The Art of Delegating – don’t take the monkey!
One Week Later
Now let's move the calendar ahead one week to the following Monday afternoon. At two o'clock ' sharp, he walks through my door and lays before me a three-page, double-spaced list of the things he does more or less regularly. As I had anticipated the list begins with the very items we had used as "for instances" during our last meeting:- I review cost reports.
- I compile the monthly safety figures.
- I schedule the weekly training sessions.
- I screen incoming mail.
- I follow up on the grievance procedure.
"That, and also for reasons of the personalities of the other key people reporting to you - to say nothing of your own."
"You mean that the only way you could explain your job to anyone else would be by giving them an account of its evolution and of the roles played by the personalities of me and my entire staff?""That's right. And I'd have to include my own personality too."
"Well then," I continue, "How could anyone else be trained to do your job if you left or got promoted?""It would be impossible. You can’t train anybody in anything unless there is a basic logic to it. Now don't get me wrong. There's plenty of logic behind each thing I do, but there's no logic to how they all relate to each other as a single job. That's why nobody can be trained to step in behind me."