Learning how to delegate tasks it’s not really something specific in a small business. If you are a boss somewhere and have some colleagues to help you over, it means that you have to know how to delegate. However, in a way, delegating is more complicated in a small business.
Let’s start by thinking about the types of delegation that there are. And I think there are at least 3 types :
- Time related delegation
- Despotic delegation
- Delegation based on abilities
I think the most common type of delegation is the time related delegation. You simply have way too many things to do and you need some help to get some tasks done elsewhere. While is the most common, it’s probably not very efficient, because you don’t necessarily delegate because somebody else can do something better than you do, but because it has more time than you. Also, you tend to delegate only the most time consuming or maybe boring tasks and even if this is going to make you happy, it probably wont make happy the receiver.
Despotic delegation is probably the worse delegation that there is, and it happens mostly in paternal management environments. If the boss is the “father” and the rest are the children, most of the tasks are delegated and implemented in a particular manner because “I said so” . Sometimes the delegation is done just to keep everybody busy.
And now, there is also the good delegation: delegation based on abilities. It means that a person (might not even be the boss) delegates some of the tasks to another person who basically can do things better. Most importantly, it can go both ways, meaning the boss can also get some tasks, if he is really better at something. This delegation is better in more than one way, not only that it gets things done quickly as each person gets to do what knows best, but also keeps the team in good shape as most people are best at what they like to do.
Ok, I need to do this a 2 steps article as I need to go out for a couple of hours. Next episode when I get back.
2 Responses to “Delegate in a small business (part 1)”