How to view delegation as a strategic tool

Photo by Meghan Lamle on Unsplash

At a certain level of management, any manager's goal should be to become the least essential employee in their team when it comes to day-to-day operations. In this blog, I would like to explain why delegation transcends being merely a skill to master but stands as a strategic imperative.  

It saves money

All work should be performed by the lowest-paid person who can do the work effectively. This sounds a little harsh, but it just makes sense. Paying someone $75,000 a year to do work that could be done at the $50,000 salary level is simply good business. 

Driving work down the hierarchy disrupts the tactical rhythms most managers hold onto  

Managers can have difficulty embracing the strategic nature of their jobs as they move up. Most of them will be inclined to hold on to work they know well, which gives them a sense of accomplishment and control. It requires planning discipline for managers to name the work that shouldn’t be on their task list.  

It helps management understand the working capacity of their organization. 

As we drive work down the hierarchy, we learn a lot about the productive capacity of our teams. Managers often do not delegate because they assume their employee’s dance cards are full. Significant ability is often realized when people are asked to do more.  

It requires managers to prioritize

As work is delegated, it should generate a conversation between a manager and their employee about priorities. The delegated task or function may require that something else gets moved off the employee’s task list. In delegating, the manager must gain a clear picture of each employee’s workload and provide each employee with the ability to make choices about what gets done first. 

It creates a training opportunity – and an audition - for lower-level employees

If you want to learn what your employees are capable of, give them a challenging assignment. If you want an opportunity to coach them in real-time, using real-life circumstances, give them a project and coach them through the process. You don’t need complete confidence in someone’s abilities before you delegate work to them. Instead, you give them the opportunity and provide good hands-on support. They may surprise you and exceed your expectations, or they may get swamped and struggle. Either way, it’s an opportunity for learning and relationship enrichment.

It’s a retention tool

Employees will engage more productively in an environment where their abilities are taken seriously and in which they feel they are growing. Employees will often leave employers who don’t challenge them. Boredom is a soul-killing condition.  

It’s a potential lever for continuous improvement

Getting new eyes on any business process is a good thing. Good companies delegate well while also asking the employee to whom they’ve delegated the work to take a fresh look at it and find a better way. In this way, you’re not just handing off a task, but you’re creating an opportunity for them to be creative and analytical.  

It creates organizational resilience and stability

Organizations that are overly dependent on individual “centers of excellence” are constantly at risk of losing those people – who are the only ones who know how to do certain things. Spreading knowledge and responsibility widely across the organization makes it more adaptable and stable. It reduces the chaos of the “heroic environment” in which certain people pull the levers and push the buttons only they know how to access.