The key to effective management is delegation

Steven Covey explains the key to effective management in his one of the all-time best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.

He sparks a very good discussion about management stating that a producer does whatever is necessary to accomplish desired results, to get the golden eggs. A parent who washes dishes, an architect who draws up blueprints, or a secretary who types correspondence is a producer. But when a person sets up and works with and through people and systems to produce golden eggs, that person becomes a manager in the independent sense. A parent who delegates washing dishes to a child is a manager. An architect who leads a team of other architects is a manager.

A producer can invest one hour of effort and produce one unit of results, assuming no loss of efficiency. A manager, on the other hand, can invest one hour of effort and produce the or fifty or a hundred units through effective delegation.

It is similar to a multiplying effect when you delegate a task to someone, you may spend more time in teaching them or mentoring them initially but in the end, you can get far better output, far more golden eggs by effective delegation.

Covey mentions two kinds of delegation: “gofer delegation” and “stewardship delegation”. Gofer delegation means “Go for this, go for that, do this, do that, and tell me when it’s done.” Most people who are producers have a gofer delegation paradigm. Even if they are given a position in management, they still think like producers. They don’t know how to set up a full delegation so that another person is committed to achieving results.

Gofer delegation means “Go for this, go for that, do this, do that, and tell me when it’s done.” Most people who are producers have a gofer delegation paradigm. Even if they are given a position in management, they still think like producers. They don’t know how to set up a full delegation so that another person is committed to achieving results.

Stewardship delegation is focused on results instead of methods. It gives people a choice of method and makes them responsible for results. It takes more time in the beginning, but it’s time well invested. Stewardship delegation involves clear, up-front mutual understanding and commitment regarding expectations in desired results, guidelines, resources, accountability, and consequences.

To read more on this interesting topic, take a look at this book on Amazon

                        The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

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