Many managers are concerned at the prospect of delegating authority to their staffs because they think it amounts to yielding control. Actually, though, you yield neither. We’ll talk about what that means with respect to authority, tomorrow. Today, let’s take a look at control.
To begin with, it is worthwhile to bear in mind that there are two ways for a manager to view this function. You can control the doing of the work itself, or you can control the means by which it is done.
The former is ordinarily what a worker does. When a manager does it, it is commonly characterized negatively as micro-management. This is not as automatically a sin as it is often depicted. Nevertheless, the real “work” of a manager can arguably be described as controlling the means by which the work is done, rather than by doing the work, itself.
The distribution of authority is one of these means. And when you award it to a junior, you do not lose control of it.
You retain the ability to supervise that authority. You allocate it like any other resource, oversee its use, assess its contribution to the task, and then make further decisions regarding its employment. If it is well used, you continue or reinforce it. If not, you rescind or reassign it.
The delegation of authority, then, doesn’t reduce your control. Rather, intelligently monitored and allocated, it increases it, and expands its reach.
What’s more, it does the same for your authority, as well. We’ll look at that tomorrow. See you then!
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Today’s tips: Please take a moment to view this short but enlightening piece, from The Economist, about why the healthier the company the more likely it is to have its debt called in by its bankers, leaving the weaker companies as the last ones standing.
And if that leaves you disoriented, then you may need to get recombobulated. Please be sure to see this piece by Frank Roche about where, exactly, you can do that.
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2 Comments
Good points, Jim. One thing we tell supervision trainees and readers of our Working Supervisor’s Support Kit, is that there are two reasons to do supervision right. You will get better results. You will devote less time and energy to the process.
Hello Wally,
Isn’t that right? A twofer: better results in less of your own time and with less stress, typically, for everyone. It does require some investment up front in coming to an understanding of and learning your role, and then applying it thoughtfully each time. But well worth it! As is, undoubtedly, the training and support kit your team provides.
Thanks for stopping by with this!
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