Delegation
Management and Supervision Answers

How do I?

How do I delegate?

You can’t delegate responsibility or the discipline of those who report to you.  All else you can delegate.  The decision to delegate is based on the following considerations: 

1. Leveraging your time as the supervisor.
   Leave the routine tasks to your staff.  Delegation allows you to focus your time and effort on the activities that you are best suited for as a supervisor.

2. Developing your subordinates.
   Delegation is a tool for the training and development of your staff.  Delegated assignments may build their skills, provide staff with the “big picture” in terms of how the organization works and the inter-relationships.

Who you delegate to is based on:

1. How important is this assignment?  Is it critical to operations?  Will success or failure impact your reputation and potential for advancement?  The assignment may be an opportunity for staff development.

2. Who on your staff has the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to complete the assignment?

3. How important is reliability, integrity and determination?  One subordinate may have the knowledge, skills and abilities, but for a confidential assignment, integrity is essential.

4. Who is available?  Supervisors prioritize constantly.  You may have other more important and higher priority assignments that will impact who you delegate to.  Maintaining a strong team focus provides you with the option to delegate certain assignments to a team of employees as opposed to individuals.

When you delegate review the assignment with your employee and be specific as to what is the desired end result, the deadline and any specific directions on accomplishing the desired end result.