Delegation

We have all witnessed first hand the senior manager who insists on all the details before making a small decision, who is considered hard working because of their 60-80 hour work weeks. In any well-cultured organisation, this should not be tolerated. There are several corporate organisations where busyness is considered as a synonym to hardworking. In such organisations, you prove your worth by being busy. Attend several meetings, have long approval processes for menial items and document every small decision. There are four main reasons for such a working culture

• Non value added tasks 

• No thought of automation

• No Delegation capability

• No Empowerment

[1] Value added tasks

"Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things." - Peter Drucker, management consultant"

Every task you do in an organisation must add value to an organisation. If not, it is prudent to find ways to completely eliminate the task. This is noticed more in older organisations where processes were probably created due to some historic cause. Decades later that cause may have been eliminated but management insist on adhering to the processes. No longer they say that the reason is “because that’s how we have done it” thanks to the internet memes. Now, managers tend to justify elaborately why said tasks should continue.

ELIMINATE ALL NON VALUE ADDING TASKS - NO MATTER HOW MENIAL.

[2] Automation

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” - Bill Gates

Once you have eliminated the task, then see if you can automate it. Now a days, there are several technological solutions to automate tasks. The biggest taboo considered with automation is that it is either perceived as being lazy, or the cost of automation is not understood by the management.

• Automation as a sign of laziness: This is a symptom of ‘busyness = productive’ culture. If you can do a task in half the time, then you are perceived as being lazy to even suggest automation. This is a sign of bad culture.

• Automation cost: The cost of automation is sometimes seen as too high. You need to understand how much not automating is going to cost your company in terms of labour. Automation of tasks that save human effort can sometimes have an ROI duration worth investing.

Logical tasks can be automated but cognitive ones cannot. This is one area where technological advances such as AI are lacking (and are predicted to be lacking in the foreseeable future). It is the cognitive capability of human power that actually adds value to any team.

AUTOMATE EVERY TASK THAT CAN BE AUTOMATED - FREE UP THE COGNITIVE POWER OF YOUR TEAM

[3] Delegation

"If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate." - Author: John C. Maxwell

Now you should have tasks that add value and that need to be done. So the next step is to delegate effectively. Delegate the tasks to the relevant team member who possess the necessary skill and knowledge to make a decision. This is very important in multi disciplinary teams (Something that is a by-product of being higher up in an organisation). It’s better to ask a finance person to check the numbers and give you a binary answer (OK to proceed/ Stop) rather than ask that person to make a presentation on their findings and you to make the decision.

TRUST YOUR TEAM AND LET THEM DO THE TASKS THAT THEY ARE GOOD AT (OR THAT THEY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE GOOD AT)

[4] Empowerment

“When you delegate tasks, you create followers. When you delegate authority, you create leaders.” - Craig Groeschel, founder of Life Church

This is where a lot of things fail. If a value adding task is delegated, but the person does not have authority to take actions based on the findings then it adds even more inertia. Now, there is ambiguity in responsibility of that task and the person will endlessly chase and check with their superior at every step. This basically negates the delegation and more importantly robs an individual of an opportunity to learn about decision making and consequences.

EMPOWER EVERY MEMBER TO MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON HIS OR HER CAPABILITY (OR POTENTIAL)