Delegation is the assignment of authority and responsibility to another person usually from a superior to a subordinate. If done correctly, it can free up time for the superior to focus on more important tasks whilst knowing the less important yet still necessary tasks are being taken care of.

Effective delegation can be split up into a couple of steps and yields great results when practised well. Firstly, you need to decide who is appropriate to delegate to, if you have a span of control, it’ll be your direct subordinate(s). You should give them as much information as possible about the task, the deadline, what resources are available, any additional expectations etc. Secondly, arrange a mid-point meeting to check on progress, this allows you to ensure everything is on schedule and allows your subordinate(s) to raise any issues prior to the deadline.

The important thing to remember is don’t leave anything for assumption or misconception, be clear in every instruction and encourage questioning if your delegates are confused. In practising this simple method, you’ll give yourself more time to plan on moving your business forward as opposed to working on the production development, for example.

Post from: Fuel Your Venture

Autocracy is the style in which the leader makes all the decisions and closely monitors and controls staff. They give one-way communication in the form of orders and don’t entertain any initiative from subordinates. The advantage of which allows for quick decision-making as no consultation to inferior employees is made, the obvious disadvantage is that employees can soon feel powerless and unmotivated resulting in a lack of effort and commitment.

Perhaps one of the most well-known autocratic leaders was Howell Raines who was Executive Editor of The New York Times from 2001 to 2003. He was cited as a ‘hard-charging’ person and was known for focusing all of The New York Times’ resources on stories that he considered to be important rather than taking input from employees.

If you’re not a fan of commanding your employees around but still want to make the decisions, taking a paternalistic approach could be more appropriate. As a paternalistic leader, you’d take a fatherly role in ensuring your employee’s social requirements are met to make sure they’re happy. Employees are consulted about issues and feedback or opinions are welcomed however the final decision will lie with leader. The advantage of this style is that employees feel motivated that they’re being consulted but they could be disappointed with the final outcome should it misalign with the feedback they gave. Paternalistic leadership fills the gap between autocracy and democracy and can be extremely productive if practiced correctly.

A democratic style of leadership is perhaps the most common in this day and age and is used in large corporations all the way down to small startups. Its main attribute is giving your employees the power and encouragement to make their own decisions and therefore requires putting all of your trust in them. It involves two-way communication between the leader and employees and can often mean more time spent on decision-making but allows the employee to know they have a direct impact on the business they work for.

In choosing a leadership style, you could see your business thrive with success or fail with misfortune. It’s vital that you make the right choice in order to keep your employees happy along with making the right decisions for your business.

Thanks to Scrape TV for the image.

Post from: Fuel Your Venture