Delegation Leverage

Julio continued to resist. “The biggest problem with delegation is that it takes too long to explain what I want done. In less time, I can finish the project myself and I don’t have to worry about any loose ends dangling.”

“What is the purpose for delegation?” I asked. “Why am I so insistent that you should delegate more often?”

“That’s easy. Delegation is all about Time Management. But, that’s not my experience. I spend a half hour explaining something that takes me fifteen minutes to do. How is that Time Management?”

“What kind of leverage are you trying to get when you delegate?”

“Well, if I can unload something that takes me an hour to do, then that saves an hour,” he explained. “But if it takes me a half hour to explain, or review the work, then that leverage is 2 to 1.”

“That’s a good start, but you should be looking to gain more leverage. You should be able to work for one hour and get five hours productivity. A better target would be to work for one hour and get ten hours productivity.”

Julio looked puzzled.

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About Tom Foster

Tom Foster spends most of his time talking with managers and business owners. The conversations are about business lives and personal lives, goals, objectives and measuring performance. In short, transforming groups of people into teams working together. Sometimes we make great strides understanding this management stuff, other times it’s measured in very short inches. But in all of this conversation, there are things that we learn. This blog is that part of the conversation I can share. Often, the names are changed to protect the guilty, but this is real life inside of real companies.
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