Why Delegate Responsibility?

Dr. Brent called his consultant at 12:30 a.m. "I can't sleep because of this big problem with Jennifer. Despite the 15 years we've been together, I've decided to fire her. SHE HAS CROSSED THE LINE!"

            Earlier that day, Dr. Brent and his consultant had formulated a delegation plan so he could cut his schedule to three days per week. But disagreements with his long-time office manager got in the way.

            Brent said, "She wants to schedule the staff in a way that's really inefficient. I told her to do it my way and she got all huffy and walked out of my office. Now she's acting like she doesn't care about anything. This really pees me off. I can't let her schedule the staff because she lets them walk all over her. I need to get someone else in there who can do it right."

            The consultant said, "Brent, what do you care how she schedules the staff? Do you want to be scheduling employees for the rest of your life? Delegate it! She'll do a better job than you since she deals with staff members every hour and knows their situations. Tell her to do whatever she wants—as long as the payroll percentage doesn't increase and trained people are available when you need them.”

            After a moment of silence, the doctor laughed. "Of course! What the heck do I care? She can do whatever she wants with the scheduling. I don't need to worry about this anymore. It's her problem. I'm going to call her right now, so I can get some sleep."

Top Five Delegation Goofs

1. Believe this lie: "It's easier to just do the job myself.” When you transfer small duties to others and concentrate on more important matters, you increase your income and sphere of control.

2. Delegate the work, but withhold your trust. Micro-management after a person proves his or her competence is harmful. If you treat your people like idiots, they become idiots. If you believe in your people and give them your trust, they become loyal and trustworthy. Assume all is well until you see otherwise.

3. Go around the person in charge. For example, you delegate all supply decisions to your office manager, who does a good job. One day, you bypass her and place a big order with a new supplier. You then wonder why your office manager gives you the silent treatment, leaves early and stops ordering supplies.

4. Delegate too much, too fast. Once you see the benefits of delegation you may be tempted to shovel out responsibility faster than your team can handle. Delegation, like all management changes, must be done according to a plan; otherwise, you or your staff members become overwhelmed.

5. Delegate jobs you can't perform. The employee has a better chance of accepting full responsibility for a job when properly trained. Once you master the job, you train people more easily.

            Additionally, you can't be misled you if you know the details of a job. For example, if you can use the computer software, you can disagree with excuses like "The computer won't allow us to get out the insurance billings until next month" or “We can't get the accounts receivable totals with this software.”