Developing Your Empowering People Skills

Developing Your Empowering People Skills
Delegation is another form of empowering employees by managers in the workplace. Effective delegation is twofold, first it allows the manager to make efficient use of subordinates time and skills, second it frees up time for the manager to make effective use of their own time and skills while allowing the employee to gain, or enhances their personal skills and development to achieve better outcomes. For a good manager it is important for them to understand as state best by Robbins & Coutler, (2012), “there are limits to any manager’s time and knowledge” (p.281).
By contrast, ineffective delegation will promote loss instead of gains in skills and ability in the employee and diminish the ability to achieve a better outcome. For a manager it is ineffective management of time and work balance while having a profoundly negative effect of causing confusion and disappointment in the employee. Therefore, it is imperative for an effective manager to gain the knowledge of what is need to be an exceptional delegator and even more knowledgeable about who can handle specific tasks.
Five Behaviors for Delegation As explained by Robbins & Coulter, (2012) there are five behaviors for delegation, clarify the assignment, specify the employee’s range of discretions, allows the employee to participate, inform others that delegation has occurred, and establish feedback channels (p. 281).
Scenario
Manager Ricky Lee being overwhelmed already was asked by his boss Anne Zumwalt to re-write the manual and Ricky Lee inquired if the task could be delegated to one of his knowledgeable employees Bill Harmon and granted permission. Based on the scenario of delegating the responsibility of completing the departments new procedure manual that will outline the steps followed in negotiating contracts with office products manufactures who supply the organization products Ricky is going to meet with Bill on Monday and during that meeting, the best practice would be implementing the “Five Behaviors described for delegation. Ricky should start his meeting using the first of the Five Behaviors with Bill, which is clarifying the assignment.
Clarifying the Assignment Clarifying the assignment involves communicating clearly about the expectation of the assignment. Clear expectation should include any deadlines, importance of the task or any specific methods that need to be incorporated into the assignment and what outcome you are expecting. In addition to clearly setting expectation, you must gain an agreement on those expectations and then it is the responsibility of the employee to determine the correct method to be successful at accomplishing this task. Finally, ensure that the employee understands the rewards and value attached to completing task, adhering to the outlined expectation, and achieving the outcome desired.
Specify the Employee’s Range of Discretion
When there is an act of delegating tasks or projects, it is important to consider constraints. Specifying employee’s range of discretion is delegating authority to act on certain issues but operating within parameters. The manager who is delegating the authority needs to be specific what those parameters are so that the employee knows their range of discretion. When the manager successfully communicates the range of discretion, the employee knows the parameters and when to seek further approval.
In the situation where Ricky Lee needs to delegate Bill Harmon to successfully complete the department’s new procedures manual, Ricky needs to come up with a specific list for Bill as to what needs to be accomplished. The list needs to incorporate the exact task, which is to complete the manual that will outline the steps followed in negotiating contracts with office products manufactures who supply the organization with products. Next, Ricky needs to be specific in his meeting with Bill when explaining the