Delegation

When I first started managing a department, the president of the company took me under his wing, so to speak, and taught me many things.

We used to jog together after work to stay in shape, and one day he taught me a lesson about delegation I'll never forget.

As we were jogging he asked "Andy, why don't you delegate to your staff?". Surprised I said I did. And he replied, "No, I mean why don't you let them do all the work?"

Now I'd never thought that I should delegate everything, so I was confused as to why he'd be asking me this, so I asked him "What do you mean Dave?". And he simply restated the question, "Why not let them do the work?". I had to think for a while, and finally told him I thought I could do some things better and faster.

This is where he played up to my ego, and asked "Are you twice as fast as they are?"
"Sure", I replied.
He asked "Are you twice as good as they are?"
Feeling kind of cocky, I said "Yes".

He'd baited the hook and I had taken it. This is when he said, "Well if you're twice as fast, and twice as good, then you're 4 times as effective, right?"
"OK, I'll buy that" I said.
"Then, since there's four people on your staff, if you delegated everything on your plate, they'd get just as much done, just as well as if you did it". Pause. "Which would mean you could double the output of your department"

At this point he sprinted off - did I mention he was in better shape than I was? I couldn't catch up to him, which left me to think about what he'd said.

And here's my conclusion, after 20 years of thinking about it. When I delegate, I should let the other person know what results I expect, and give them the authority to complete the project. How they do it is not my concern, as long as they are within certain boundaries, and the project is completed with tolerance of established timelines, quality and budget. As I delegated this way over the years I found that people develop better and better ways of accomplishing tasks, and grow in their abilities, and projects get completed much faster than if I did them myself.

So how can you use this principle in your household? Well, when you delegate a task, do so by explaining the desired results, and letting the other person do it their own way. You only need to explain the process to those not yet able to figure it out for themselves, such as young children. You might be surprised at how fast people and children grow into their new responsabilities.

Oh, one more thing, it's important that you have updates as to how things are going. With children this might require checking up on their progress.

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