Results-Oriented Delegation (R.O.D), By Segun Mojeed

I am motivated to do this week’s essay by personal experiences overtime having witnessed, at close quarters, the failure of leadership at various spheres and levels. Leadership deficits that are often self-inflicted as reflected in the kind of monumental managerial and team-leading failures traceable to lack of followership empowerment, unclear goals and/or inadequate delegation of authority (DoA). It was Theodore Roosevelt (the 26^th President of the United States) who once said that “the best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men (and women) to do what he/she wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

In the beginning…

Delegating is as old as mankind, so it was in the beginning. Permit me to quickly reproduce an encounter in the Bible as my reference point: “The next day, Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening and when his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said: ‘What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening? What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you’.”¹ The advice he gave was for Moses to teach the people, select capable, trustworthy, incorruptible men and then delegate. Moses listened. No wonder Moses is today a study in effective leadership.

Clipart for delegating authority or duty (Credit- ubiSafe)Back to now…

The benefit of delegation is multi-dimensional. However, let me point out the ‘low hanging fruits’ amongst them. The first advantage is to oneself – delegation is the key to a life of fewer pressures and greater achievement. The second is to your leader, yes, your boss, the guy who supervises and appraises you, whatever the nomenclature you have given her – delegation makes you shine because you get things done on time, even the right things and more. Thirdly, to your associates, you lend them the power and authority to act as your representatives thereby keeping them motivated and giving them the opportunity for continuous learning.

‘…Delegation is the key to a life of fewer pressures and greater achievement’

Delegation is one of the best ways yet invented to empower associates. What does true competence look like? Imagine this scenario: One of your associates struggles through an assignment, then he hands  you  less  than  you  agreed, so  the work  falls  on  your  lap. You salvage the assignment but lose time on the strategic, and could not deliver on your own work. Your associate is frustrated, and you are not likely to hand him another project soon. At the risk of sounding repetitive, let me reiterate here that effective managers get things done through other people, they empower team members by assigning tasks and giving them the authority to get those tasks accomplished. They hold associates accountable for the successful completion of tasks, for results. That is true competence!

Effective delegation is a challenging job consisting a set of interwoven and complimentary phases which include planning and preparation, the actual delegation, monitoring, and evaluation. Each phase is important, no phase is a substitute for the other. Maybe you are still asking why do I delegate? Why should I delegate a job I could have easily accomplished on my own? Be patient, my friend. Delegation is mutually beneficial. When you delegate, your associates get better training – hands-on, on-the-job and off-site. They tap into your wealth of experience, connecting into your anointing. In fact, you provide them a platform they may not have been able to reach on their own. I cherish and love to remember my days in Wema Bank when the CEO then, Rev. Tunde Lemo, would delegate his speaking engagement to me. I was the Learning and Development lead of the bank. The amount of work that went into such assignments is better imagined. Waking up in the deep of the night, I did not only do my slides to perfection, I read them aloud to my wife, I rehearsed, stood in front of the mirror, visualised the various audiences, practised stage presence, managed my gesticulations, check my grammar and diction, etc. long before those D-days. And if today, we stand before international audiences across continents by the grace of God and to His glory alone, it is because some people gave us their shoulders to lean on. It is because they gave us the platform; they delegated. That is what delegation does for and to your associates.

‘…Effective managers get things done through other people, they empower team members by assigning tasks and giving them the authority to get those tasks accomplished. They hold associates accountable for the successful completion of tasks, for results. That is true competence!’

Personal opinion this is. I have also seen some result-oriented delegation lately in our polity that I’m particularly excited about. It has to do with this transmission of letter by the Presidency to the National Assembly whenever the President is going on leave, medical or otherwise. Please, I’m open to feedback, education and correction, please no insults when you are educating me on this, if you get my drift. Though a provision of our constitution, its use looks new to me. This dispensation has now produced four presidents. Is it that those before PMB didn’t go on leave of any kind, so they didn’t have to invoke this clause of giving their DoA (delegation of authority) to the Vice President? Maybe it was done but we had no social media then to broadcast those breaking news of yore. Why and how did we get into that impasse that brought about the ‘doctrine of necessity’? Ha! I no know book o. I don waka.

With delegation, your associates also get increased responsibilities, they are more involved in decision making, have more enthusiasm and take more initiative. When it is time for promotion, they are ready to stand up and be counted. Without these incentives, your talents might find opportunities elsewhere. Haven’t you heard? People quit their managers and not the company! Don’t be the reason your good people are leaving. With results-oriented delegation, the organisation gains, so does the individual manager. Encouraging associates to take on challenges creates a fertile environment for new ideas – efficiency and increased productivity; well-oiled teamwork speeds up decision making and helps the organisation respond to changes in the marketplace faster. As the manager makes better use of resources, she gets more work done better; spends less time on non-managerial activities and more time on the strategic. As her team members become trained to take over more responsibilities, her unit becomes flexible, and she is, in turn, freed up for possible advancement.

For crying out loud, why wouldn’t you rather delegate? Fear of the unknown – you are not sure of your associate’s capacity to deliver on target. You don’t want to be messed up. You are the only ‘guru’; okay, you are the only subject matter expert around and you are not ready to let out the ‘secret sauce’, at least for now. Lack of trust is a dangerous reason. Other reasons include some ridiculously self-centred, selfish, fixed mind-set, pecuniary excuses that are too petty to take a space in this essay. Just examine your motives for dodging delegation and repent.

How do I delegate? Start by preparing. In 2013, I got certified in a performance management certification programme courtesy of a multinational client. The ‘national anthem’ or rather our battle cry during the programme was preparation, preparation, preparation!  It was Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34^th President of the United States, who said: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” He should know because he was a five-star General in the US Army during the 2^nd World War. Planning is preparation. It is indispensable in the delegation process.

‘Without these incentives, your talents might find opportunities elsewhere. Haven’t you heard? People quit their managers and not the company! Don’t be the reason your good people are leaving.’

In delegating, first examine the task in detail, delegate most but keep a few. Tasks you should delegate would include recurring tasks, detail work, representation at meetings, upcoming responsibilities, etc. However, the delegation process itself cannot be delegated. Just like my lawyer friends would say: ‘delegatus non potest delegare’. This translates loosely into ‘you can’t delegate the delegation’. Other roles you should not delegate would include counselling, evaluations, strategy, talent management and the likes. The question is: In all these, am I ready to practice delegation or to delegate? In preparing to delegate, you must answer this all-important question. Before you hand over that project or that work to a less experienced associate, you need to know how to delegate.

To unravel the steps involved, my associates assisted me in compiling a few guidelines for effective delegation, and adding my own experience over the years working with great teams, we came up with the following:

Set your goals and make them ‘SMARTER’: This acronym of the characteristics of a good goal used to be called SMART. However, the bar has been raised. It is now known as S.M.A.R.T.E.R. By this, I mean you will still have to make your goals specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, and time-bound. In addition, you’ve got to step up and make your goals stretchy enough with a view to extending your associates’ capabilities – make it adrenalin-pumping (with employee buy-in) and ethical. Lastly, make your goals mutually rewarding. Very soon on this page, we would discuss the profitable habit of ‘Goal Setting and Accomplishment’ in detail. Goals describe the purpose of a task and help you gauge performance. In creating such goals, appropriate questions must be asked and answers proffered: What exactly needs to be done, oftentimes you must provide the ‘why’, and the ‘when’?  What are the consequences of missing the deadline? Where does the project fit in the big picture? Remember, a goal not written is only a wish and all great accomplishments start with clear goals.

Next, you develop the right attitude: I could write volumes on attitude. You should not even start without it. For effective delegating, you would need confidence, patience, and ability to take risks. Trusting your associate is crucial even when he or she lacks experience. Back him up and allow her to use her own ideas. Be open, do not hide mistakes, and agree on monitoring and evaluation modalities from the onset. Don’t just show up anyhow, any time or stay on the associate’s neck permanently. You may want to check President Roosevelt’s quote in the opening paragraph of this essay once again. He said “the best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men (and women) to do what he/she wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

This is a wise saying; it is worthy of humble heeding.

Last line: Delegation is part of learning and performance – it is an important benefit of delegation when you allow associates to represent you at less strategic meetings and then give them the opportunity to share their learning with the team; it is growing your people and associates. You will surely be helping when you involve them in assignments that help their careers and aspirations.

Till next week, enjoy.

To be continued.

Acknowledgement/Sources of Resources for this article/Notes:

1. Smart Tips by Soundview Executive Book Summaries soundview.com
2. Clip arts and snippets from the Internet for embellishment.
3. A compendium of over 25 years of manuscripts of my thesis and lecture series in Talent Management and People Matters (unpublished yet).
4. BezaleelConsulting Group Library bezaleelconsultingrw.com