Delegating seems simple at first, but it is actually quite complex.
Delegation appears to be a straightforward, uncomplicated term; however, its complex layers and challenges may be hidden at first sight.
When in the workplace, we decide to free some time by delegating authority to allow more important things to be done, we will notice a lot of complications and problems for delegating authority to employees.
Some of the challenges of delegation will be noticed if we consider the issue from the manager’s point of view. Some other problems are related to employees and will be noticed if we look at them from their perspective.
An example of delegation challenges from employee’s point of view:
An example of delegation challenges from employee’s point of view is when managers tend to delegate responsibility instead of tasks.
For instance, they have a tendency to delegate the responsibility for a task to the employee who is involved in it, while from the beginning of the task they were dictating the details step-by-step.
Consider the advertising manager of a company who tells the expert in his department: “We must advertise in the newspaper. I am sure that this Monday is the most suitable day, and newspapers X and Y are also the best options. Now go and do it yourself. I leave this project to you and I expect you to get the best result out of it.”
Certainly, this lesson aims to study one of the challenges that managers face when they want to delegate authority.
But this example was brought up with the purpose of pointing out that the other side of the story is not simple either and the only reason that we don’t mention it here is that it is out of the topic.
Delegate tasks in a way they don’t come back to you
It is important to make sure what has been delegated is not going to return back to your desk.
It is a well-known rule, however, what we really do is what makes things return back to us, just like a boomerang!
One of the most famous people challenging this issue is William Oncken.
He uses a metaphor involving a monkey that is exchanged between a manger and an employee.
For example, when a manager entrusts work to his employee, he calls it a monkey which used to be on the manager’s shoulder and now is passed onto an employee’s shoulder.
In 1974, Oncken published an article in the same field in Harvard Business Review (HBR), entitled “Management Time: Who’s got the Monkey”, and in 1984, he made this metaphor the focus of a book entitled “Managing Management Time” and after that several seminars were organized under the title MMT (short for time management for managers).
In 1999, his article was republished by HBR due to the huge response from the audience. In the same year, he published “The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey” in association with Ken Blanchard (the author of the one-Minute Manager), which was also successful.
The three-part division of a manager’s time:
Oncken divides a manager’s total time into three parts (they are not meant to be equal and it is entirely a classification):
- Times when managers have spent carrying out the instructions from superiors (for instance, setting up a report for the senior manager)
- Times spent on system tasks (like weekly meetings with other managers)
- Times spent on work and activities chosen by managers themselves.
He explains that managers are often resistant to reducing their time spent on tasks on part one and two.
The most authority for time management lies within part three category. He also emphasizes that by delegating parts of activities within part three group, managers can free up more time to focus on more important and effective activities.
