Delegation is an important tool that leaders in organizations can employ and the ability to effectively and wisely delegate is a crucial element to the organization’s success. Effective delegation helps in cohesiveness in the organization, leader and employees. Leaders can use delegation to help propel the organization towards its objectives. Delegating is important in the following ways:
As a leader delegates various tasks to employees, he/she frees up and gets time to tackle the important aspects of the organization. (Brett and Kate para 6) Developing a ultra-hands-on approach is not the key to ensuring that everything is done right and a leader should not be a slave to details but rather uses his/her valuable time to handle what’s truly important which leads to greater success for both him and the organization.
It increases confidence, morale and productivity in the employees. Taking over responsibilities of the subordinates as a leader and constantly sticking your nose into everything that they are doing creates a pool of dissatisfied employees. A leader who gives important responsibilities to the juniors and allows them freedom to complete those tasks their way builds their morale and satisfaction. (Brett and Kate para 9)
When leaders fail to delegate, they are those that are always pressed for time and often brings work home. Failure to delegate can also negatively affect the overall performance and productivity of the organization. A leader could under-delegate tasks to the subordinates which give them no room to grow and add value to the welfare of the organization thus creating a workload that is unsustainable. The productivity of the firm therefore drops, organizational morale suffers and inefficiencies become often as a result of the failure of a leader to effectively delegate.
There are a number of factors that leaders in organizations should consider before deciding which duties to assign and to whom. They include:
Individual: Tasks should be assigned to individuals who are best suited. The leader should consider whether a given employee has the skills and the background information necessary for performing a given task. It is also important to consider whether the task will provide the employee with an opportunity to develop his/her skills. The task to be assigned to a given employee should also align with his/her long term interests and the employee’s current workload allows him/her to undertake additional tasks.
The task to be assigned in itself is another factor that a leader should consider as some tasks require the full attention and of the leader. Some tasks are sensitive corporate tasks while others can easily be handled by the junior team members. A leader should therefore consider which of these tasks to assign to the juniors and which to attend to him/herself.
A study of the personality traits of the members of a team by the leader is important as this helps the leader to adjust accordingly when situations calls for as the differences can be an advantage as well as a limitation that may pose a challenge to the success of the organization.
One way a leader can better understand the different personalities is by employee involvement in the decisions making and creating an environment where the employees have an impact on actions that affect their jobs. According to (Kerpen para 6 ), a leader should be a team player and interacting with others everyday helps one become a more likeable leader and this helps in understanding the different personalities that one’s employees comprises.
Being supportive and maintaining an open-door policy encourages the team members to get to you as a leader with questions and uncertainties on delegated tasks. This is a better way to gather information on the personalities of the employees.
(Lerner para 3) asserts that we become successful when we truly understand those that are around us. When we understand other peoples’ personalities we are in a position to give them what they need which helps in building trust and long-lasting relationships and eventually success.
Personalities play important role in organizations as they help employees find a sense of commonality through which a leader is able to succeed in steering the team towards the organizational goal. It is therefore important for a leader to consider the personality of employees and allocate duties and responsibilities according to these traits and how the person well fits into the overall atmosphere of your organization. (Naseer para 13). This is because the team is composed of different personalities that are suited to different tasks for instance introverts and extroverts, self-starter and obedient follower all of whom would perform different tasks differently.
Work cited
Kerpen, Dave. 11 Simple Concepts to Become a Better Leader, 2013. Accessed Dec 12, 2013 <http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130128162711-15077789-11-simple-concepts-to-become-a-better-leader>
Lerner, Hanny. Become successful by understanding peoples personalities, 2013. Accessed Dec 12, 2013< http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannylerner/2013/03/05/understand-peoples-personalities-and-become-successful/>
Manning, George, and Kent Curtis. The Art of Leadership. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2003. Print.
Mckay, Brett and Kate Mckay. The importance of knowing how to delegate. 2010. Accessed Dec 12, 2013 < http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/02/23/leadership-the-importance-of-knowing-how-to-delegate/>
Naseer,Tanveer. Are you fitting employee personality into your leadership puzzle? 2010. Accessed Dec 12, 2013 <http://www.tanveernaseer.com/are-you-fitting-employee-personality-into-your-leadership-puzzle/>
