Examples of mass and elite culture. Elite culture vs mass

Delegation of authority is the main process by which leaders establish the formal relationships of people in an organization. The essence of delegation is the ability to get others to do the work.” Not fully understanding the need for delegation or what it takes to make it more effective, many brilliant entrepreneurs have failed just as their organizations got big (Ford).

delegation called the transfer of duties (tasks) and powers from top to bottom to a unit or a person who assumes responsibility for their execution. Delegation is an act that turns a person into a leader.

At the same time, such a volume and scale of delegated powers is needed that contributes to the professional growth of employees, motivates them, and ensures satisfaction with the content of work. The optimal amount of delegation depends on various factors and, first of all, on the possibilities of exercising the delegated powers by this employee; the correspondence of the powers transferred to the employee to the nature of the tasks assumed by him.

There are two main concepts of delegation of authority:

classical - the transfer of powers from top to bottom. Powers are considered delegated when they are transferred by the head to the subordinate;

modern - acceptance of authority. Authority is considered delegated when it is accepted by a subordinate. Based on this concept, the subordinate has the right to reject the demands of the boss.

The process of delegation of authority includes the following steps :

assigning individual specific tasks to employees;

granting appropriate authority and resources to subordinates;

the formulation of the obligations of subordinates to fulfill the tasks assigned to them.

To the number basic principles of rational delegation in management include:

unity of command - the employee receives tasks and is responsible for their implementation to one boss;

compliance - the composition of tasks should correspond to the nature of the employee's authority;

coordination - the composition of powers should be dynamically adjusted in accordance with the new tasks of the employee;

sufficiency - the scale of responsibility should not exceed individual opportunities employee

Motivated – Expanding responsibility should be motivated by increased pay, influence, or leadership.

Delegation is based on authority and responsibility.

Responsibility is an obligation to fulfill the tasks and be responsible for their satisfactory solution. When delegating authority, responsibility is not delegated, it is not removed from the leader himself, although it extends to the subordinate. A leader cannot evade responsibility under the pretext of transferring it to his subordinates, or, in other words, responsibility cannot be delegated in principle.

Authority - this is an organizationally fixed limited right to use the resources of the organization and direct the efforts of its employees to perform certain tasks. Authority defines what a person holding a position has the right to do.

Powers are precisely a limited right, since they have limits determined by rules, job descriptions. An employee who goes beyond these rules exceeds his authority. The limits of authority are expanding towards higher levels of government. But even the powers of the top management are limited by the laws and cultural values of the society.

Powers are of the following types: line and staff.

Line powers - these are powers transferred directly from the boss to the subordinate and further to another subordinate. Delegation of line authority (scalar process) creates a hierarchy of organizational levels of control called the chain of command.

Staff powers is the right to advise or assist managers with line authority.

Staff powers are of four types:

mandatory approval;

parallel;

Procedure Introduction mandatory approval provides for the expansion of advisory powers and obliges the line management to coordinate a certain range of decisions with the staff apparatus.

Parallel powers represent a further extension of staff powers and include the power to override certain line management decisions.

Functional authority means giving the headquarters the right to both propose and prohibit certain actions within its competence.

What functions can be delegated ?

Should delegate : routine work that takes a lot of time; solution of private issues; preparatory work (drawing up projects, drafts, proposals); work requiring special professional knowledge; participation in meetings and meetings where the presence of the head is optional; medium and long term tasks that can be an important incentive for the subordinate.

Can't delegate : determination of the main directions of development; adoption of the charter and amendments to it; management of employees and motivation of their work; approval of documents, reports, instructions and issuance of orders; tasks of particular importance; high-risk tasks; making a decision on the liquidation of structural divisions and the entire enterprise; dismissal of employees; urgent matters that leave no time for explanation and verification of execution.

Delegation does not reduce the manager's responsibility for the results of doing things. All the same, the manager is responsible for the management, and not the subordinate who made the breakdown.

TO main advantages delegations include:

Delegation helps the manager to unload and free up time for important management functions;

Delegation promotes the use of professional knowledge and experience of employees;

Delegation stimulates the disclosure of abilities, initiative, independence and competence of subordinates;

Delegation often has a positive effect on employee motivation;

it is much more profitable and cheaper for the organization if the manager assigns the work to a person with a lower salary.

Disadvantages of Delegation can be reduced to the following:

There is a possibility that a subordinate, having less experience and knowledge, can follow the path, the futility of which you have already seen before.

The gain in time received by the leader can be crossed out by a loss due to a wrong decision;

Strong task orientation, not employee orientation;

The wrong behavior of employees acting on behalf of the leader can not only worsen the moral climate in the team, but also cause serious damage to the authority of the leader.

A good leader knows how to get others to do all the work, leaving himself only the basic general leadership and general control. The point is not that the leader is able to do the work of subordinates, but that each of the subordinates is put in its proper place.

The effective work of the company is the merit of the entire working team. If in such an organization each employee copes with the tasks set, and at the same time can take on the work of a higher manager, success is obvious. Let's try to find out what are the principles of delegation of authority and what delegation is in .

What is delegation of authority?

Not every leader knows what delegation is. Under the delegation of authority, it is customary to understand the process of transferring part of the functions of the manager to other managers or employees in order to fulfill certain tasks of the organization. Used for both improvement and optimization work force leader. It is customary to single out opposing concepts of the process by which powers can be transferred. This is a classic concept, and also the concept of taking authority.

The Psychology of Delegation

In enterprises and organizations, delegation of authority is the process of transferring the leaders of some part of their work to others. Such delegation can be psychologically justified if:

The manager is overburdened with work and cannot solve the problem on his own.
By transferring work to employees, the manager will have more time to solve very important issues that can only be solved by him.
Subordinate employees have developed managerial readiness and there is a need to involve them in the preparation and adoption of important managerial decisions.

However, sometimes the following errors are made during the delegation process:

Delegation of authority without assigning certain responsibilities to employees.
The process of transferring part of the work contrary to the job responsibilities of employees.
Delegation of responsibility without authority.

How is delegation different from task setting?

Often, managers mistake such concepts as delegation and task setting for the same thing, although in reality these two functions are different from each other. So, the essence of delegation is the process of transferring a certain part of the work from the leader to subordinates. As for setting goals, here in question O necessary work, which are related to official duties employee.

Advantages and disadvantages of delegation

Before handing over your work to a subordinate, it is important to think about the consequences, as delegation of authority has its advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, it motivates employees to work even more productively and strive to career growth. In addition, delegation in management is economically very beneficial for the enterprise. However, at the same time, managers must understand that by transferring their work to subordinates, they run the risk of missing deadlines and incurring responsibility for this to higher management.

Benefits of delegation of authority

There are such advantages of delegation:

The process of handing over work to subordinates is effective method motivation. So, if the leader transfers his work to the subordinate, thereby he increases his responsibility and increase productivity.
This process is very good way improve the skills of employees. If a person performs a new job for him, this will stimulate him to master an unfamiliar field of activity and further use the acquired knowledge and experience.
Delegation of authority is a huge incentive in the work of subordinates who feel like masters in certain areas of work. Over time, this teaches self-reliance and prepares people for moving to high positions.
The process of transferring work to subordinates saves the company money.
Delegation is an excellent way to speed up certain processes. The manager cannot and should not understand everything. It is advisable to transfer such tasks to subordinates.
This process is an excellent chance to focus on more meaningful and difficult tasks. So, when a manager shifts routine work to his subordinates, he thereby frees up time for solving important issues and implementing priority projects.

Disadvantages of Delegation

Such a process as delegation of authority in an organization has the following disadvantages:

When transferring his duties to employees, the manager cannot be sure of the proper quality of performance. For this reason, the main task here will be the selection of a competent this issue specialist.
The likelihood that an employee may not be able to cope with the assigned tasks. When setting deadlines, it is important to leave a few days for possible force majeure.
In any case, the manager will bear responsibility for the completed or not completed task. Although certain part responsibility rests with the employee, but the manager, not the subordinate, will have to report for the task not completed on time.
The probability that a subordinate performs a given task better than the leader.

Delegation of authority in management

Delegation of authority in the work of a manager pursues its goals:

Freeing up the time of the delegator in order to solve problems in which it is more difficult, or cannot be replaced at all.
Increase the motivation of those who are delegated authority.
Increase trust in the work team.
Check subordinates for performance.

In the theories democratic governance delegation means that each person has the authority by birthright, or in accordance with civil rights. Citizens can delegate these powers during the election process in order to perform specific tasks that require specialization and competence, including management skills.

Delegation Goals

I distinguish the following goals of delegation of authority:

Increase the performance of subordinates.
Reduce the workload of managers, free them from routine work and create the most acceptable conditions for solving both strategic and long-term managerial tasks. IN this case to delegate is to deal with turnover.
Train promising employees and form a talent pool in the future.
Increase the involvement and interest of employees. Delegation can be perceived as a special trust and at the same time be a means of moral encouragement.

Delegation Rules

There are following delegation rules:

Own powers must be transferred only for the good of the cause, and not for prestige.
Delegation of authority must be used as a tool to strengthen employees.
Delegates need the support of a steward. You need to be ready for this.
It is important to take into account the possibility of making erroneous and not the most accurate decisions. At the same time, there are tasks, the solution of which must be impeccable. Such tasks should not be delegated to a subordinate.
Authorities and functions must be transferred directly to the person who will perform the task.
Criticism should be expressed with caution. It is necessary to understand the situation and demand an explanation for what reason this or that error occurred.
The manager must take responsibility for all decisions.

Delegation types

Such a process as delegation in management is divided into two main types:

Delegation of authority without transfer of responsibility is such a process of transferring tasks to employees, the responsibility for which remains with the manager. So, the subordinate performs the task, reports to the manager, and he reports to his supervisor
Delegation of authority and responsibility is the process of transferring not only tasks to a subordinate, but also responsibility for their implementation to higher management.

Reverse Delegation

Sometimes the problems of delegation of authority make the manager think about the need to transfer work to subordinates. Especially when the leader is faced with reverse delegation. Reverse delegation is understood as such a situation when employees return a task assigned by managers. Reasons for this process include:

Subordinates do not want to take risks.
subordinate's lack of confidence own forces.
The subordinate does not necessary information and opportunities to successfully meet the challenges.
The manager does not know how to refuse in response to requests for help.

Books on Delegation

Books on delegation will help you avoid making annoying mistakes in the process of transferring work from a manager to a subordinate:

"The One Minute Manager and the Monkeys" by Kenneth Blanchard. The book tells about a fussy manager who could not cope with his job. Only when the man learned to control the monkeys did he understand where he made mistakes in his work.
How to delegate authority. 50 lessons on stickers" Sergey Potapov. A well-known business coach in his book talks about practical techniques in the not-so-simple delegation process.
"Delegation of Authority" Richard Luke. The book will tell you why it is important for every leader to delegate his powers, what stages the process itself consists of and how to solve the main problems.

In an organization, delegation of authority is one of the most important aspects of the personnel management system. It is on the basis of the delegation of authority and responsibility that the effective division of labor and the functioning of the entire hierarchical structure within the enterprise are ensured. And how the delegation of authority should be properly ensured should be known to each ordinary employee, as well as to managers and representatives of the personnel department.

Delegation of authority - what is it

From the point of view of classical management theory, delegation of authority is a process in which the functions and powers of the boss or part of them are transferred in one form or another to a subordinate employee. At the same time, a certain responsibility is also assigned to the employee for the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to him, but the same responsibility is fully shared by the manager. But before considering certain principles of delegation of authority, it is necessary to familiarize yourself directly with the meaning of this term.

So, powers mean that an employee has certain rights to dispose of the resources of the employer. The powers of employees and managers should be enshrined in the internal regulatory documents of the organization - and. At the same time, the principles of their delegation can be fixed in this documentation.

The delegation of powers of senior management or other employees within the framework of not only internal, but also external activities of the enterprise, if necessary, can also be confirmed by issuing an appropriate power of attorney.

modern theory

So, they can be:

Linear. These powers include those tasks and goals that are directly transferred from the higher management along the hierarchical ladder sequentially to the final performers within the framework of the workflow. Linear powers allow you to effectively organize the work process as a whole, however, in the case of a large staff size, the execution of all tasks only within the framework of this type of authority can be greatly slowed down, which will affect the overall performance of the enterprise's economic activity.
staff. Headquarters powers are understood as specific rights and obligations imposed on individual structural units outside the general linear hierarchy. Accordingly, headquarters powers allow you to quickly decide important questions within any particular competencies. So, the personnel department is in charge of staff authority in resolving personnel issues, which frees the employer from the need to have in all structural divisions individual HR specialists and directly ensure the implementation personnel decisions all other departments through just one structure.

The main goals and objectives of delegation of authority

In any organization, delegation of authority allows you to solve several problems at once and is a complex process, the use of which is necessary in modern personnel management. So, it allows you to solve the following main tasks of a business entity or manager:

How delegation of authority is carried out

The process of delegation of authority and its practical implementation can seriously differ depending on the size of the business entity, its scope of activity and many other nuances. However, regardless of the above factors, general principles this procedure is as follows:

Task definition. The manager considers the tasks before him and structures them in such a way as to transfer some of them to his subordinates.
Transfer of the order to the executor. Having defined a specific task, the manager passes it to the performer. At the same time, in order to complete the aforementioned procedure, he must give a written or oral order.
Granting the executor the authority to solve the task. The employee must be delegated all the powers necessary to carry out the assignment in accordance with the labor regulations.

If the transferred powers and tasks are not considered in any way with the employee and other local regulations, then the employee is not obliged to comply with them. Accordingly, before delegating authority, it is necessary to ensure full legal framework for this process and its compliance with the requirements of labor legislation.

Delegation principles

The process of delegation of authority should be based on the obligatory observance of certain certain principles. Both employers and employees should be aware of them. The principles of delegation of authority in an organization include:

The principle of unity of command. This is one of the basic principles that the process of delegation of authority should comply with. It implies that each employee should have only one immediate supervisor. That is, tasks can be delegated to an employee only by the person who is his boss, and not by the heads of other departments in both the horizontal and vertical systems.
The principle of unconditional responsibility. Although within the framework of the delegation of authority, the responsibility for solving the task is transferred to the employee, his manager is also fully responsible for its implementation - both because this task was originally assigned to him, and due to the fact that it is the manager who takes delegation decision.
Expected results principle. When delegating authority, the manager must always understand what kind of result and in what time frame he wants to receive from the employee to whom certain powers were transferred.
Authorization level principle. Each employee is obliged to be aware of his powers and not to transfer them back to higher management, except for extreme necessity and the complete impossibility of implementing the assigned tasks.
Principle of definition. Each participant in the delegation of authority system must be fully aware of the range of both his powers and the rights and obligations of other employees in contact with him.
The principle of attribution of responsibility. Responsibility transferred within the framework of authority must correspond to their scope. That is, the employee should be responsible only within the framework of the authority received by him, and not for the entire solution of the problem in principle.

Separate nuances and features of delegation of authority and responsibility

When delegating authority, the manager should be aware of several characteristic features of this process. So, first of all, it is necessary to understand what powers and types of tasks are recommended to be transferred to subordinates:

routine tasks. These include the performance of basic daily duties as part of the workflow.
Minor questions. Various issues that are out of the general scope of standard work tasks, but are not of great importance, can also be delegated.
Preparatory and maintenance work. If some activity requires additional training, then it may also be advisable to transfer this training to subordinates.
specialized labor. The manager does not always have all the necessary professional skills that his subordinates have, so specialized work must be delegated without fail, especially in the absence of experience in its implementation.

It is also necessary to understand that not all tasks can be delegated to specific employees. So, the manager must independently determine which task should be entrusted to a particular employee. When determining the executor who will be granted the authority, you should pay attention to the following nuances:

The employee must be able to complete the task. Setting obviously impossible tasks will not motivate the employee to fulfill it, and the question posed as a result will not be resolved in principle.
The task should not cause rejection in the employee. Delegating unpleasant tasks to an employee is bad practice. Making decisions to fire employees, or even just sending out notices of staff reductions, or having fundamental disagreements on the implementation of assigned tasks are reasons why it is not worth delegating work.

A common mistake of many novice managers is the fundamental refusal to delegate authority. They may not be confident in their subordinates, or, on the contrary, they may be too confident in their own abilities. In addition, an excessive sense of responsibility and the fear of losing a position due to a refusal to independently solve the tasks can also interfere with delegation. Getting rid of these factors is vital for both the leader himself and his immediate superiors.

Learn more about what delegation of authority is and why it is carried out in this article.

You will learn:

Why delegation of authority is necessary.
What are the types of delegation of authority.
How to implement effective delegation of authority.
What levels of delegation of authority exist.
What to consider when delegating authority.

The ability to competently delegate work tasks is becoming increasingly important in the work of managers due to increased competition in the market, because there is less and less time left to make important decisions. Managers are forced to make a choice: either accept that the quality of their decisions will decline, or try to reduce their number.

When is the need for delegation of authority

Many managers are convinced that no one can do their job better than themselves. Thus, they take on a lot of tasks and cases on their shoulders, without resorting to delegation of authority and working 12-15 hours a day. The disadvantage of such behavior of the leader is the lack of time to concentrate efforts on solving essential tasks: the analysis of key information and the strategic development of the company.

Here is a simple example that illustrates the importance of delegation of authority and the difficulties associated with it. Suppose that the manager spends on the formation of a report in Excel program about 15 minutes. In order to select an employee, instruct him to write this report himself and explain how to do it, you will need to spend several hours. After that, you will have to double-check the reports generated by the employee and clarify some of the nuances. For these reasons, it is easier for the manager to complete such a report himself, especially if the work schedule is so tight that it does not allow for 2-3 free hours. However, you should still decide to delegate this task to one of your employees: the hours spent on employee training will quickly pay off, especially if such calculations need to be carried out daily. Through certain time the employee will be able to make these calculations as quickly and efficiently as the manager, and the manager will free up time for more important and requiring his participation.

If you agree with at least half of the statements below, then you really should consider delegating authority in your organization:

There are often more than two people waiting for you in your waiting room at the same time.
Employees of your company complain that it is difficult to catch you on the spot, they have to make an appointment with you in advance.
The stack of documents that require review and your signature is constantly growing, although you try to sign and process them regularly.
None of your deputies or subordinates are authorized to perform any of your duties.
You can't remember important agreements that others remind you of.
You can almost never say to your employees, "You decide."

You can experiment: when you receive a document, put a red dot on it as a sign that you have reviewed it. If this document is again in your hands for verification, put another point. Keep doing this until the document is complete. In the end, you can count the number of red dots on the document: the so-called "checking the document for measles." How more points the more indecisive you are in making decisions. Naturally, there are situations when you have to return to the same document again and again, but still in most cases final decision can be taken immediately.

What types of delegation of authority are used in practice

Hard delegation. This type of delegation of authority requires a clear statement of the expected result and a specific description of how it can be achieved. An employee who is delegated to perform a specific task is extremely limited in making independent decisions. For example, you instruct the purchasing director to negotiate with suppliers in order to obtain credit limit(although you can solve this problem on your own). You specifically describe the result you want to get: the amount of the limit, the duration of the delay and how exactly you should negotiate with this partner.

Soft delegation. Soft delegation of authority means b O greater freedom of action for the employee in the performance of the task assigned to him. This type of delegation of authority allows the boss to unload his working day, and the employee to develop his professional skills. It is important to indicate the range of possible actions for the subordinate. This method of delegation of authority can also be used by managers as a test in order to better understand the abilities of an employee.

Delegation is the other way around. Try to switch places with a subordinate: let him set the scope of tasks for himself, determine the deadlines, make a request for the necessary resources, and also consider a reward for himself. With this method, employees can sometimes set themselves very ambitious tasks that you yourself would never dare to set for them. As a rule, the results are very good. In order to correctly assess the priorities of an employee, you can ask him questions: “What do you think you can do best? What contribution can you make to the achievement of the overall goals of the company? From the side, this method may resemble interesting game, but the real responsibility for the results still remains with you. Try to inspire your employee emotionally so that he can define important goals and tasks for himself.

How else is delegation of authority carried out?

Transfer of valuable information. When a manager needs to delegate a task that requires handling valuable information, he is often overwhelmed by doubts about how much he can trust his employee with important data. The way out in this situation is to use information technologies, which will minimize the unauthorized distribution of valuable information. You can make sure that employees responsible for a particular task have limited access to corporate programs. They only know what they need to do their job. For example, if a product is purchased in China, then only employees of the Chinese office know the initial cost of this product, colleagues in Moscow work with the prices at which these products are sold, and warehouse workers do not have information about the cost of products at all.

Delegation of powers of another level can also be used: for those cases when the owner of the enterprise wants to completely transfer the management of the company to a trusted employee and receive only profit from the company's turnover. In this case, he is forced to transfer all the data to one specialist who is able to take over the management of the business. For the successful delegation of managerial powers, it is necessary to think over the motivation for the new manager and offer such conditions under which he will not have a desire to share valuable and secret information with third parties. Usually, high level salaries, bonuses and a certain percentage of the company's shares guarantee the high interest of the manager in the successful and responsible business.

It should be noted that there are no universal methods in delegation of authority: each leader can determine for himself which method of delegation is suitable for a particular situation.

How to delegate authority to save 25% of work time

The commercial director regularly receives tasks from the top management of the company, plans the work of employees, and communicates with clients. To cope with the huge flow of information and grow your business, it is important to manage your time rationally and not waste energy on routine tasks. To do this, you need to properly delegate tasks to subordinates and monitor their implementation. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the commercial director will be reduced to zero. .

Check with the checklist from electronic journal"Commercial Director", whether you effectively distribute tasks between your subordinates.

How is the process of delegation of authority going?

The whole process of delegation of authority consists of 4 stages:

Understanding what needs to be delegated.
Determining which employees can be delegated.
Explaining to the employee how exactly the task should be performed.
Controlling how the order is being executed.

Stage 1. WHAT to delegate

Designate a list of tasks that need to be solved, and analyze each task according to two criteria: importance and urgency. Try to select tasks for analysis that have a similar scale and deadlines. Do not include diverse tasks in one list for delegation of authority.

The number of tasks in the list should not exceed 50. If your list contains many more tasks, try to enlarge them: combine several tasks into one, avoiding excessive detail. To prioritize delegation, divide your list into 4 groups according to the criteria of importance and urgency (see table).

Certain tasks that the manager solves may not be very urgent or important, but require his direct participation. Such tasks cannot be delegated, for their solution it is necessary to allocate time in the work schedule. It is important to correctly combine case planning with delegation of authority. To do this, you should pay attention to how the "important and urgent" and "important, but not urgent" cases are correlated. If you know how to plan competently, then you will have less “important and urgent” things to do.

Delegation of functions depending on importance and urgency:

	Urgent tasks	Non-urgent tasks
Important Tasks	It is better not to delegate such matters. Try to be responsible for the organization, execution and control of the result. If necessary, helpers can be brought in.	Organize and control (especially at the project launch stage), and execution can be delegated.
unimportant tasks	Organization and execution can be delegated (until the matter becomes urgent and important), and you yourself only deal with control.	Such matters should be fully delegated. If there is no one to whom you can delegate, use the “three nails” rule.

According to the “three nails” rule, you should deal with non-urgent tasks if you have remembered them at least three times. Suppose there are three nails driven into the wall. When a case first appears in the field of your attention, you hang it on the first nail, remembering it again - on the second, and when this case is mentioned for the third time, you start working on it.

The manager should leave the following tasks in his area of responsibility:

formulation of goals;
making decisions that have great importance For the company;
monitoring the performance of the company;
motivation of key specialists;
work with key business areas at this stage of the company's development.

Everything that is outside these tasks should be solved by delegation of authority. This will free up your time for more meaningful and important tasks. Be sure to delegate the following:

daily routine activities: business correspondence, telephone conversations, ordinary meetings;
preparatory work: analytical reviews, advanced planning, budgeting and financing. All this information should be delivered to the manager with ready-made conclusions and proposals;
activities of a highly specialized nature: everything that specialists can do better than a manager.

Stage 2. TO WHOM to delegate

When choosing a specialist for delegation of authority, pay attention to the following parameters:

Personality. How does the employee perceive new assignments? Is it diligent? Is there a desire for professional growth?
Workload. Does the employee have enough time to complete the task as efficiently as possible?
Skills and experience. Does the specialist have the necessary knowledge? Does he have experience in solving similar problems?
The ability to complete an assignment. Will the employee be able to complete the assignment?

To begin with, it is best to give an employee test, which he can complete in a short period of time. It will allow you to understand whether this employee is suitable for delegating authority to him or not. It is important to opt for the employee who managed to complete the assignment better than others. If an employee in this moment works on another important and urgent task, then you should not give him an additional load: in this case, there will be no result at all, or the task will not be completed 100% efficiently. You should not delegate an important and urgent task to a newcomer in the team: perhaps he will not feel confident enough, and he may not have enough information for the quality performance of the assigned work.

Stage 3. HOW to set a task

In the process of delegating authority, try not just to give instructions to employees, but explain the meaning and value of each task for the common cause. It is very important to explain what the task is, to give a specific description of the expected result. It is also important to indicate the time limit for the execution of the task and designate control points for determining intermediate results which should also be clearly described. In addition, the employee must be aware of what resources and powers are at his disposal and what deliberately losing ways to solve the problem he should avoid. The best approach would be to jointly develop a work plan that clearly articulates the goal and describes the desired outcome of the work. In the process of developing a plan, ask a specialist about what he sees the stages of completing the task, which may cause him difficulties in solving the task, which remains unclear to him. All this will help determine how clearly he understood his task.

Stage 4. Monitoring the execution of instructions

It is equally important to discuss the results, to establish with the performer " feedback” - this can help the employee avoid mistakes and improve his work efficiency.

When delegating authority, the leader must be prepared for a variety of questions from subordinates, especially at early stages work. You should answer questions in detail and clearly, find time for meetings and personal communication with employees, as well as for monitoring the execution of delegated tasks. The manager should take the initiative and ask if everything is clear and understandable in their work. Not every employee dares to directly contact his manager, especially with those issues that, as he thinks, are not important, but may interfere with the quality performance of the assigned work.

Delegation levels

One of the most difficult steps for a leader is to learn how to delegate managerial authority to his deputies and subordinates. It is this problem that becomes an obstacle for many leaders on their way to success in big business. It often happens that the manager one day realizes that he is unable to run his own business on his own, and therefore hires a qualified and expensive specialist as a manager, who is assigned a high salary. Another option: the manager transfers all responsibility for the result of the work to his subordinates: "That's it, from now on, decide everything on your own ...". In this way, he hopes to free up his time for the study really important things. Naturally, in both the first and second cases, the manager very quickly realizes that the new manager does not manage the company correctly, and the subordinates cannot cope on their own with all the burden of responsibility and, out of habit, constantly ask the manager for advice.

The problem here is that many leaders want to change the paradigm "I decide everything myself" to the paradigm "Everything is decided by others" in one decision, bypassing the intermediate stages. But this is impossible.

Delegation of authority and responsibility can help you avoid this common mistake. The process of delegation of authority is divided into 7 levels, which help employees to smoothly get on track without making mistakes that would most likely be made with a one-time delegation of authority.

Tell (tell or command).
Sell (sell, explain).
Consult (consult).
Agree (agree).
Advise (recommend).
Inquire (find out, ask).
Delegate (delegate).

Let's look at each of these levels of delegation of authority in more detail:

Tell (order)- the leader makes a decision that will be implemented by his subordinates, based on personal considerations and motivation. The decision itself is not discussed.

Sell (sell, explain)- the leader makes a decision, informs his subordinates about it and tries to explain why such a decision is made, and not another. In this case, the leader is open to discussion with his subordinates, they can ask any questions regarding the decision and express their concerns. Despite this, the decision was made finally and irrevocably. By such actions, the manager makes his employees feel the importance of their opinion and allows them to be more involved in the work and life of the company.

Consult (consult)- the manager informs his team about what decision he plans to make and is interested in the opinion of employees about it. Thus, the leader shows subordinates that he respects their opinion, involves them in the process of working out the solution. The leader actually takes into account the opinion of subordinates, listening to the arguments of employees. But the decision is still made independently.

Agree (agree)- the leader invites subordinates to discuss the decision to be made. After each of the employees expresses their opinion, the manager sums up all of the above. The task of the leader is to start the process and outline the scope of the discussion. The task of the team is to develop and make a decision. As a result, the decision is made by the team under the strict supervision of the leader.

Advise (recommend)- the manager invites employees to make a decision on their own, but gives them some advice and recommendations on their part. The solution found is the decision made by the team, not the leader.

Inquire (find out)- the leader simply instructs to make a decision, without giving any advice or recommendations, but asks to inform him about the decision.

Delegate (delegate)- The leader is instructed to make a decision. He is not interested in what kind of decision was made - he has more important and significant things to do at the moment.

The levels of delegation of authority are distributed so that the active participation in solving the problem on the part of employees gradually increases, and the control on the part of the manager gradually decreases. This gradual relaxation of control allows the manager to remain confident that the decisions made by employees themselves will be correct. Passing together with subordinates stages from the first to the seventh, he will be able to be convinced of this more than once. For subordinates, such a system of delegation of authority will help to better understand and understand what is required of them, and will allow them to learn how to independently develop and make the right decisions.

What to consider when delegating authority

If the leader is an independent and purposeful person, then, as a rule, it is very difficult for him to decide on the delegation of his powers. He is convinced that he himself will be able to do the work efficiently and professionally, but he has no confidence in the competence of his subordinates. Therefore, there is a concern for a possible unsatisfactory or negative result of the work. Many leaders are familiar with similar fears and distrust. In this case, it is important to find the strength to overcome fears and decide to delegate managerial powers through the realization that otherwise the effectiveness of the leader's work will only decrease.

To facilitate the process of delegation of authority, you can try to start by assigning tasks that are simple and insignificant for the strategic development of the company. After, regardless of the results, you can assign a few more tasks by analyzing the previous work and sorting out the mistakes that were made. For the purity of the experiment, it is better to give such tasks not once, but several times. Do not forget that subordinates are the mirror of the leader. A strong leader has a strong team of assistants, and a weak leader is afraid to take strong specialists as assistants, fearing that they can take his place or that he will look unfavorable against their background. A talented leader is able to adequately analyze the situation in his team and select really suitable employees who can cope with the tasks. An insecure leader will be in constant fear that everything will fall apart without his control, which will indicate that he has not been able to find a really good and reliable team for himself. If the manager has a well-chosen team of specialists, then part of the work and tasks automatically become the responsibility of employees, freeing the manager from routine tasks.

In addition, the manager should remember the following important principles of delegation of authority:

Provide resources. Make sure you provide the employee with enough resources. It will be very useful to contact the employee directly with the question of what resources (including administrative ones) he needs to complete the assignment.
Don't interfere with the performance. Try to clearly decide for yourself in which cases you allow yourself to interfere in the process of solving the problem, and in which you do not. At the same time, it is important to understand that subordinates to whom powers and tasks have been delegated must be aware of their responsibility for the high-quality and effective execution of instructions.

If the employee has not solved the problem and turns to you, get personal proposals from him to solve the problem, and do not offer your own. For example, you can answer him: “Imagine that I died. What would you do to solve this problem?

5 quotes from great and successful people about delegation

Delegation of authority also has its dangers: dividing the workflow into a large number of individual small tasks and delegating them to many employees, there is a risk of going too far and losing a holistic vision of the process, the actions of employees may cease to be effective and beneficial.

- Bill Gates

The greatest progress in the development of the productive power of labor, and a considerable share of the art, skill and ingenuity with which it is directed and applied, were, apparently, the result of the division of labor.
- Adam Smith

If we decide to pursue a client-oriented policy in our company, then we cannot be guided by book rules and instructions from corporate offices. We must place the responsibility for ideas, decisions and actions on the people who are our company during these 15 seconds. If they have to go up the chain of command to solve an individual's problems, those 15 golden seconds will fly by without an answer, and we will miss the opportunity to acquire a loyal client.
-Jan Karlzon

In order to influence another person, recognize in him a quality that he does not have, and he will do everything to prove that you are right.
- Winston Churchill

You need to be aware of yourself and seriously deal only with what works. For other tasks, you should find a talented manager and pay him good salary. Naturally, situations can always arise that require the mandatory participation of a leader - you can’t get away from this, and you need to work. However, if this work promises to be long, it is best to find someone with whom to share it. It is for this reason that I always strongly advise or force managers to hire assistants when I see that they cannot cope with the work on their own.

- Evgeny Chichvarkin

What problems can arise when delegating authority

As practice shows, it is the delegation of authority that is the skill that is not very well developed among the majority of managers. This can be explained by the fact that top managers approach the issue too simplistic: “There is a task and there is a subordinate, you just need to combine them and ...” But all this does not work so easily, and difficulties often arise. Below we consider in general terms some of the common mistakes.

Problem 1: Wrong delegation format

The format of delegation of authority is determined by how carefully the information transmitted to employees is worked out. It is possible to single out the delegation of authority by managers at the level of ideas, thesis, goals, objectives and at the level of a specific event.

Delegation at the idea level. The manager informs the subordinate: “It seems to me that Kazakhstan has a promising market. Think, please, how we can reach it.” You can call it a throw-in idea. Where is the guarantee that the task will be performed qualitatively? Only on condition that the employee shows his professionalism and will be motivated to complete the task, and also if he understands everything down to the details. Giving orders in this way is a serious blunder. Reasons for justification include lack of time and/or unwillingness to explain everything in great detail. What can be answered? If you do not have enough time to manage, do something else. If you do not want to explain the details of the task in detail, teach your employee to understand you and your ideas from a half-word.
Delegation at the thesis level. The essence of delegation of authority at this level is that the manager tries to give an order in a narrower form: for example, he orders to analyze a specific aspect of the market using one technique. In other words, it voices not only the task itself, but also offers common ways her decisions.
Delegation at the target level. A goal is something that can be expressed in numbers and specifically described. The goal must be realistically achievable, and the resources necessary to achieve it must be calculated. On the other hand, achieving the goal using the technologies that the company has at its disposal does present some challenge. After all, the goal should not conflict with the other goals of the company. From this it follows that your main task is to define clear goals for the delegation of authority, that is, to communicate specific parameters that the person who is entrusted with the task will have to focus on.
Delegation at the task level. In this case, you should break the goal into smaller components. A task is what needs to be done in order to achieve a goal. In order to competently delegate authority to an employee, the manager must be able to plan and carry out the decomposition of goals.
Delegation at the event level. Here it is assumed that the leader conveys to the subordinate not only what should be done, but also explains how.

To choose the right and appropriate format for delegation of authority, the manager needs to have a good understanding of the capabilities and level of motivation of his subordinates.

Problem 2. Staff resistance to delegation

This problem may arise due to the fact that employees are afraid of being penalized for possible mistakes and errors. In order not to encounter resistance, you should explain the essence of the task to the employee in as much detail as possible. The more broadly and generally formulated the task, the higher the responsibility. And vice versa: the more detailed and detailed the task is explained, the less uncertainty and fears remain before its implementation, and the stronger confidence that it is possible to actually achieve the desired result. Sometimes it also happens that, feeling responsibility as a burden for himself, an employee cannot perform his task well and efficiently.

What can be done in such a situation? The manager should try to see the difference between a misconduct and a mistake.

The first is a mistake in a situation where the algorithm of actions was fully explained to the employee.
The second is a miss in a situation where the subordinate did not have an initial program of actions to complete the task. The employee himself is responsible for the misconduct, and the manager is responsible for the mistake.

In addition, it is impossible to resort to punishing an employee if his actions were incorrect, but were carried out within the framework of his authority. For example, the manager gave the task to the subordinate: "Buy studs for the spindle." The employee completed the task, but the studs were not what they needed. Who is responsible for the miss? Supervisor. Because the manager was not convinced that the task was understood correctly, and did not control the purchase process. He could ask a subordinate to consult with him before placing an order.

Problem 3: Reverse Delegation

It often happens that an employee refuses a task that was assigned to him in the process of delegation of authority. This is also called reverse delegation (among managers, the expression "bring the monkey" is common). What should the leader do in this case? Invite the subordinate to the conversation and ask him the following questions:

What exactly is your problem? Try to describe it clearly. Very often, an employee begins a conversation with general phrases: “You understand ...”, “Here I come ...”. A specific question is necessary in order to encourage the employee to think about the essence of the problem.
What is causing the problem? What are the consequences?
What resources are missing to solve the problem? Time, finance, human resources?
What are the possible ways to solve this problem? If an employee has only one way to solve a problem, the manager must make sure that this is really the only one. possible approach to solving the problem. It is also important that solutions should be offered in accordance with the set of limited resources available to the company.
What is the best solution in your opinion? Why do you think so?

Set the following rule in the company: if an employee does not have specific and clear answers to these questions, he cannot contact the manager. You can even fix the list of these issues in any normative document. It may also happen that if an employee can answer all these questions, then he by itself will no longer need to contact the manager.

Problem 4. Incorrect organization of meetings with employees

In order to implement effective delegation of authority in practice and learn how to save a precious resource of time, make a rule: “Come not with a problem, but with a solution.” Define the following for yourself:

how much time can you devote to an employee;
what kind of powers can be delegated to him;
What do you think the subordinate should learn from your communication with him.

The subordinate must confirm that he understands the assignment, determine in what ways he will communicate with you and indicate whether he has enough resources at his disposal to work on the assignment.

What mistakes do managers make when delegating authority to subordinates?

Wanting to issue an order for delegation of authority, the manager often encounters difficulties that may have both psychological character, and be associated simply with ignorance of exactly who should be chosen for the assignment and how to do it the best way. Most different reasons can become an obstacle to effective delegation of authority: lack of trust in subordinates; fear that employees are not sufficiently competent and qualified; unwillingness to share experience, accumulated knowledge, information; confidence that no one can cope with tasks better than the leader himself; fear of losing authority.

Refusal to make a mistake. A manager might think, “This employee is not going to do the job as well as I can.” May be so. But the head, with all his desire, will not be able to make decisions for all his deputies at the same time. People should be allowed to make mistakes (after calculating the cost and fatality of the mistake in advance). As a rule, difficulties in delegation of authority are experienced by those who themselves were an excellent and responsible performer and who do not have confidence in their employees. In this case, the manager should spend time looking for those employees who deserve his trust. Otherwise, you should seriously consider whether it makes sense to run a business alone.

Expert opinion

Case study - how not to delegate

Dmitry Sedykh,

Deputy General Director of Energoauditkontrol Engineering Center LLC, Moscow

I remember one case when the owner of a serious holding company decided to delegate managerial powers to one hired manager. At the same time, he retained the right of veto and repeatedly resorted to it, changing the decisions taken by the new manager. There was such a situation that top managers began to use this: if they did not like the new decision made by the chief manager, they turned to the owner. The owner realized the mistake only after he was forced to part with the second general director.

A similar story happened with the owner of another holding when creating management company. The owner independently made decisions that were within the competence of managers. At the same time, he did not always inform them of the decisions made. This led to the fact that many managers decided to leave the management company, and those who remained focused their efforts on purely executive functions and servicing the business units included in the holding. This a prime example partial delegation of authority.

incomplete delegation. Some managers are of the opinion: “Let the employee prepare several options for solving the problem for me, from which I will choose the best one.” This is an example of incomplete delegation of authority, when the employee is not responsible for the decision chosen by the manager. If you really want to delegate the task to your subordinate, then you need to do it completely, giving the employee the freedom to choose the necessary solutions. The main thing here should be the achievement of results.

There is no one responsible for the result. Quite often, employees, reporting on the work they have done, list the number of actions they have done: negotiated, put forward an offer, purchased components. But the result of the work should be expressed not in the number of actions, but in the profit received as a consequence of these actions. If in a company only himself is responsible for profit CEO, this means that he does not know how to effectively delegate authority and responsibility. In order for subordinates to focus on the result, it is necessary to evaluate their work according to a financial indicator, that is, the ratio of income and expenses.

Lack of resources, information, powers. This error is especially common. The employee reports to his manager that there is a problem and there is a way to solve it, but there are not enough resources and powers to implement this solution. Without delving into the essence of what was said, the leader, who is in a hurry, gives the go-ahead: “Do it like that!” Without allocating the necessary resources and powers. After some time, the manager wants to see the result from the work of the subordinate. Will the employee come to the manager again with a problem, and even more so with its solution?

Expert opinion

Delegating authority, I lost 8 million rubles

Artem Regart,

owner of the Regart group of companies, Moscow

About three years ago I started a new direction - management consulting. Responsibilities related to the management of production and sales of retroreflective materials were assigned to the director of logistics by delegation of authority.

Where is the mistake. At that time, the logistics director had worked for the company for 10 years. I didn't feel like I had to supervise him too much because I trusted this employee. In 2015, there was a reduction in funding for the road industry, sales figures fell sharply. I had to cut the salary of my team, including the director. He was dissatisfied with this fact and decided to take action to extra income. He founded a company in the name of his girlfriend, then he rented a warehouse and began to export our products using fake documents, using his official position. In the warehouse, the appearance was specially created that the required amount of products was stored, but in fact, a certain amount of containers from under the goods remained empty. To clients and uninitiated employees, the logistics director told the legend that a new branch of our company had started working and a new warehouse had opened. Six months later, I noticed a sharp decline in our sales figures. Around the same time, clients began to contact me with questions about our new warehouse and branch. The security service, on my order, carried out an inspection. The investigation showed that the logistician organized a whole team: he was helped by warehouse workers and even one client. These actions caused damage to the company in the amount of 8 million rubles. I did not file a lawsuit, because I understood that this amount could not be reimbursed to me, but to deal with litigation for for long years I didn't want to. I fired the criminal and all the employees who were in cahoots with him.

Conclusions. As a rule, managers lack confidence in newcomers. However, as practice shows, danger can come from the side of old-timers, because they are very familiar with the internal processes taking place in the company. This story prompted me to create a protection system:

Each employee is required to sign a liability agreement.

Checks are carried out once a week: without warning and selectively.

If during the audit a shortage is revealed, the amount of the loss is divided among all employees of this department or section. They are required to refund the retail price of the missing item without discount.

Works at the warehouse electronic system control of the movement of goods. Thanks to her, you can see where the shortage occurred: during shipment or during payment. In the second case, the accounting department is financially responsible for the shortage.

What powers cannot be delegated

There are tasks that cannot be delegated to any of the employees. For example, the motivation of key and important employees of the company. This should be done personally by the leader.

It is also important to understand that in no case should you shift responsibility to your employees. According to some, when delegating an assignment to an employee, it is enough to say: “You are responsible for this,” and all responsibility passes to the employee. Of course, one can say, but in any case, the manager is responsible for the result of the work: either to himself, if he is the owner of the business, or to the shareholders, if he fulfills his duties as a hired manager.

Information about experts

Dmitry Sedykh graduated from the Moscow Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation, master's degree from the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation, received an executive MBA diploma from the Institute of Business and Business Administration of the Academy National economy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Trained at the Rotterdam School of Management. Prior to Energoauditkontrol Engineering Center LLC, he worked at Vinny Mir LLC in the position commercial director and at Vinorum-Service LLC as General Director.

Energoauditkontrol Engineering Center LLC develops, implements and maintains automated systems for electricity metering, dispatch control, process control in projects of any complexity. The main customers of the company are the largest Russian consumers of electricity: Russian Railways OJSC, Gazprom OJSC, AK Sibur OJSC, State Unitary Enterprise Moscow Metro, energy sales and generating enterprises. The number of personnel is 300 people.

Artem Regart, owner of the Regart group of companies, Moscow. Field of activity of Regart Group of Companies: production of retroreflective materials, management consulting. Territory: head office and warehouse - in Moscow; branch - in St. Petersburg; production is in China. Number of employees: 15. Market share: 70% in the security materials industry traffic(for 2014).

Harvard Business Review. The rest often do things that they could safely entrust to others. Why? Because “I’d rather do it myself, otherwise I’ll have to redo it for them.” But how to delegate authority in the organization, so as not to disentangle the consequences later? We found the best answer to this question in Stephen Covey's bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

You assign a subordinate a simple task, such as writing a monthly report. But for some reason, you get the report three days later than the deadline, and it looks like an incomprehensible set of numbers. Either you poorly controlled the execution of the task, or the employee did not understand anything, but the conclusion usually suggests itself: “I'll do it myself next time. No one can do it better than me.".

Common situation? So, you have problems with delegation of tasks. What does it mean? As they say on Wikipedia, delegation- this is the transfer of part of the functions of the head to other managers or employees to achieve specific goals of the organization. Let's see what goes wrong in our example. This will help us American business expert, author of dozens of books on management effectiveness Stephen Covey. In 1996, Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in America, and in 2002, Forbes included The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as one of the 10 most influential books in management history.

Delegation of execution or leadership: what to choose?

When you feel like it's time to delegate authority to subordinates, don't take it easy. Be patient and do it right.

Stephen Covey highlights two approaches how to delegate tasks: delegation of execution and delegation of leadership. The problems start when we start delegating execution. And, unfortunately, this is what most leaders do.

Covey argues that it is the delegation of leadership that needs to be practiced: although at first it will take more time - you will need to train the employee, answer questions, provide feedback - but in the long run the subordinate will be able to organize the process himself. Moreover, this approach helps to develop creative potential worker: he will solve the problem himself, and not act according to a given algorithm.

But it is important to adhere not only to the approach, but also to know levels of effective delegation of authority:

First level. This is an option when a subordinate collects information and offers options for solving a problem.
Second level. In this case, the employee chooses the decision himself, but his manager approves it.
Third level. The employee himself plans the work and acts according to the previously agreed algorithm. The leader is a passive observer.
Fourth level. The employee himself makes decisions, and the manager evaluates them retroactively, when the employee simply informs him of the completion of work on the task.
Fifth level. This is the level of complete trust, when the manager instructs the employee to fully immerse himself in the problem and solve it. At the same time, he may not even be interested in the result.

But how to be sure that the employee will do everything right? How to learn to delegate work effectively? Stephen Covey proposes a system of five obligations.

How to competently delegate tasks and powers according to the Covey system

Stephen Covey has written more than one chapter on "how to learn to delegate." We “squeezed out” the most important thing from dozens of pages: so that everything works out, when setting the task you and your subordinate should discuss five aspects of delegation.

Results. You need to understand what you want to get in the end. Do not mention methods to achieve the goal, let the person in charge choose them. Ask for a better description of the result so that you both see it the same way.

You ask a subordinate to find a conference room. Do not say where to look, where to call. Simply indicate the requirements that it must meet (a building in the city center with convenient parking, a hall for 200 people with a projector and screen), and then ask the employee to describe this room. Is everything the way you imagined? We move on.

Rules. It is important to strike a balance: if there are too many rules according to which the responsible person will act, then you will slide into delegation of execution, and if there are too few, then the result may not be what you expected. It is better to designate the basic, most important rules, and separately talk about the errors and problems that may arise.

Let's continue the analogy with finding a room. You ask not to look for premises through intermediaries and stipulate that the prepayment should be no more than 30%. Then share your experience by saying that you once rented a room on the first floor of a residential building and it was a big mistake: the noise interfered with the event.

Resources. What resources will be available responsible person- finance, people, technology, etc.

You stipulate the budget - the cost of rent is no more than 50 thousand rubles a day, and report that you are ready to give a company car to see the options.

Reports. This includes task deadlines, standards, and performance evaluation criteria.

On the designated day, you personally go to inspect the found premises and check it for compliance with all the previously named criteria.

Consequences. What are the consequences of an employee performance appraisal? They can be both positive and negative.

If the premises were selected correctly and on time, the employee may receive a financial (or other) reward. If he failed the task, then ... then decide for yourself how to punish him.

It is worth being prepared for the fact that the subordinate will not do perfectly the first time what you have been doing for years. But over time, he will cope with the task even better than you: while you have many different tasks under control, he has units of the same type on which he can concentrate. It is better to spend one day training an employee than to set aside a whole day every week to do this work on your own. Keep in mind main goals for which you are delegating things:

Unloading top managers from routine so that they can focus on solving strategic problems;
Instilling the ability to make decisions to employees of lower positions;
Involvement of employees in the work process.

Stephen Covey, from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:
- The principles of delegation of leadership are true and applicable to any person and to any situation. With people who are not mature enough, you define simpler desired outcomes and specify the rules in more detail, you define more resources and hear reports more often, Simple and convenient setting of tasks in SalesapCRM

Task progress is tracked through the system interface. The manager also receives a notification if the deadline has been violated, in the program, via sms or via Telegram.

What can't be delegated?

You figured out how to learn how to delegate - everything looks pretty easy. But ... if everything was so simple, then all the leaders would have thrown all the cases on their subordinates long ago and beat the buckets! Why doesn't this happen? Because it is situations where it is better to do everything yourself:

Hiring / firing. Here only the immediate supervisor should make a decision, although advice from the staff can be taken into account.
General planning. You can also discuss the details and nuances collectively, but only you should approve the final plan and strategy, and you will also be responsible for it.
Urgent business. Delegation is rarely quick, in the event of an emergency, you need to do everything yourself.
Confidential Affairs and high-risk cases.

Delegating leadership will not only allow you to relieve yourself of unnecessary tasks, but will also become an additional motivation for your employees. Everyone wins: subordinates will feel your trust and show creativity, while you can focus on really important things.