7 Delegation

Proper delegation is an indication of a manager’s trust and faith in his people.

—James F. Evered, Shirt-Sleeves Management (AMACOM, 1989)

Delegation is the transfer of a task (and the authority to do it) to an employee who reports to you. Since you are sharing your authority (or power) with them, delegation is often described as a way of empowering employees, broadening their responsibilities and your expectations of them.

Make no mistake! Delegation is not dumping your work on someone else; it is not getting rid of tasks that you no longer want to do by passing them on to someone else. If you need to depend on others to help you get through your current workload, it is certainly within your rights to share tasks or assignments ...

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