While managing affairs of an organisation it becomes impossible many times to do every thing of your own and you feel delegating essential activities to some one, which means handing over some of your authority and control to someone else and making sure things move as you desire. Most managers admit that delegation is good thing but when it actually comes to the point they find all sorts of excuses why they cannot do so. The reluctance you may have about delegating any task means that subordinates never get a chance to prove that they can do. Many of the reasons given for not delegating are not genuine. It may be because you feel that you are irreplaceable, not having trust in your people and not accepting the differences.

There are those managers who think they are really good at delegating because they give so many tasks away but they may not have understood that there is a difference between delegation and abdication. If you give too many tasks, it may mean that your subordinates may have responsibility but not authority but not authority, so they have little influence in getting things done should others don’t extend cooperation. They can be asked to carry out tasks, which are outside their skills and abilities, so they are unlikely to be able to complete in time satisfactorily. The consequence is that when subordinates do not achieve result they may become unresponsive and unwilling to take up other  

·        Do I believe that I am the only one who can do the job?

·        Do I avoid delegating because I think it is going to take up too much time?

·        Am I reluctant to delegate because I dread losing control?

·        Do I have too much to do?

·        Do I find it difficult to trust other people to do a job properly?

If you find answers of these questions in affirmative, it is not a good sign. Please have a re-look at your attitude. In fact you will be more effective if you concede and acknowledge that delegating is a vital part of managing effectively and could allow you do more.  

1.   DECIDE WHAT TO DELEGATE  

 
    It will be a wrong assumption that you can delegate any task to anybody only because you do not feel like doing it or you have to keep some one busy. Make a list of tasks you must delegate, tasks you should delegate, tasks you can delegate and tasks you may retain. This analysis useful because it prompts you to realize that you may still be carrying out some tasks which you should have delegated much earlier. Once you decide what to delegate the next step is to make certain you know precisely what it involves. Identify the mental process needed to carry out the tasks, the activities perform and equipment to be used, the relationships with other people necessary to complete the tasks. The purpose of identifying is to consider the skills and abilities necessary to carry out the work.        
Delegating requires you to pass on some of your responsibility and authority for carrying out tasks while still being accountable. So before delegating assess how much risk  is involve, how  much authority and responsibility you will be given up. By analyzing these factors you are able make a wise choice about which jobs would be most suitable and delegating.

     2. DECIDE WHO CAN DO IT      

    Consider the level of ability that your people possess. You are likely to find while assessing the abilities that some are aces (experienced people,
need no support), Kings and queens (fairly experienced but need support from time to time) jacks (need to learn, ought to be told how to carry out) and at last fill in blanks (to be called upon when need arises, can provide specific skills).
Recognizing the various levels of ability which subordinates possess means you will need to provide assistance for those who require it and can leave those who are able to do of their own by tailoring the amount of assistance you provide the capabilities of different people, you will improve those who need improving and encourage those who are already competent. For subordinate to be capable of carrying the tasks delegated to them, they need to know the facts and feel supported.
To know exactly what is required of them they should be made fully aware of area of responsibility being delegated, amount of authority delegated and standards required and the time scale involve so that they know precisely what is expected of them and within how much time tasks is to be completed. TO be effective, assess the capabilities of different people, no which tasks would be given to whom, identify the facts people need to know, understand the importance of giving encouragement and support and try to suit the right tasks to the right people.  

  3. BRIEFING      

    After deciding what to delegate and to whom, you need to guide the person who will be completing the tasks and this requires you to introduce the task, telling details, define standards and setup a system for reporting on progress. Tell what you want, what it needs to be done an how it fit into overall job responsibilities.
Telling about components of tasks with responsibilities and authority being given to him. Describe the background as to why it needs to be delegated, set the standards of quality. Check whether some one needs coaching in some aspect of the task. Encourage and instructs when needed and brief enough to hand over the tasks and let a person move on with it.

 4. MONITORING PROGRESS  

    The real challenge facing you is to monitor progress without interfering in the work that your subordinate is doing. If you keep popping up demanding, enthusiasm of subordinate will vanish. You need to decide with whom how to monitor. With certain people you may only need to check the work on completion while with others you need to keep a silent watch on what is going on so as to spot to any wrong, which might be appearing. You should always be able to monitor as what is happening and what should happen. Monitor progress without interfering. Occasionally check and make gap analysis between actual happenings and should be happening.
Help people to overcome any difficulties they experience. Encourage people to find their own solutions. Review how the task was performed. Congratulate subordinate for his good work and give credit to him with open mind when and where it is due.
   

5. YOUR ATTITUDE

    Delegating is a two way process. If you are prepared to take a risk by deciding to let someone else do a task that you would normally do, while still accepting full responsibilities for a result, trust subordinates and support their mistakes, I am sure they will commit themselves and give their best. It is only by having the right attitude that you are likely to generate the right attitude in others. You need to mind yourself that you are not the only person who is capable of doing the thing you do. You will not loose control of your work overall if you let go a part of it. You should have faith that if you choose wisely and delegate well enough, you will get good results. 

Show that you trust people to do the task properly. Trust is built up gradually and can be initiated by asking people to carry out less important tasks before to delegate anything of greater importance. Always do what you have promised you will do. Regularly indicate that you value the effort others have made towards achieving results. Never letting those who are doing delegated tasks takes the blame for anything that goes wrong. If problems occur your subordinates need to be certain that you will stand up for them and be loyal to them. If you do not, they will learn not to trust you.       You should believe that subordinates or any other person in the organisation don’t commit mistakes intentionally but inevitably mistakes will happen. The important thing is to let it be known that if some thing goes wrong people should not be afraid to admit it. This gives them confidence that you will support them and that your attitude will always be helpful no matter what the circumstances.

If you have not conveyed your willingness to support mistakes, your subordinates will not bring you their problems. If they are confident that you have their interests at heart, it is reciprocated. I am confident that they will work hard to ensure not to let you down. Since you will be handling over a certain amount of authority and responsibility, you need to feel that this will be properly used. Whatever the size of the task, any thing that is delegated will always be the better for a degree of commitment. In fact, the more commitment you can obtain from those to whom you delegate, the greater the chance that they will be successful.    
To take on the task and its attendant responsibilities, people need to be interested, willing and able. Ability without a willingness to take on a task generally means that it will not be satisfactorily completed.

To obtain commitment, you need to convince people that they are carrying out tasks which are necessary, have certain degree of autonomy within which he has to operate provided the objectives are met and they have been entrusted with the task because they are considered capable of doing it. In this way you help subordinates to become committed to the job and encourage them to treat the tasks as their own.  

6. BENEFITS

·        Gain time to devote to strategic activities like thinking and planning.

·        Help other people to develop and to increase their self-confidence.

·        Get to know people better and so enhance relationships.

·        Learn to let go.

·        Get more done, including many of the things you always wanted to do.               

   Remember that attitude is an essential consequent of successful delegating.

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  Are You an Effective Time Manager?    

   I would like to share with you one of my observations, made while happened to be in the office of CEO of a company. About 45 minutes of my stay with him which was prefixed, no time was available to talk. The reason, he was busy with attending uninterrupted phone calls, mobile his subordinate managers who were coming to him for his decision on each petty matter. Over and above he was constantly involved with his computer.  

An important study of top management in large organizations discovered that even the most successful managers were victim of this problem. Most of their time was taken up with demands of others or for purposes, which did not add anything to their effectiveness.  

Most of the managers are not able to understand that time once lost is gone forever. NO replacement. No reversal. Time management has become one of the most important organization resources to be utilized effectively. We believe that we are managing our time very productively but when we going to deep, reality come something else, because we lack a reliable time sense.  

Time has come to reorganize your working, be ready to get rid of time wasters, learn to say No and set your priorities. Time management is a personal process, which requires a lot commitment, patience, willingness and a lot of efforts from one self. Old habits, die-hard. But Yes! Let us try to start today. Come out of routine, focus on self discipline & feel the difference. You have spare time to do something new.

  A Checklist for you   

 Here are some questions you should ask and answer-yourself to determine how effectively you are using your time.

1. Do you have too much to do? If you answer “yes”, you are probably a victim of lack of planning.
2. Do you frequently work overtime to catch up? If you think that working overtime regularly will create a good impression, you may be kidding yourself. It often has the opposite effect. You may be looked upon as inefficient! (While it is yet to be seen anyone dying of hard work, contend that people who work overtime regularly are probably inefficient and must necessary be neglecting their families).
3. Are you spending too much time at your desk? In trying to keep up your paper work, you may find that you are neglecting your real management job-managing your department’s affairs.
4. Do you occasionally fail to make sound and timely decisions? In your executive job, you are paid for your judgment. If you do not anticipate, and plan for, future needs for information, your decisions may be delayed and even be faulty.
5. Do you waste time on details or work that belongs to others? If you do you’re probably still doing the work you were doing before you got promoted to your present position.
6. Do you know how you sped your time? Most executives do not know how they spend their time, or how valuable their time is. If you were to list all the activities you do in a typical workday and estimate the amount of time is. If you were to list all the activities you do in a typical workday and estimate the amount of time spend on each, you may be surprised to find that 15-20 % of the activities take up 80-85 % of the available time. The question is: Do you spend 80-85% of your time on activities critical to your performance or on inconsequential tasks?

 Some Other Questions to set you thinking:  

1. Do you know the critical areas on which your performance is evaluated?
2. Do you plan your tie-daily, weekly, monthly?
3. Do you establish priorities every day, every week?
4. Do you usually find yourself surrounded by a number of visitors/subordinates in your office?
5. Do you get constant interruptions in your work?
6. Can you locate important papers easily from cabinet /drawers?
7. Do you have an untidy desk?
8. Do you occasionally have to repeat your instructions to your subordinates?
9. Do you finish the job?
10. Do you pride yourself on being able to do three or four jobs at the same time?
11. Do you meet deadlines?
12. Do you have a system for spotting duplications in work you or your subordinates do?
13. Are you willing to give other people’s ideas a chance?
14. Do you trust your subordinates?
15. Are you indispensable in your present job?

 Where Does Your Time Go

It is useful to think of the following classification of how you use your time during a typical working day.

1. Routine Work: Like collecting information, answering mail, preparing reports, etc. These are the little things of your job, but they can account for a big chunk of time available to you, often as much as 20-30 %.

RULE- OF-THUMB: Cut the time for routine work to bare minimum (through Delegation) - say 10percent of your total time.

2. Regular Job Duties: Like planning, managing employees, checking progress, etc. This part of your job is important and must take a substantial amount of time.
3. Special Assignments: This is your share of miscellaneous jobs that crop up occasionally, for instance, being member of a special task team or preparing a special report for the boss. As a general rule, restrict your special assignment time to 10-15% otherwise it will cut into your regular time job duties-unless your boss asks you to spend more time on special assignments.

4. Creative Work: Like thinking about doing things better, preparing a new layout for your department, or developing a new training programme for your subordinates. Creative work always has a payoff-both for the newcomer and the old-timer. It also makes your work more interesting, and more rewarding.

You can save time and improve your personal effectiveness, if you know how much time is spending on each of the above four types of work. The easiest way to this is to keep diary-a running record of what you do-for a week. Next analyze your time record to see how much time you spend for each kind of work. Remember. For effective time utilization, you must know how you actually spend your time.Plan how you will spend your time-every day, every week, every month. Live in day-tight compartments. The more systematic you are, the more effective you will be in the use of your time.Plan your work; work the plan.  

How to Organize Time

Practically everyone can get more value out of his working day by planning his time according to the following nine-step procedure.  

First Step: List All the things you do in a typical way. The best way to do this is to keep a record of how you are spending your time for a week, adding to this list any tasks that you do only occasionally.  

Second Step: Estimate the time spend on each activity- the average time under  normal circumstances. 

Third Step: Classify all the activities according to their importance-

1. Those that is essential for you to do every day.
2. Those that is essential at definite, stated intervals,
3. Those that is essential but come up unexpectedly and take an unpredictable amount of time.
4. Those that is advisable and important if you can find the time to do them.
5. Those that may come up as emergencies.
6. Those that require time in planning and analyzing.

Fourth Step: Look for duplications of effort and eliminate them. If you apply work simplification techniques like eliminating backtracking and replacing outmoded, time-consuming methods, you can streamline your working habits.

Fifth Step: Study all activities to determine which of them can be wholly or partly delegated to others. You may have many people who are qualified (or who can be trained) to do some of the detailed, repetitive jobs that are taking up so much of your time.

Sixth Step: Adjust you estimate of the time it takes to do the various tasks according to your streamlined methods.

Seventh Step:  Make yourself a realistic timetable. Provide time for essentials first, then for emergencies. Try to leave some unscheduled time which you can devote to important work that was formerly rushed or neglected, or required you to work overtime. Leave also some time for long-range planning an thinking.

Eighth Step: Make alternate plans for any disturbances to your schedule that may result from emergency situations. Take a good second look at those “emergencies”. You may be able to eliminate them completely with better planning.

Ninth Step: Set the plan in motion, reviewing it from time to time to make corrections and revisions. A successful manager organizes his time so that he always operates at peak efficiency. The above nine-step procedure will help you improve your performance no matter what it is that you are managing.  

ESTABLISHING PRIORITES:

 Now that you know how you spend your time and how much your time is worth, let us look at the specific activities, which fill your day. It is established that 15-20% of the activities take up 80-85% of your available time. What are these A-class activities? List them, and assess if they are the critical areas on which your performance is evaluated. If they are not the key performance areas of your job, you are spending too much time on relatively unimportant tasks. It’s time you established PRIORITIES in your work.

1. Study your job description carefully and list your job responsibilities. Identify the key areas of your job on which your performance will be evaluated. (if necessary, seek clarification of your job responsibilities and key performance areas from your boss). These are the areas for which you should allocate a large proportion of your time.
2. Do that work first which must be done first. Resist the human temptation to do first what you know and enjoy, doing  last the unknown and/or the disagreeable.
3. Never do anything yourself which can be delegated to a subordinate. Remember ,”management” is the accomplishment of organizational goals through the efforts of others. A manager plans, organizes, motivates, and controls. The subordinates do the work!
4. Stop doing anything which isn’t necessary or which should be done by some other office or department.

Identifying priorities:

*Pick the future as against the past

*Focus on opportunity rather than on problem.

*Choose your own direction-rather than climb the bandwagon.

*Aim high, aim for something that will make a difference, rather than something that will make a difference, rather than something that is “safe” and easy to do. Most managers set priorities in their work (effectively or ineffectively), but they rarely postpone a task altogether. They like to draw up a nice list of top priorities, and then say that they would try to do “just a little bit” of everything else as well. This would have been OK, except that nothing whatever may get done. So, why no call a spade a spade, and establish posteriorities at the same time you are establishing your priorities. This way, you will not have the uneasy feeling that you are neglecting some of your responsibilities, and will therefore be able to devote your time to the priority areas more effectively. It is essential to understand the value of time. Manage time as you manage your money. After all time is money!                                

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