Delegation – Responsibility, Accountability

Over the years many management fads come and go such as Managing by Objectives, Total Quality Management, Re-engineering and the classic Plan, Organize, Staff, Develop and Control. However one of the key attributes of good leaders and managers is which is still paramount is creating a culture of appropriate Delegation, Responsibility and Accountability for their organization and leading by example.

In working with may organizations in different countries and different industries on of the key differentiating characteristics of successful organizations and their managers the ability to take responsibility for results, delegate appropriate and embrace accountability. The three are closely interwoven but lets look at the individual elements before weaving them together.

The art of delegation fundamentally is the pre-cursor to management development. As our managerial responsibilities grow and develop it is essential that we develop others by delegating responsibility for an increasingly complex range of challenges which are effectively managed. There is a fine line between delegation and abdication where the assignment is given but without adequate follow up, guidelines etc. The following is a brief outline of some key elements to successful delegation :-

i ) Ensure that both parties understand EXACTLY what has been delegated and the outcomes expected.
ii ) There must be only one responsible person who is held accountable for each specific outcome. Dual accountability is no accountability at all.
iii ) Delegate the necessary authority and provide the necessary tools to enable success.
iv ) Agree on appropriate reporting / feedback system which effectively monitors progress and provides an early warning system.
v ) Assign / Agree target dates and milestones for specific accomplishments and incorporate these in the reporting system.
vi ) Give the responsibility manager as much freedom as possible – endeavor to focus on desired outcomes rather than prescribed methods.
vii ) Create enthusiasm and excitement with assignments so that they are both challenging and motivated.
viii ) Ensure that delegated assignments match the managers capability to the greatest extent including knowledge, experience, ability and aptitude. In particular take cognisense of their personality style and ensure that the follow up (in particularly points (iv) and (v) are suitably matched.
ix ) Create feedback so that everybody involved understand the expected outcome.

One of my previous mentors the late Lucien Levy of PGSI described delegation as being connected to each manager by a piece of string. The length of each piece is different and our delegation task is to let the string out until it is loose and then pull it back so that it is taut but not tight. A simple philosophy but brilliant in concept.

My colleague in the US, Dr Gerry Faust, talks about the Responsibility from two perspectives :-

1. Responsibility to our families, our business, our community, ourselves, our society etc and
2. We are responsible for our actions, words, deeds, use of our talents etc.

All of us have a choice as to the level of responsibility we adopt in both spheres. In the responsibility “to” arena, we can play a passive role or we can take responsibility to make a difference. Some classic examples from a business context – Employee A works Nine to Five, does what is asked,, complies obediently but doesn’t push. On the other hand Employee B arrives at work ready to contribute, pushes to achieve results, works with others to ensure goals are being met and involves people so they understand. Which employee would you prefer ?

Responsible people and managers take responsibility for agreed results and outcomes. They are not swayed by excuses just focused ways and means to achieve the desired result. In Australia I ran a chain of 200 branches with individual managers in each store. It was always evident that in spite of all the physical elements (location, foot traffic, income spread etc) it was not always the BEST physical locations which were the most successful. The key ingredient was the manger and his or her propensity to overcome adversity, not consider excuses but focus on how to achieve the results.

In short responsibility people / mangers are more successful in business and in life.

While responsibility tends to be a personal phenomenon, Accountability is more an organizational phenomenon. It occurs when assignments are delegated for one person to another and the responsible manager is held accountable for the results even though they may not directly control all the elements involved.

Importantly Accountability is not just the prerogative of the delegated manager, it is also essential that the delegator is also Accountable and has not ABDICATED rather than delegated. Again it is a fine line between doing it all yourself and “dumping” it on a subordinate. The differentiators are follow up, support, enthusiasm, offered help rather that intrusion, praise rather criticism. On that latter point recognition is one of the key elements for successful motivation of people and still not widely understood. The average human being needs NINE elements of praise or recognition to ONE element of criticism to be in balance.

Otherwise they believe they are constantly being criticized, chided etc.

One other key element of Accountability is the consequences arising from the success or otherwise of the assignment. Where possible I like to appropriately celebrate successful outcomes and take appropriate action for non performance or lack of success.

Celebrations can be large or small, depending on the assignment and / or outcome but crucial from my perspective that all successful outcomes are recognized, as distinct from rewarded – it is the most powerful motivation !

Strangely it is the consequences for non performance or unsuccessful outcomes which many managers find the most difficult to implement. It need not extend to dismissal but managers must understand that even if it is only an expression of disappointment, that the matter will be addressed and not left “HANGING”

In conclusion, there are many important factors in running a successful business or organization including leadership, planning, communication, motivating, to mention but a few. However management in its broadest context is essential to success and management is about enabling people to achieve successful agreed outcomes. The key ingredient which makes highly competent and successful managers is continuous and effective delegation, responsibility and accountability, as a whole both for the organization and in their own managerial arena.