Sometimes our experience of delegation is based on our own experience of what was or wasn’t delegated to us. It may not always have been a positive or productive experience so we need to be careful that we don’t start to manage in the way we have been managed, otherwise poor skills and habits just get passed on.

Delegation does not mean giving away power; it empowers others, can help managers complete work, it helps succession planning. Managers should see delegation as a valuable management tool to get the work done better.

Understanding why managers don’t or feel unable to delegate, can shed some light on some other more significant issues such as productivity, motivation, morale.

Here are some of the reasons managers say they don’t delegate as much as they should:

• Fear that someone might be able to do the task better.
• Threatened by others who are capable.
• Fear of becoming redundant if they delegate aspects of their job.
• Belief they can do the job better.
• Fear or just unwilling to give over some authority to another person.
• Don’t know what to delegate.
• Don’t know how to delegate.
• Do not trust the team.
• Fail to see, or acknowledge, that delegating is a dynamic and cost-effective tool for employee development.
• Concern that if the task or job is not done well, they will be to blame.
• Unsure who gets the praise if the task is done well.
• Entrenched in the idea that “if you want something done, do it yourself”.
• The tasks are enjoyable so they are not shared or delegated to others.

We have experience of working with managers and helping them to understand the power of effective delegation. If you’d like to know a little more about how your job could be enhanced and at the same time increasing the motivation of your team, contact Fredericka or Joyce today at contact@voltedge.ie or phone us on 01 5252914.