Operating, Delegating and Managing

How much time do you spend on managerial activities?

Your role may be that of a team manager or coordinator of a dispersed network of people from different teams. All in all, getting things done involves these people. The process of delegation in an organisation involves the allocation of roles and responsibilities to others. A relationship of expectation for performance and accountability is established. If you agree to take responsibility to do something then you become accountable. If you don't do it, others are let down.

In modern, bureaucratic organisations much delegation is assumed. Where people are appointed on merit with competence to perform well-defined jobs then 95% (a metaphor) of delegation has been done. All that remains, we might think, is to ensure that proper infrastructure and support is in place so that they can achieve what they have to do without too many problems and intervention from the boss. They are empowered.

From time to time, priorities may change and new things come up. The empowered member of staff "should" have the discretion, competence and confidence to take these in their stride. If this is an " exceptional" matter they cannot handle alone then - the " managing by exception" principles, the new circumstances can be discussed with the boss, with the team, client etc. The scope and priorities of the "delegated" role are up-dated. Jobs and delegation respond to the dynamics of the situation.

This is fine until we realise that the "best way to get things done is to do it yourself!!!". Why?

Is it not true that

• many people are naturally unreliable
• they do it at their own pace, in their own way
• they resent being asked and when you do ask them to do something - they give you all the reasons why not. The delegator eats humble pie and goes through a process of ritual humiliation until he/she withdraws the request and says " OK - leave it to me" .
• others don't appreciate the tension and pressure that " we" who do the delegating are under.
• it takes time to delegate, to explain what extra needs doing or what attention must be given precisely to a task.
• the delegator often has more experience and has done the task before. They thus know what has to be done. They have a quick way of doing it and, yes it is an extra task, but squeezing it in and doing it oneself means that it does get done. It will only take me 15 minutes and if I delegate - the briefing alone will take 30 minutes and then I won't get it done until tomorrow

So many reasons why not to delegate. The extra 15 minutes work is done late in the evening and of course it extends to 45 minutes - the delegator arrives home late again.

The result is role overload for the person who cannot get on top of delegating. They become piled up with operative tasks and become locked into an " activity trap" . Those who need "empowering" are not "empowered" and become frustrated and under loaded. The scope of their own role and authority to act is diminished. They now wait for the manager to finish work and issue directives so that progress can be made. We have the classic problem of poor delegation leading to "monkeys" sitting on the manager's shoulder. Monkeys need to be fed constantly or they bite your ears off.

This checklist therefore is a reminder of the delegation/empowering task.

The proposition to review.

I allocate sufficient time and attention to define what is to be achieved or produced and this is discussed openly with the team - both as a group and in their individual roles

True or false? Why?

Each team member knows what work they need to do to achieve the desired results. Each person is clear: How the work will be done and if there is uncertainty about this then there is support from me and in the team to generate ideas and help on "how" When it must be done by? How clear are deadlines? How many last minute panics do we have (fire-fighting)? Why do these occur? What slippage is evident and what are the consequences? Who will do the work - which individual or which sub-set of team members. People in the team or network are clear about who is doing what. What resources are needed to do it? Are these discussed thoroughly? Where there are gaps in resources? How do we mobilise ourselves to fill the gaps? Team/network members feel supported and encouraged to do things well. Each person knows the standards of performance we are trying to achieve i.e. how well the work should be done the progress and standards we are actually achieving - how well the work is being done the steps we take where action needs to be taken if things are not going to plan.

For each assertion - ask "Is this true or false?" and "How do I know this, what feedback do I get from people about my ability as a delegator/empowerer?". Am you caught in an activity trap of doing and operating? What is it that is trapping me - the situation or my own behaviour? What action do you need to take to climb out of the trap?

In summary, your delegation/empowering processes are working well if the following processes are being managed

1. forecasting, anticipating
2. planning
3. organising programmes and allocations
4. monitoring and information systems
5. reviewing, evaluating and correcting
6. communicating and supporting others

In a typical month - what % of your time do you spend on these matters?

• Less than 25%
• 25-50%
• 50-75%
• More than 75%

Consider both formal and informal attention to these matters and be ruthless with yourself. Differentiate fact from fantasy i.e. what you think you do versus what you do - do? How will you check this out?

Where to go from here?