Delegation Of Authority – Developing Individual Talents

A need for delegation of authority arises when you are facing heavy a workload and are not able to handle all tasks efficiently. It would be a good idea to delegate some of your authority to a person who can do it better. Choosing the right person itself is a task as every individual has different talents and capabilities. There may be instances when you would not like the way another individual works. However, an effective delegation of authority means that you give complete freedom to a person to prosper in his own way. Ensure that you entrust the responsibilities only according to a persons capabilities. A job assigned to a delegate beyond his brilliance or excellence will definitely result in failure.

Important Levels Of Delegation Of Authority

It is very important for a manager to learn how to delegate authority. He definitely has to understand the concept and follow these five important levels of delegation while entrusting tasks.

1. Find out and tell me: This is the first level and is the base for any type of delegation. You have to make that the person to whom you are delegating the task is able to accurately gather the information and report on it correctly.
2. Find out, think about it and tell me: The second level steps up further and says that once you are sure that a person is able to gather proper information and report it, you should put him on to the next step to test whether he can provide any problem solving suggestion for the job.
3. Find out, think about it, tell me and do it: This level advances furthermore to provide the actual authority to a person to perform the job once he proves to be successful at the second level.
4. Find out, think about it, do it and tell me: According to the fourth level when a delegate proves himself by doing consistently well in his previous levels, you trust your delegate and allow him to do the job on his own. But you have to ask him to report on the work done by him.
5. Do it and tell me only if: The fifth level is an advanced stage. You have given the person the total responsibility of the task and he is performing well in his job on his own. You want him to report to you only if there is any variance to the general policy. This level mostly applies to top-level executives and team leaders.

Rules Associated With The Levels Of Delegation Of Authority

In addition to the above levels of delegation, there are certain rules to follow in order to accomplish the work successfully.

1. Delegation always requires patience and you have to wait for the delegates to report to you at each level.
2. Never expect the person to do the work according to your technique as every person differs in individual approach. Set him free.
3. As it takes some time to complete the levels of delegation never try this when your company is in crisis. It should be executed before there is a crisis call.
4. Remember that you can delegate full authority, whereas accountability and responsibility must be shared.

You have to follow strictly all the levels of delegation and wait for a person to report back before advancing to the next level. An effective delegation of authority will assist the team members to achieve excellence and give you time to concentrate more on the issues where you are brilliant.

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