Sharing or transferring responsibilities or authority from a superior to a subordinate
In management, delegating refers to sharing or transferring responsibilities, and typically happens from a superior (or an employer) to a subordinate (or an employee). Delegating is a critical skill for supervisors at any level and can be a major challenge for them to learn, due to concerns of giving up control or the lack of confidence in the abilities of others. Delegating is an important trait for those who work in teams, and trust plays a critical role for its success.
The Importance of Delegating
Delegation plays an important role in:
#1 Efficiency
By delegating work to others, the individual is transferring work to people whose skills better fit the task(s). For example, it would not make efficient sense to have the CEO do administrative work; it is better done by others. Therefore, it improves the efficiency of the individual delegating the work and lessens their stress.
#2 Development
In a case where the delegation of work is to someone who is not well versed in doing the task, delegating can play a major role in coaching and teaching others. It is one important way to help them build new skills.
Benefits of Delegating
Delegation of tasks to others offers the following benefits:
- Gives you the time and ability to focus on higher-level tasks
- Gives others the ability to learn and develop new skills
- Develops trust between workers and improves communication
- Improves efficiency, productivity, and time management
Guidelines for Delegating Tasks
Although delegating tasks boosts efficiency and productivity, and improves time management, it is important to delegate tasks correctly. Here are some things to keep top-of-mind:
- Ensure that the objectives are clear and that the person taking on the additional responsibility has the tools to do it well.
- Ask for any concerns and be open to suggestions and ideas.
- Provide a guideline on the amount of time and/or money to be spent on the delegated task.
- Play to the individual’s strength – each person has a unique skill-set and talent. Delegate work that is likely result in better overall efficiency.
- For long-term delegated tasks, follow up to keep your workers on the right track.
The Difficulty in Delegating Work
Although there are clear benefits to delegating work, many choose not to do so. In fact, many people feel that it is more efficient for them to just do everything by themselves. There are several reasons as to why an individual may not want to delegate work to others:
#1 Delegating does not eliminate accountability
Although you give up the responsibility when you delegate a task, the delegator is ultimately accountable for the success or failure of the task. However, transferring the success to the person who did more of the work is a good strategy for supportive leadership.
#2 Delegating results in a loss of control
Many people believe that they can do the job more effectively than others. The sense of loss of control of the task prevents many from passing off work to others.
#3 Delegating requires mentorship and time
Delegating requires training on how to do the task. The delegation of work to someone else requires the manager to mentor and ensure that the person completes the task. The delegator may need to spend as much time teaching the other individual how to do the task as to complete the task himself.
Delegating is important in any organization. In fact, in a 2013 Stanford University-led survey, 35% of executives indicated that delegation is something that they need to improve on, while 37% said that they are actively trying to improve their delegation skills.
Examples of Delegating
Empowering your Employees
Atlantic Properties is a real estate company that has recently hired two new interns, Carl and Dave. The manager has recently been swamped with investment opportunities and has not had the time to do other tasks such as writing proposals and talking with key stakeholders.
Before joining Atlantic Properties, Carl was a content writer and Dave worked at a call center. The manager decides to play to each intern’s strength and delegates writing proposals to Carl and talking with key stakeholders to Dave. The manager on-boards both interns on how to successfully do the task and gives a detailed guide on how to perform them. Additionally, the manager checks with each intern periodically to make sure that they are doing things correctly.
Hiring a Helping Hand
Carmen recently started a new company in Vancouver that is involved in flipping houses. The company’s business model revolves around owning a house for a short period of time and selling it back on the market with the intention of generating a quick profit.
Carmen is the sole founder of the company and she’s been doing everything by herself – marketing, accounting, business strategies, etc. In fact, she’s been overloaded with work to the point where she cannot focus on what she does best – finding bargains in the housing market to flip. To relieve the stress and improve her efficiency, she decides to hire a junior accountant and a marketing manager to delegate work to. By doing so, Carmen is able to focus on what she does best – improve efficiency and reduce stress.
Additional Resources
Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to delegation. CFI offers the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)™ certification program for those looking to take their careers to the next level. To keep learning and advancing your career, the following resources will be helpful:
- Adaptive
- Employee Morale
- Leadership Traits
- Management Skills
Delegation involves the assignment to others of the authority for particular functions, tasks, and decisions.
The main advantages and disadvantages of delegation can be summarised as follows:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Reduces management stress and workload Allows senior management to focus on key tasks Subordinates are empowered and motivated Better decisions or use of resources (potentially) Good method of on-the-job training | Cannot / should not delegate responsibility Depends on quality / experience of subordinates Harder in a smaller firm May increase workload and stress of subordinates |
By Chron Contributor Updated July 21, 2020
Delegating duties to lower-level employees can prove as a positive step for your business. Your employees can gain a sense of importance, while you free up your own time to perform more important tasks, according to Business Balls. Although delegating duties comes with advantages, it also comes with its disadvantages.
You own your business, and you know how you like your business to be run. Not only do you know how you like your business to be run, but you also know how to run your business effectively. A person who does not know as much about your business as you do, such as an employee, may not know the best way to accomplish tasks that you would normally perform. Therefore, assigning tasks to employees does pose is one of the risks of delegation.
Take this example of the limitations of delegation: You run a restaurant business alone. In the down times, however, you like to drive home and get some rest before the next shift starts. Because you do not have an assistant manager, you delegate the duty of managing the restaurant to one of your employees during this time.
One night you leave the restaurant early and leave one of your servers in charge. While you usually let the servers leave at closing time, this server lets the servers leave one hour before close. If the restaurant suddenly gets an unexpected influx of customers because a show let out down the block, the business will be in trouble that night.
Many tasks that a manager of a business would perform cannot legally be delegated. If you as a manager have the duty to perform these tasks, you cannot delegate these tasks without putting yourself at risk of a lawsuit.
For example, you own an appraisal business and a client hires you to appraise his home. You delegate the duty to an unqualified employee, and the employee subsequently gives a much lower appraisal value than the house is really worth. The homeowner ends up selling the home based on the low appraisal value. The homeowner could sue you for the loss he suffered as a result of relying on the “expertise” of your business.
One of the disadvantages of delegation is giving an employee too many tasks to complete. If you place too much of a burden on your employee’s shoulders, that employee may stop viewing himself as a trusted employee and start viewing himself as an abused employee. According to Entrepreneur, it is important to make sure to select the right people for the jobs and dynamics, and make sure to motivate them and check in once duties have been delegated. Be willing to adjust and make changes.
If his pay does not match the amount of work he completes, he may just make himself your former employee. Be careful not to place too many of your duties on just one person. If you need to delegate many duties, spread the tasks among more than one employee.