
Admiral Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans of Chelsea. Earlier in his career, he was second in command of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910 (also known as the Terra Nova expedition). He was in command of the Terra Nova from Cardiff to Capetown, where the expedition leader, Capt. Robert F. Scott, caught up with the Terra Nova by fast mail boat. The plan had been for then Lt. Evans to be in command until the ship reached Melbourne, where Capt. Scott would be waiting and then assume command. But having caught up with the Terra Nova early, in Capetown, Capt. Scott assumed command there, thus infringing — or rescinding without cause — previously delegated authority. Lt. Evans hid his feelings, but he nevertheless took this change of plan as a slur, and thus the tension between the two leaders began to take hold and bloom into a serious problem of leadership. For more, see Roland Huntford's history, The Last Place on Earth [Huntford 2007] Photo obtained from Wikipedia.
Delegating is the investing of responsibility and authority from you to your subordinates. It creates reserves for you and gives your subordinates a chance to grow. Too often, though, troubles arise because we don't have a clear understanding of how to delegate effectively. Here are some guidelines you might find helpful.
- You can't delegate your own accountability
- Even though you might have delegated something, you remain accountable for it. Your subordinate is accountable to you, but you are still accountable for whatever you delegated.
- Be prepared to rescind
- Sometimes, things don't work out. You might have delegated inappropriately, or your subordinate might fail for some reason. Since you always retain the responsibility to revisit your decision, be prepared to do so, but never rescind without cause.
- Your subordinate has final say
- Even if you believe that your delegation decisions were correct, your subordinates control their own levels of passion and commitment. They might agree to accept what you delegate, but unless they're truly committed, delegation can create trouble.
- Keep your promises
- When what you delegate is unappealing, there's a temptation to promise something in exchange. If you do promise something, keep that promise. If you can't keep the promise, don't make the promise.
- The greater the risk, the more important is delegation
- In risky situations, emergencies can occur, because when things go wrong, they sometimes go wrong in herds. To create reserves to manage these emergencies, delegate.
- Delegate fully
- When you delegate something, delegate it fully. You remain accountable for it, but it's no longer yours. Get out of the way.
- Delegate authority, not just work
- Delegating the work of a task, and not the authority to determine the manner of accomplishing it, can be demoralizing for the subordinate. This is particularly true of tasks requiring creativity, insight, or commitment.
- Never infringe delegated authority
- Infringing delegated You can't delegate
your own accountabilityauthority is demoralizing and creates problems for future delegation. If you feel the need to infringe, but you don't see a need to rescind the delegation, you're probably over the line. - Have an inform-as-soon-as-you-know norm
- Make an agreement that each of you will inform the other as soon as you learn anything that changes the risk profile of whatever you delegated. Your subordinate agrees to alert you when trouble looms, and you agree to tell your subordinate about any enhanced risks. It's a trusting partnership.
- Establish checkpoint expectations
- Since you remain accountable for whatever you delegated, you have a right to reasonable monitoring of progress. Work out with your subordinate a mutually acceptable set of checkpoints, and stick to them, asking for status reporting neither more frequently nor less frequently than you agreed.
Most important is clear, two-way communication between you and your subordinate. Mutual understanding of your mutual agreement is essential to a successful delegation experience. OK, now. You can take it from here. Top
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Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming July 23: Microdelegation
- Microdelegation is a style of delegation in which the delegator unintentionally communicates the task to the subordinate in such detail and so repetitively that the subordinate is offended. As a result of this delegation style, many subordinates feel distrusted or suspected of fraud or goldbricking. Available here and by RSS on July 23.
And on July 30: What the Dunning-Kruger Effect Actually Is
- Although the Dunning-Kruger Effect is widely recognized, people describe it — and understand it — in many different ways. Some of these expressions are misleading. Proceed with caution. Available here and by RSS on July 30.
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Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group