Delegation

But is that really what delegation is or is it something else? What is the difference between delegation and allocation?

In the work place the word delegation is frequently used without professionals really understanding the true concept behind it.

John Adair said that there are three leadership role areas in the working world; The Task, Teams and the Individual.

Within THE TASK there are health and safety requirements, effectiveness and efficiency and monitoring,

Part of THE TEAM includes working relationships and decision making.

THE INDIVIDUAL includes development and communication.

As delegation is one of the core skills of effective managers it has a bearing on the three- yet most managers only consider delegation as a way of achieving a task-and forget that it is an effective tool for individual and team development.

In fact there are instances when a manager or supervisor will choose to delegate for development when they are positive that the task will either not be achieved or be completely bungled. As long as a health and safety principle isn't violated, the manager may choose this course of action to;


• Stretch the employee/team


• See what their maximum capability is


• Give them a failure experience and coach them with feedback


• See how teams work or don't work together


• Learn from employee's/team's failure


• Learn from employee's/teams success/new approaches

That is correct a manager/supervisor can earn from his employees! Charles Handy said;

True, effective delegation, is delegation with trust and with only the minimum of controls

What he meant was that the team or individual doing the task is probably better equipped to do the task than the manager who should trust his team-leaders, teams and employees to own the task. The team itself will have more information and the managers less.

It is a fact of delegation that the manager will NOT know everything. This is because detailed knowledge comes from actually doing the job which is not what managers are paid for. Their job is to get the job done through other people. Delegation is a way of tapping into the detailed knowledge and information within teams and individuals and using them to achieve goals, both tasks and development.

A fair manager will delegate his favourite tasks equally with the tedious, so the trash carrying husband gets to choose his favourite housekeeping chore (if there are any) and should be allowed to do that too.

That aside there are times when it just isn't prudent to delegate; if a task establishes new policy, is a personnel matter, confidential or a critical situation.

Authority and Power, Responsibility and Accountability

Authority which is often linked with power, responsibility and accountability are necessary for effective delegation to take place. When delegating a task, a manager had better ensure that he gives the employee the authority and resources to do it, give them the responsibility and make them aware that they are accountable for the results. This aids task completion and job satisfaction. If either of the three facets are weak or lacking a poor outcome will result.


Authority and power are often used synonymously, but in reality they are separate, though clearly related, concepts. Authority stems from a position, job title, knowledge, duties, and responsibilities that dictate the actions that can be taken to enforce or rectify job-related behaviour

Power is inherent to the authority. However, it can also exist without the authority that legitimates it. Power can be defined as the person's capacity to motivate, inspire, force or coerce others to do, sometimes even against their willpower, what they are ordered to do.

Responsibility revolves around giving the employee the autonomy or freedom to use their talents to complete the task with minimum interference from the manager.

Accountability includes setting SMART objectives, rewarding good performance and cautioning poor.

If tasks are delegated and not just allocated, used as ways to develop teams and individuals, then a manager cannot help but to improve his time management, staff motivation, development, commitment and performance.

So think about that next time you ask the trash man to do his bit.