The ability to delegate well is the hallmark of good managers.
Good delegation benefits everyone. It lightens the load of the delegator and helps the person to whom the task has been delegated to grow in knowledge of the enterprise, to improve management skills and to gain confidence in his or her ability to act and to make decisions. It is also a great motivator because it carries with it an implication of trust.
Poor delegation has the opposite effect and is nearly as harmful to the effective running of an organisation as having a leader who does not delegate at all.
Your willingness to delegate tasks is in some ways a measure of your own management competence. If you are constantly stressed by the pressures of work, or if your work never seems to get done, it may be a sign that you are not delegating enough.
Are you holding on to certain tasks because they are things that you enjoy doing, or because you do not think anyone can do them as well as you do? As a leader, you have a responsibility to grow your staff and what better way is there of doing this than by asking them to take responsibility for a task or duty that you know they will enjoy or which you can help them perform to a standard that even you would be proud of?
Easier to do it yourself?
The most common reason for not delegating work is that it is often easier and quicker to do it yourself. Normally, as a manager, the jobs that you are most likely to want to delegate are those that you can do yourself, virtually with your eyes closed. Having delegated it to someone else, you find the mentoring and monitoring needed to complete the task become a bit of a hassle. When the work is not done exactly as you would have done it, you make a “leave it with me” offer and simply take the job back.
This kind of delegation is no delegation at all. Worse, it leaves both you and the person to whom you delegated the task frustrated and the task half done.
The simple answer to the question of which tasks to delegate is to delegate as many as possible. There will be some tasks, however, which you will need to do.
For principals, some of these may be ceremonial, relating to their duties as head of the school. Examples would include being present at special events like prize-givings, musical evenings and sporting events. Others may be requirements of the job such as attending and contributing to school governing board meetings. You may also feel that some tasks are so critical to the ongoing success of the school that you need to take full responsibility for them yourself.
To determine whether a task is suitable for delegation you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it critical to the success of the school that I do this job myself?
- Is/are there person(s) on the staff who could make a better job of this task than I could because of their special expertise or experience, or because they have more time for it, or because they are more passionate about it?
- Is this a recurring task or a once-off task? Recurring tasks are good to delegate because your initial efforts in training someone to take on the task will be rewarded as the person concerned will be in a position to continue to perform it in the future. l Would delegating this task help grow the specific skills of a member of staff?
- Is there sufficient time to delegate the task properly, to mentor the person to whom it has been delegated and to monitor progress?
- Will there be time to redo the job if it is not done properly and what are the possible consequences of an inadequate performance? Asking the young, newly appointed member of the language staff to take responsibility for the production of the school play or variety concert may seem like a good idea. That is, until opening night, when you discover that some of the language and scenes are offensive to senior members of your community who are present.
Whom you delegate a task to will be determined largely by the experience of your staff and the nature of the job. It is best to delegate the task to the most junior member of staff you think is competent to do the job. The reasoning behind this is that the most senior, experienced and skilled staff members should be devoting their time to those tasks which are most challenging and critical to the success of the organisation or school. Put in business terms, it is to ensure that the most highly paid members of staff are responsible for those aspects of the business which are most profitable or most critical to its long-term success.
As a principal, there are two main considerations which need to be taken into account:
- Which member of staff has the required or potential competence to perform the task?
- Is the member of staff in a position to devote sufficient time to the task, given his or her other responsibilities? It is a common fault to overload the most competent and committed teachers, often to their detriment.
- Are there members of staff who would benefit, in terms of their personal or professional growth, if the task were delegated to them?
There are five essential components to the delegation process:
Define outcomes. The more specific, the better. The person who is being given the task needs to be told exactly what is involved and what your expectations are in terms of the completed task.
Set boundaries. You need to be quite clear about the extent of their responsibility and of their authority.
Establish timeframes. What is the deadline for completion of the task and are there other deadlines when certain aspects or component tasks need to be completed?
Available resources. Will the person responsible be able to call on other members of staff for assistance or is it his/her responsibility alone? Will he/she be afforded additional time — for instance by being relieved of certain other duties — or must the additional work be fitted into the present schedule? Is there a budget and/or will other resources be provided such as the use of a computer or a telephone line?
Mentor and monitor. How often must you meet him or her to discuss progress and/or performance? Will you be content with verbal reports on progress or must a report be provided in writing?
Once the task has been delegated, it is important that the delegating manager allows the person who has been allocated the task to get on with the job.
The mentoring and monitoring process is important, not only to ensure that the task or project stays on track and that it is up to standard, but is also an important motivating factor. It is also important to set aside time for a full briefing and performance review once the task has been completed.
Any criticism should be constructive, with praise for things that have been done well. Insist that the staff member produces a report which lists difficulties faced and makes recommendations for the future. This should then be filed for future reference. This is vital material if the task or project is to be repeated, whether or not the same person remains responsible.
Further reading: