Chapter 6: How to Delegate Effectively “It’s not my job”. That’s a phrase fraught with implications. Whom do you imagine saying this—someone who will do nothing unless it’s spelled out in a contract? | How to Delegate Effectively It s not my job. That s a phrase fraught with implications. Whom do you imagine saying this someone who will do nothing unless it s spelled out in a contract That s one rather disheartening interpretation. But this phrase has a potential second meaning. There may be a lot of tasks you re doing right now that are not your job such as things you should delegate or things that should never have been delegated to you. Delegating isn t limited only to executives managers and others with power. Even if you think you re in no position to delegate this chapter still has insights for you. To Whom Can You Delegate The obvious answer is to those you manage and or supervise. This is delegating downward when you have full authority over the person to whom you re delegating. But keep this key con- Copyright 2003 by the McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Click here for Terms of Use. 69 70 Time Management k fiucKS I of he The Economics of Delegation A critical rule about delegation is this whenever possible del- egate tasks to the person who is paid the least yet has the nec- essary skills and training to perform the task. Most often when someone is paid to do a job that someone who earns less could do as well money is most economical in every sense use of an employee s time is in performing tasks that are at the high end of his or her ability and training. This includes you. So when you fail to delegate a task others could do as efficiently your own value to the company is diminished as well as the value to the company of the person to whom you might have delegated it. cept in mind it succeeds only if you assign responsibilities to the right person. For convenience or because of a lack of choice we re sometimes forced to delegate to someone inappropriate for the task. This may be the single greatest cause of failure. Inappropriate delegation can lead to unsatisfactory results or to employees who hide behind their job descriptions. Targeting the .
