by Joan Pastor, M.A., M.A., C.S.P.

JPA International, Inc.

   Competition has always been a fact of life in the American marketplace, but economic globalization has caused an increase of per capita workload beyond anyone’s expectations.  How can you keep from getting snowed under with extra work?  Delegate.  Of course, as a supervisor, you already delegate—or do you?  Mastering the skills of delegation includes understanding how to delegate not only to your staffers but to your supervisors and peers as well.

Traditional Delegation

To most supervisors, delegation means someone in a superior role transfers authority to various staff members to enhance overall business capacity.  This “downward” delegating runs smoothly as long as certain rules are followed.

A good supervisor takes care to delegate to people who have proven they can do the job at hand.  Deadlines should always be reasonable—an employee faced with a task that can’t be done on time becomes frustrated.  Encouraging feedback keeps staffers involved and makes them feel more a part of the overall project.  Giving feedback is equally important; it makes workers feel that the supervisor cares about their success.

Downward delegation remains the most popular and effective means of getting work done quickly and efficiently.  But as the workplace becomes increasingly complex, supervisors need to find more creative approaches.

Sideways Delegation

Delegating to one’s peers can be a touchy proposition.  Your peers don’t report to you, so they have no obligation to honor your requests.  Those who do agree to accept work will invariably ask:  “What’s in it for me?”  When they do, how you answer will determine how much cooperation you can expect.

Ideally, if you can provide some tangible benefit, peers will be more willing to lend their assistance.  If, however, no immediate benefits come to mind, you should try to think of a special way to thank whoever helps you.  Sometimes as simple a gesture as a thank-you card is sufficient, but you can probably come up with a number of other ways to show your appreciation.

Remember, too, that neither you nor your peers are in business for yourselves—as team players, you should always be looking out for the company’s best interest.  Frequently, this is a strong incentive for peers to help you with your work.

Obviously, you should always be willing to help your peers with their work.  People will naturally be more willing to help you out if they know they can count on your help—and they rarely forget when someone doesn’t help others.

Upward Delegating

It’s almost a rule that emergency projects come up when everyone is swamped with other work.  How do you handle a boss who comes to you, project in hand, and tells you “I need this done now”—perhaps two or three times in the same day?  Delegate the work right back to the boss.

First, list everything your boss tells you to do.  You may want to make “to do” lists for weekly and daily assignments, making sure to display them prominently in your office.

When your boss frantically appears with another rush job, calmly refer to your “to do” list (which will have all the other rush requests you’ve received all day) and ask the boss:  “How can I prioritize to determine what items on the list can be put off?”  All you’ve done is put the responsibility back into the boss’ lap.  Obviously, you can’t do three or four projects at once.  The boss will have no choice but to identify priorities.

But suppose you have more than one boss?  If you work for Smith and Jones and Smith hands you a rush job while you’re in the middle of a rush job for Jones, you can explain the situation and suggest that Smith and Jones get together and decide which project takes priority.  At that point they really have no choice but to honor your request.