What is Delegation?
If we go back to the portion on project management, I discuss the important aspect of project managers taking a vast amount of information on project and breaking down that information into more easily digestible portions. Project managers will then turn that broken down information into a project plan. This is where delegation comes in. Delegation is taking that plan and assigning people to those tasks and ensuring they have the resources they need in order to complete those tasks. In James T. Brown's book The Handbook of Program Management, he quotes the former launch director at NASA up until 2000 Mike Leinbach's discussion on delegation:
"A lot of people talk about delegation; it's another thing to truly do it. Give people the authority and responsibility and
expect them to come through and do the job that they're given. You should, of course, give them guidance and give
them help when they ask. I'm a real believer in letting a person make a mistake and letting that individual learn from
that mistake. You recognize that they're heading the wrong direction, but that's where you have to course correct.
Making a mistake and learning from it is a powerful, powerful tool. The last thing that I ever wanted growing up...was
someone telling me what to do all the time. You hear a lot about micromanaging--it's a buzzword-- and all that is, is
the lack of true delegation. Delegation is very, very powerful. Everyone appreciates it." (Brown, 2014, p. 133)
"A lot of people talk about delegation; it's another thing to truly do it. Give people the authority and responsibility and
expect them to come through and do the job that they're given. You should, of course, give them guidance and give
them help when they ask. I'm a real believer in letting a person make a mistake and letting that individual learn from
that mistake. You recognize that they're heading the wrong direction, but that's where you have to course correct.
Making a mistake and learning from it is a powerful, powerful tool. The last thing that I ever wanted growing up...was
someone telling me what to do all the time. You hear a lot about micromanaging--it's a buzzword-- and all that is, is
the lack of true delegation. Delegation is very, very powerful. Everyone appreciates it." (Brown, 2014, p. 133)
Delegation in Leadership
Delegation in leadership is important in order to keep the flow of an organization or project going. Delegation in leadership, to me, means breaking down a vast amount of information based on the cost, time, and scope of the project into tasks that form work packages. To then, delegate those tasks and work packages to specific people to complete. Something I would take into great consideration when creating these work packages is to understand what level each individual is at to consider how far I would want to break each work package down. A new hire will need a little bit more guidance and direction than someone who has been with the organization for over a decade; thus, work packages can be broken down even further when and if necessary. One of the biggest things I would be cautious of when delegating tasks is to work to the best of my ability not to break down work packages too far to where it feels as though I am micromanaging teams. I will find the perfect balance that allows team members the autonomy and environment where they can make mistakes and learn from them with coaching and corrective actions taken when necessary.
Artifact
Delegation does not only help the flow of the organization by giving people a direction to go towards; but it also gives responsibility and accountability to individuals, which helps mitigate risks and uncertainties that help deliver better quality. With quality management tools, we can view how often the same person is making mistakes as well as what mistakes are being made as a whole department. This information gives us the ability to catch issues and problems before it becomes a risk to the project; further, it provides guidance to opportunities that can improve the quality like retraining individuals when necessary, updating already exisiting procedures to make them better, as well as weekly or monthly inspections to ensure procedures are being followed and products are of the highest quality. The artifact I have chosen to demonstrate delegation is from a discussion we had in PMG 422 - Project Quality Management that discusses a reflection of what went wrong within a case study on the Boeing 787 as well as a reflection of two TeedTalks of our choice.
Reflection
Project Management & Organizational Leadership
Professionally, improving my delegation skills came to be a bit more challenging than I had anticipated. When I first practiced delegation in the workplace, I found myself delegating a majority of the tasks to myself rather than my team members. For example, when one of the organization I was woking at had been bought out, which mean we were going through a massive conversion. I was told just one week before launch day that I was going to be the one in charge of ensuring my team knows how to implement the new processes and procedures. There was a lot of reorganizing, relearning, and just preparing the space for the launch, and there was absolutely no way I would have been able to do everything in that short amount of time. So, I began delegating tasks to help with setting up the area as well as reorganize everything, while I worked to get the new processes and procedures down by calling other centers located around the US as well as made all of the new signs and labels for everything. What I learned through this experience was that the team members began taking on more of a positive aspect about the changes as opposed to the negative thoughts about the changes. The team members felt as though they were apart of the change by making decisions about putting the most effective organization in the area to help us get into a routine and pick up the new procedures easier. We did collectively come to an agreement that some of the organization was just not working as smooth as we wanted it to after launch day, so we got together and discussed alternatives we could do to make it easier, then we would try out something new.
Personal Growth & Development
Personally, the skill of delegation has had a positive impact on my life by distinguishing my limits with how much I can handle at one time. I have an ongoing list of things I need to do in the notes app on my phone that I usually update weekly, if not throughout the week. There have been times when I am I have been working two jobs in the same day with an assignment due, and some errands to run for my parents. In this instance, I have delegated the task of running errands for my parents to my brother or one of their family friends. Delegation in my personal life is being able to really lean on my friends in times of need and not being afraid to ask people for help when I need it. This skill of being able to delegate tasks has come in handy more often than not--especially being an online college student or a college student in general.
Reference: Brown, J.T. (2014) The handbook of program management: How to facilitate project success with optimal program management. 2nd Ed. McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN: 13978-0-07-183785-9
