Should I delegate the task or do it myself, the ultimate dilemma of corporate manager.
Most of us who have worked in corporate jungle know exactly how tricky this situation can be. You as the middle manager have been entrusted with some key responsibilities and management is looking forward for timely results. You have proved your worth on many occasion in past and that is why management has assigned you some key tasks. You are damn sure than these tasks can not be achieved in the specified time period if you decide to do it yourself. You have got a team of two bright young executives who are dying to get in to the action but your dilemma is that can you trust them? Given a choice you would work like a donkey rather than a suave manager and would like to do the work with unparalleled commitment and complete it within the time frame. But important thing is you do not have the choice. You are human and you are dead sure that if you can not do it then nobody can.
Management does tries to throw their senior and middle managers in such situations to make them grow and mature. In pressure situations like this, manager does not have any choice but to divide the task in to small sub-tasks and delegate it to the fresh and young minds down below. But if these subordinates have not been groomed well then you can not expect the result right in the first instance. A matured and well groomed manager himself would make sure right in the beginning that whoever has been allotted to him should get a chance to be in thick of the things and get groomed.
There are three perquisites which are needed for effective delegation. They are:-
1. Willingness of the manager to delegate and openness for mistakes.
2. Open communication amongst manager and subordinates.
3. Manager’s ability to foresee the total organization perspective and strikeout a balance between task’s requirement, deadlines and employee capabilities.
Essentials of effective delegation:
- Tasks to be delegated: In the beginning try delegating only the routine tasks involving minor decisions. In between try delegating some complex task which may require time bound results. This would help in developing the subordinate.
- Whom to delegate: Many factors can come to play herein. The spare time available with subordinates, their competency levels, whether this would add some value to his experience are all important and plays in managers mind when he decide to delegate the task.
- Don’t tell the method, tell only the results expected. This is very important. When you tell your subordinate how to carry out the task you are simply blocking his or her mind. Just tell what exactly you want. Let him or her come to you with plausible alternatives.
- Provide resources: This is very important. If you are not able to provide resources like access to some base data, past records etc you are not helping him or her to help you. Both of you are just wasting you time, the most valuable resource.
- Feedback: Always stress on feedback this would not only help you analyze the progress but would also provide you with opportunities to course correct.
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