However, delegation isn’t always as simple as it looks. Why? I have assembled a few things that I’ve encountered. Please leave your comments if you recognize these or better, if you’ve come across things I haven’t listed. Of course suggestions for improvement are more than welcome as well.
Here is the list of reasons why delegation may be difficult:
– you don’t want to delegate at all, because you can do it better, at least you think you can
– the person you delegate to may think different than you about being the “better” one to handle the action
– the delegated action may not be part of the responsibilities or job description of the person you delegate to
– your “waiting for” list may become very very large and difficult to follow up
– delegating an action to your manager may feel inappropriate
– delegating an action to your peers may feel inappropriate
As you can see, these are just a few of the issues you may encounter when delegating actions. But I’m pretty sure that some of these are recognizable.
A few tips to handle these issues:
– you may be wrong in thinking you are the best to handle it
– keep a clear and current “waiting for” list with all delegated actions
– talk to the persons you delegate to in person of by phone; are they the right ones?
– follow up as much as needed to get your projects going
Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated.