Don’t allow your subordinates to become careless about meeting
deadlines.
Without being oppressive, you should ensure that progress
reports are made when required and that you discuss deviations
from the original plan in good time. You will have clearly indi-
cated to your subordinates the extent of their authority to act
without further reference to you. They must therefore expect to
be reprimanded if on any occasion they exceed their brief or fail
to keep you informed. You don’t want any surprises and your
subordinates must understand that you will not tolerate being
kept in the dark.
Try to restrain yourself from undue interference in the way the
work is being done. It is, after all, the results that count. Of
course, you must step in if there is any danger of things going off
the rails. The Nelson touch is all right if your subordinate is a
Nelson, but how many Nelsons have you got? Rash decisions,
over-expenditure and ignoring defined and reasonable con -
straints and rules must be prevented.
There is a delicate balance to be achieved between hedging
people around with restrictions which may appear petty and
allow ing them licence to do what they like. You must use your
know ledge of your subordinates and the circumstances to decide
where the balance should be struck. The best delegators are those
who have a comprehensive understanding of the strengths and
weak nesses of their staff and the situation in which they are
working.
Above all, avoid ‘river banking’. This happens when a boss
gives a subordinate a task which is more or less impossible to do.
As the subordinate is ‘going down’ for the third time the boss is
observed in a remote and safe position on the river bank saying:
‘It’s easy really, all you need to do is to try a bit harder.’
THE THOUGHTS OF SOME SUCCESSFUL
DELEGATORSJohn H Johnson, editor and publisher of Johnson Publishing
Company, chief executive officer of Supreme Life Insurance
Company and on the board of many large US corporations, said
of his delegation techniques: ‘I want to be big and I want to be
bigger and I can’t do it all by myself. So I try to do only those
things that I can’t get anyone else to do.’
How to Delegate 63