delegators by their subordinates.2 Promoting efficiency and performance requires a leader to recognise the difference between simply allocating activities and responsibly delegating to their employees.
Delegation is a process that involves the distribution of responsibility and authority to others while holding them accountable for their performance. However, “responsible delegation” takes this one step further, transferring ownership of the job to the employee. It ensures that the employee:
- Has the will and skill to do the job
- Takes responsibility for their actions
- Enhances overall workplace performance.
Pause to reflect
Considering your current role, identify five activities that you perform daily. For each activity, answer the following questions:
- Why do I undertake this activity?
- How does this activity Influence the overall performance of my workplace?
Then take time to think about and reflect on the following:
• Do you spend time on activities that make the best use of your skills and expertise?
• Are there activities that you do not want to let go of because you enjoy them?
• Do you naturally resist delegating tasks to others because you can do them more quickly?
• Do you feel that you need to know exactly what happens when you delegate an activity?
• Can you identify any activities that you could delegate to trained employees?
• Is there anything you could change?