5 Imperatives of Delegation

DR. ICHAK ADIZES tackles the challenging topic of good delegation, which is so essential for a healthy work life. He presents 5 principles that help us to achieve both effectiveness and efficiency, as well as supporting the team members to whom we are delegating.

- DR. ICHAK ADIZES

We all know that you cannot do everything. Nobody can do everything. A good manager should know how to delegate. As a matter of fact, the principle should be to avoid being overwhelmed and being ineffective and inefficient. Put a sign on your desk that says (let's say that your first name is Michael), "Michael does only what Michael can do." Which means, if somebody else can do it, Michael shouldn't do it. Otherwise, if you are the best in everything, you will do everything yourself, and you will fail in everything. The idea is that you do only what only you can do the tasks for which you are indispensable and the rest should be delegated.

Now, how can we effectively delegate? What often happens is that we delegate, and the task doesn't get done the way we wanted, and then we get upset and we don't want to delegate anymore.

We get disillusioned with the people we were delegating to. And we have a big problem.

Effective delegation must have five imperatives. If any one of the imperatives is missing, then the delegation will not work. You'll be disillusioned and you'll be disappointed.

So, what are the five imperatives of delegation? What, who, how, when, and monitor. Let me explain.

You have to choose the right person to delegate to: someone who knows what to do and how to do it.