Ok, last management blog we looked at why we delegate and this week we are going to focus on the first stage, the selection of individuals who we are going to delegate to and the actual job we are going to delegate.  Thinking through this process will aid the developmental process significantly.   

An important thing to remember in all of this is that Delegation isn’t Abdication! In other words, we are not just getting rid of a job that we either don’t like or do not want to do.  Of course in all of this, sometimes we may need to delegate quickly (to aid our time management or in an emergency) in this instance we may just select someone because we know they can do it, common sense has to be applied here.

At other times we may select someone because we know they are going to struggle.  In other words, they are going to be developed.  This is totally different to set someone up to fail, they may struggle and if we want to develop them, it can be a necessity for some individuals to struggle as part of the learning process.  Remember though it is in a supportive environment and if we encourage this enough, individuals will feel happy to struggle.

The work that we are going to delegate may be identified due to a number of factors.  It could be that we are planning the individuals future and want to expose them to different work experiences.  It may be we are succession planning, for example, we recognise this individual as a future manager and therefore we are exposing them to more management related tasks.

Ok, so we have now covered the first stage of effective delegation, the selection of personnel and work that we are going to delegate.  Next time we are going to look at the second stage of delegation; briefing the individual concerned.

Ralph Moody is the founder of Target Training and specialises in trainer and management development.  You can read more about him here.  You can read more about the management courses Ralph delivers training on including the prestigious Foundation Management Development Programme (FMDP) here.