QUOTATION 16

ANDREW CARNEGIE ON WHY YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL YOURSELF

Use this to remind you that you must delegate work if you are to be successful.

Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), the Scottish American industrialist and philanthropist, made his fortune in steel and, while he had the confidence to build an immense organisation, he had the humility to say:

No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.

Andrew Carnegie

WHAT TO DO

  • Follow the advice given by Warren Buffet about appointing good staff in the first place (see Quotation 25). Once you’ve appointed good people, get out of their way and let them do their job (see Quotation 27).
  • Assess how good you are at delegating work. List the work that you have delegated in the last month. Analyse the jobs under simple, medium and complex tasks. If you delegate only simple tasks, your failure to challenge staff with more interesting and rewarding work may demotivate them (see Quotation 45).
  • If you fail to delegate because you fear either losing control or being criticised for dumping work on staff, use Ken Blanchard’s and Paul Hersey’s situational leadership theory as a model for delegation. They suggest that each time you delegate a new piece of work to someone, you have to identify the level of direction and support the person requires. Direction relates to the level of instruction you need to provide on how to do the actual job. Support relates to the amount of reassurance, encouragement and hand-holding you need to provide as the person finds their feet. By combining the level of direction and support, four possible delegation strategies arise:
Approach to delegation Description of behaviour
Coaching High direction and high support is provided where the person lacks knowledge of how to do the job and has little self-confidence/belief.
Directing The directing mode is used when high direction and low support is provided to those who are self-confident but lack experience of the work.
Supporting High support and low direction is provided to those who are experienced enough to do the work but worry about taking on new work.
Delegating A low support and low direction approach is used with those who have high levels of technical skills and are self-confident and assured.
  • Select the most suitable person for the job. Brief them on what needs to be done and get a feel for how they are feeling. Ask questions such as, ‘Can you explain to me what you are going to do first?’ ‘Is there anything that worries you about what I’ve asked you to do?’
  • Based on your discussion, select the model of delegation you think is most appropriate.
  • Agree a deadline for the completion of the work and specify the criteria that the finished work has to meet.
  • If the job is going to take several weeks, book an early review meeting to discuss progress. Based on that meeting, decide whether further meetings are required.
  • Emphasise that if the person runs into problems, they can see you immediately.
  • Remember, people don’t move through the four approaches outlined above in any recognisable sequence. Every time you give a person a new job/task, you have to identify which approach to use with them.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

  • How often do I delegate work?
  • How much time do I spend explaining what’s required when I delegate work?
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