You may be the most highly skilled person in your organization. You may have the education, experience, and expertise. We all like things done and done right. So, do you dare delegate?
The answer is yes, you can dare to delegate. There are several factors that you should assess when determining whether or not you should delegate.
The first thing to assess is your organization’s culture. Does your organizational culture tolerate risk? Support employee growth and development? Seek a high degree of autonomy for employees? If the answers to these questions are yes…then feel free to delegate.
There are three other considerations to keep in mind. First, what is your perception of the employee’s competence? Is this person capable, trustworthy, and motivated to assume great responsibility?
Second, how important is the decision? Managers tend to delegate the less important decisions to subordinates. Consider the level of risk involved if the delegation isn’t as successful as you planned.
Third, what is the manager’s workload? Sometimes heavy workloads can put stress and time pressure on managers, which may lead to rash or even reckless delegation. Even if the workload is heavy, the key to low-risk delegation is to be thoughtful and deliberate in assessing the value of the delegation.
There are some good reasons to delegate. It helps in managing time more efficiently and effectively. Delegation can improve decision-making. Delegation certainly develops employees and enhances their commitment to the organization and its objectives.
Check back to Welchlin.com every Monday for a new video blog.