By: Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Sr. Associate Editor, ICN Group
(In last article, we knew about why people do not delegate. Today, we will know about the steps in delegation.)
NOIDA: Don’t forget, appreciation is one of the biggest motivators in organisational behaviour. If you appreciate the effort and then point out the shortcomings, your style will be appreciated and in future, he will make extra efforts to finish the task in much better manner.
Steps in delegation
- Identify what is to be delegated and to whom, according to his strengths & weaknesses.
- Explain about the task while delegating. Clear communication is the key to effective delegation and desired output. While delegating, you should make it clear that quality of work in a time bound manner is your priority. Clarify about the expected standards at the time of delegating itself. Communicate the expected deadline also. At the same time, you should allow the person to ask questions. Encourage them to seek guidance, if they are held up at any stage of work. Over a period of time, they will start feeling that though you have delegated the work, you are available to support at the time of need.
- Tell him about the possible benefits. Sometimes, a person may resist taking extra responsibility apart form his own allotted work. If you can tactfully communicate how beneficial it is, he may start liking extra responsibility.
- Set deadlines. Always set and communicate deadlines at the time of delegation of work. But this does not mean that you will follow this work only at the date of deadline. You should develop and communicate periodic status review dates also, so that the person maintains a work tempo over the period of time and does not start procrastination on its own accord till the deadline approaches.
- Always focus on the outcome. You should not be bothered about detailing, how the work is to be done. Everybody has his own style of work which suits him the most. Have trust in the capabilities of the person and allow him to follow his own course while doing the job.
- One more thing you should remember is to honour the chain of command, while delegating. If you are assigning some task to the person, who is not directly under your command, take his supervisor into confidence. Ensure that his supervisor is in a position to spare him for your work. If possible, include his supervisor in your planning also.
- Develop a mechanism to take regular review and evaluate the final results, as to whether the person did the delegated task upto your expectation or not.
- Communicate your appraisal – You will not become a master of effective delegation unless you learn the skill of communicating true appraisal to the person, to whom you have delegated the work.
If the work has met or exceeded your expectations, you must communicate praise to the person. It increases his motivation and next time, whenever you assign him another job, he will try to deliver his best. On the other hand, even if he does not meet your expectations, don’t discourage him. After all, it is you, who is learning art of effective delegation. It is you, who is mastering the art of choosing correct person for delegation of task to the right person capable to do the work. He is just an employee, doing his best according to his capabilities. In this scenario, call him and appreciate his efforts. Tell him that you understand that he tried his best but still there is scope for improvement in certain areas.
Don’t forget, appreciation is one of the biggest motivators in organisational behaviour. If you appreciate the effort and then point out the shortcomings, your style will be appreciated and in future, he will make extra efforts to finish the task in much better manner. If you directly start an outrageous firing for wrong doings, his motivational level will be low and in future, either he will be afraid in accepting the new responsibility or will do the work with low confidence levels.
But remember, when you delegate a work, it is your responsibility to provide the necessary resources for completing the task. You should give him the discretion or authority, necessarily required for completion of task.
You can set a questionnaire and keep it with yourself. Your possible points of evaluation might include:-
- Have the deadlines honoured?
- Had the person met the expectations or has fallen short of expectations. If yes, to what extent.
- Had he exceeded your expectations?
- Was it your right choice to delegate this particular type of task to this person? If not, can this person be improved by training or in future you will have to search for a better option?
Once you start evaluating each delegated tasks on certain criteria, you will gradually master the art of delegation.
(In the next article, I will share a real-life example about how I used power of delegation effectively. I believe that you are enjoying the journey towards the future of your dreams with me. If yes, please stay tuned. Happy G.O.P.T.A.)
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Creator & copyright holder of the concept G.O.P.T.A.© is an Author, Certified NLP Lifestyle Trainer, Strategic Interventionist, Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker ( http://bit.ly/Signature-Workshops-Sanjay-Kumar-Agarwal ) and recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Excellence (Management) by prestigious Young Scientist University, California, USA. He is Founder of ‘Read, Learn & Earn Movement’ and is popularly known among his fans & followers across the globe as ‘Time and Goal Guru’.
