GenXmanager: Leadership for the Generation X Manager

The Office again demonstrated why it is not only a brilliant comedy, but a show chock full of practical business lessons. There were many lessons to choose from last night’s episode but the one I want to focus on for this article is the topic of delegation.

In last night’s episode, W.B. Jones Heating and Air trucks were parked in the spaces closest to the building and thus making it necessary for Dunder Mifflin employees to park in the ‘satellite lot’. Andy and Kevin were particularly perturbed so they approached Michael so he could fix the situation. After they ask for his help the exchange went as follows:

Michael Scott: I wish I could [help] but I can’t. Well, I can. But won’t. Should. Maybe…I can probably handle it but I think it would be a good exercise for you to do yourselves.

Andy Bernard: We won’t let you down.

Michael Scott: [under his breath] You can’t because I don’t care.

In this exchange, Michael has delegated a task by “empowering” Andy and Kevin to “own the solution” and do it themselves. Of course, the motivation behind Michael’s delegation was to get them out of his office and to avoid confronting “The Five Families” of Scranton Business Park. This little exchange in the show begs the question, what should be delegated to employees. Empowerment and delegation are great buzzwords but when is it appropriate to delegate. Here are a few do’s and dont’s.

Don’t delegate…

1. because you simply don’t want to do the work;
2. because you are afraid of the challenge of the task or what the task might entail;
3. to set someone up for failure by giving them an assignment you know the employee does not have the skillset to succeed;
4. you are a laissez-faire manager and not really in touch with your co-workers or employees;
5. because you want to be like Michael Scott!

Do delegate…

1. because you don’t have the necessary strengths in a certain area to perform the task successfully. Delegate it to someone who does;
2. when you don’t have the expertise to perform an assignment;
3. because it is more efficient for someone else to do the task;
4. because the task is not part of your core responsibilities. What I mean is that you cannot do everything and if you spent time dealing with issues that are not core to your job responsibilities, you won’t get to those responsibilities in the course of your day. Your job is not to do someone else’s job well but to do your job well;
5. you want to challenge someone and have them reach a higher level of achievement. At the core, isn’t this what leadership is all about? Give someone a responsibility you would normally take care of. It might be challenging for that person but without challenge, people stagnate. Challenging this person will give them a new skill, confidence, and experience to tackle a similar task in the future.

Delegation is a means of developing employees, ensuring tasks are done by those who have the strengths to perform the tasks, and is critical to living a balanced life so you aren’t spending 60 hours in the office.

This article touched lightly on delegation but for more tips please visit Management hack: The sweet spot of delegation at Slacker Manager.

Finally, in the this article I mention “The Five Families” of Scranton Business Park. For those of you who want to know, they are:

Micheal Scott, Dunder Mifflin
Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration
Paul Faust, Disaster Kits Limited
W.B. Jones, W.B. Jones Heating and Air
Bill Cress, Cress Tool and Die.