Delegating Dilemmas
There seem to be some tremendous differences of opinion about the concept and reality of delegating and directing work–in fact, those terms are not even used in many training courses on supervision and management. I use them in my training, because whether we talk about them or not they are concepts that allow organizations, and the people in them, to work effectively. They are also tremendous tools for interacting in a positive way with employees. On the other hand, mishandled they have the potential for creating conflict, frustration and bad feelings. As with most workplace issues, the problems seem to be rooted in expectations, communication and overall work relationships.
Not long ago some class participants from the same organization were discussing with me at break, the degree to which their manager passed work along to them. One person said, “Fortunately, she usually comes to our cubicles to give us something to do, and I can see her cubicle. So, the second I see her move in our direction I either go to the restroom or I act really, really frustrated over something I’m working on. I skate out of 90% of the stuff that way.” Her coworkers looked stunned to hear what she had been doing for months! What I found ironic was that these were supervisors attending a class on supervising challenging employees!
I questioned the situation and their perspectives and they explained the situation in a bit more positive way. Nevertheless, their views about delegating or directing work were clearly skewed against the concept as they had seen it practiced, and their manager had said and done things that indicated to me she had a faulty perspective and used some ineffective methods.
The differences between delegating and directing (the semantics matter):
When a supervisor directs work to be done, it is often work that is organizationally the responsibility of the person who will do it, or is being reassigned between similar levels.
- “Shawn, we got ten new files today and I’ll get those to you.”
- “Beth, I just found out you’ll need to have the audit done by June this year. Let’s meet to plan that.”
- “Bill, drive by this address today and check it to see if there are any building code violations.”
- “Ron and Pat, I’m moving some tasks around between you two.”
When a supervisor delegates work to be done, it is most often work that could appropriately be done by the supervisor, but it is also appropriate–and perhaps even preferable–for an employee to do it.
- “Shawn, I’d like you to start keeping the spreadsheet on completed files. I’ll show you how it’s done.”
- “Beth, from now on I’d like you to represent us on the Audit Team, since you are the one directly involved in it.”
- “Bill, I have a bunch of letters to get out to various contractors, but I can’t get them done this week. I’m going to get some of them to you and I’d appreciate your help getting them handled.”
- “Ron and Pat, starting with this upcoming staff meeting, I’m going to have you two be in charge of arranging them.”
Delegating work becomes problematic when:
- Employees have knowledge or opinions about what supervisors should or could be doing on their own, and they resent or resist doing work they believe to be outside their job descriptions.
- A busy employee is given delegated work by a supervisor and the supervisor seems to do little work of his own.
- Supervisors delegate work but do not train about it.
- Supervisors delegate work but do not feel comfortable giving it up, so they provide excessive instructions.
- Supervisors only delegate unpleasant tasks but not interesting and challenging tasks.
- Supervisors do not often delegate, so when they do it is less accepted than if it was a regular practice.
- Supervisors do not often delegate and employees do not have the opportunity to gain higher-level skills.
- The same few people are given extra work repeatedly, because they are usually pleasant about it.
- Workplace communications and relationships are so problematic that negative reactions to delegation of work are based primarily on negative feelings in general.
Work that should not be delegated:
- Oversight of other employees, except as part of a clearly defined and limited team role.
- Tasks that a supervisor is expected to handle personally, either because of organizational culture or the expectations of the manager.
- When errors could have severe repercussions and the supervisor is more appropriate for doing the task.
- Relationship roles with other units or organizations when it is important for the supervisor or manager to be the liaison.
- Work that will require more training than there is time is available to provide it. Do not put employees in a sink or swim situation with an important task.
One tried and true way to know what things you might delegate is to ask yourself this: If you were gone for many months, what work would have to be given to someone of your organizational level and what work could the organization parcel out to those you supervise?
