To some people, the term ‘talent management’ may mean putting the right person into the right job. However, that is only the initial phase. Talent management is about how we manage those people in the right job, and get the best out of each individual whilst striving for organisational goals.
Involving employees in the important organisational stuff requires including them in both important decision making and also the execution of those tasks.
Effective delegation from senior management is necessary for the organisation to achieve its most effective outcome, and to develop and maintain talented staff from moving on.
This Hack suggests that delegation from some senior management is looked upon as a necessary evil, instead of an opportunity to showcase leadership skills while developing and growing talented employees already existing on the payroll.
One problem with talent management is the non utilisation of delegation to instruct and inspire talented professionals within a growing organisation. The success of the contemporary organisation is based on management and how they lead and maximise the skills and talents within their team environments.
Effective delegation is viewed by some people as “managerial survival skills”. However, I see delegation as a leadership skill which can have far more impact on organisational results and inspire people to grow to their potential, rather than simply labelling ‘delegation’ as a management chore.
I have personally witnessed and experienced the consequences of senior management executing ineffective delegation. Process delays, poor work quality, lower than management’s expected results from staff and low staff moral are just some of the consequences of poor leadership.
Delegating and empowering employee’s means different things to different managers as perceptions vary depending on the confidence and skill levels of management when it comes to sharing the work load.
Barriers that tend to obstruct managers to delegate employee empowerment are:
- Bureaucratic structures with emphasis on hierarchy and status quo tend to work against employee empowerment.
- Where organisations have created strong divisions between departments with a resulting rise in competition between functions, this will lead to conflict among people.
- Where employees already are pushed for time and are suffering from work overload, and are less likely to embrace empowerment or creation and innovation.
Ideally, senior managers spend the majority of their time improving their business rather than working in the business. Without proper delegation:
- Time management becomes a problem
- Top performers are unable to handle higher potential activities
- Individuals attempt to accomplish too much and get burned out or demotivated due to their excessive workload
- Quality of work diminishes dramatically and deadlines are missed
Few companies, if any, truly understand the value of teaching delegation skills. Effective leadership understands why managers fail to delegate and what they can do to encourage more strategic delegation.
In order to change behaviour, managers need to overcome 4 obstacles that prevent them from leading their team instead of being an ineffective manager:
- Employees don’t believe that you really want them to do it.
- Managers don’t want to do it (or more likely they don’t recognise the value of doing it). If it takes longer to delegate, why not just do the task themselves.
- The managers don’t know how to delegate.
- Many delegation attempts fail because the manager insists the delegate should do it his or her way or not at all.
Manager’s need to change their mindset to understand that effective delegation is a leadership process, not a management one. We know both the organisation and its employees can realise the benefits of effective delegation if implemented correctly and lead from the top.
The empowerment of employees refers to strategies that allow them to make decisions that they feel are the most effective way of achieving the result instead of doing only what their manager thinks is best.
Many times over the years I have witnessed two extremes of delegating. The first when a manager has given detailed instructions, in fact, so detailed that a word for word citation was given to the employee to say and do when fulfilling the entire task. The second, on the other extreme when a manager gives few instructions to indicate the expected result required, and then when the task was complete, the manager was clearly disappointed when he did not get his expected outcome.
Research has shown that there is more productivity and higher work satisfaction in employees that have been delegated greater levels of decision making freedom.
This does not mean that all employees should be given the same empowerment or opportunity to escape micro-management, but leadership is about identifying those employees who have the potential to grow and show their working abilities if given a fair chance.
When delegating jobs, projects or authority, using good judgement which requires trusting people and embracing some level of risk and may even bring change in processes for senior management. However, these changes and risk taking should be welcomed as employee growth modules rather than being viewed as stressful tasks handed out by management.
Empowerment is based on the assumption that decision need not, and should not, always be made at the top of the organisation. There can be for example, little delegated authority, but widespread participation in decision making and mutual trust has been increased between the management and the workers.
An important note to keep in mind regarding delegation of tasks – we are not referring to minor day to day activities (C & D tasks) that should not be given top priority, but high priority A & B task.
It is noted that failures in staff empowerment frequently occur because of the way it is implemented. Decision-making processes by employees often flounder when there is no clear direction or they become discouraged if management dominates the decision-making process.
Staff generally have little control over their work environment, therefore individuals and the organisation both benefit from group member motivation and higher levels of productivity due to job inclusiveness. This also increases problem-solving abilities and commitment to the organisation as employees have been given the confidence and backing from management to make decisions and be effective.
Benefits of staff empowerment include the enhancing of organisation responsiveness to clients demands, reducing some of the alienating process of bureaucracy, increased life satisfaction and sense of well-being among employees.
Nigel, great topic indeed! Delegation is definitely a key aspect for growth and success, especially in SMEs where the owners are normally the CEOs. These people, who have started the business usually attached to their “baby”, can’t let go and don’t trust others with their precious “child”. Stepping aside and allowing their staff to do their job will surely yield positive results.
Mike
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Hi Nigel, I agree bureaucracy is one of the key drivers in our modern businesses; your idea is definitely something to conceder. Staff empowering is important and helps with moral.
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