Vadodara, 19th March 2023 - A successful manager needs to delegate tasks to be able to achieve goals and objectives. Delegating the right task to the right person is an important decision. But, in my opinion, another major important decision about delegation would be when to delegate and when not to. Not all tasks need to be delegated, and not everything has to be done by the manager themselves.

Generally speaking, there would be two important parts of making delegation decisions:
1. How fit is the individual to take up the task?
2. How urgently do you need the task completed?
We can all agree that if a very important and/or urgent task is delegated to somebody who doesn’t have the bandwidth to take up this additional task or doesn’t have the necessary skillsto perform the task in question, the delegation would heavily backfire. Same way, if there is an individual whose skills perfectly fit your requirement, and the task is not very urgent but still somewhat important, there is no reason not to delegate the task to the individual, right?
I came across this interesting matrix that helps simplify what I am trying to say here.

Source: Growthidea
In my experience, this works as a good and effective working framework to make delegating decisions because while it is extremely important to delegate the right task to the right person, it is just as important to decide whether a particular task requires delegation. Is this a task that can be effectively done by someone else or does it require your attention and efforts? Is there somebody who already has the information and/or expertise needed to accomplish this task? Will performing this task help someone grow their skills? Is this a repeating task or a one-time thing? How is your bandwidth to accommodate this task in your schedule? Asking these questions usually helps me decide whether the task should be delegated or not.

Another thumb rule of sorts that has proved to be very helpful in my journey as a leader, is the 70% rule. It is a very simple rule, honestly. According to this rule, if there is an individual who has the necessary bandwidth and skills, and who would be able to complete the task at least 70% as well as you can, delegate it out to them. This works especially well when dealing with proactive delegation. As an extension of this, I’d say, if it takes more time to explain how to do the task to someone than doing the task yourself, maybe skip delegating and finish it off yourself. If it is a learning opportunity for you and if you really enjoy doing that task, and if you have the bandwidth for it, do it yourself.

At Cognixia, I have been blessed to have an amazing, very talented, and dedicated team. Often, I need a particular report prepared urgently, I reach out to some of the individuals in my time who are fantastic number crunchers. However, if the right person is not available or is on PTO, and there is an urgent requirement, I would rather get down and accomplish the task myself. I believe perfection is super important but so is optimal utilization of resources and time. Never lose sight of the bigger picture, I’d say.

Eventually, one major driving factor in delegating tasks would be the skills of the individuals you are working with, to whom you intend to delegate. This makes keeping skills up-to-date highly essential and important. Also, delegation may not always be about delegating to another human being, you could be delegating to a machine too! Automation has simplified so many tasks, making things easier and quicker across almost all industries. Repetitive, monotonous, tedious tasks should definitely be delegated to automation. Automation solutions will be able to perform these tasks easily, and quickly, eliminating human error while giving you an opportunity to use your and your resources’ bandwidths for other tasks that require their attention.

Delegation, undoubtedly, is one of the key responsibilities of business leaders, as is the effective & optimal utilization of resources and assets. Simply assigning tasks would not ideally be delegation. Real delegation would involve assigning responsibility for the outcomes of the task along with the accomplishment of the task. It would also include delegating the authority to the individual to do what is required for accomplishing that task. Business leaders have a responsibility to their team members, to ensure that they are well-trained, have the right skills, have the opportunities to grow and learn new skills, identify future leaders among them, and even prepare their successors. In this regard, delegation is a very powerful statement a business leader can make that goes on to speak for the trust and faith the leader has in their team members, to indicate that they believe that their resources are competent and make them feel valued.

With all the rules and checklists one can create to decide whether to delegate a task or not, realities can often vary. We can have all the guiding principles around, but sometimes, decisions need to be made on a case-to-case basis. As a leader, I believe I am still learning, and that’s the joy of the job! visit www.cognixia.com