Delegation has been a highly studied and publicized topic over the last few decades. The general conclusion of most management advocates is that, as managers, we ought to do more of it. Fortunately, that is good advice for management’s “Run the Business” role … but, unfortunately, delegation means a quick and sudden death in a manager’s “Change the Business” role.

Run the Business; Change the Business

Managers today, in a time when change is the rule and not the exception, must play two roles. They must manage the “run the business” work of their assigned unit or department in order to get out today’s products for today’s customer’s to make today’s profits. They also must lead the “change the business” work of their unit in order to be able to make tomorrow’s products for tomorrow’s customers at an improved level of profit.

In a run the business role, the manager’s focus is to successfully follow established standards and procedures to produce consistent results for today and the immediate future. His/her focus will be on “maintaining” production (and the way that production is done) in order to provide for consistent performance. Delegation in this context is a key management practice, as managers divide up the work of the unit and delegate it to others for day-to-day action. In this run the business setting, the dictionary definitions of delegation appropriately apply: to entrust to another; to appoint as one’s representative.

Leaders Cannot Delegate Change

But changing the way a unit or department runs its business requires first hand leadership. What change needs from a leader cannot be delegated or entrusted to another. While a manager could assign the task of running a change-the-business initiative, the manager cannot delegate his authority, perspective, expertise or power (financial or evaluation power), all needed ingredients for change.

In everyday life, delegation can mean death. Just imagine a surgeon who “delegates” the operation to a resident in training when an unexpected, life-threatening problem is encountered. Just imagine an airline captain who delegates flying the airplane to the copilot when unexpected and dangerous flight conditions occur.

In the everyday life of a business, a change cannot be delegated either. Delegation of change, by definition, gives the change task to another who has less change power than the boss. Delegation of change automatically signals to the troops that change is not a (or the) top priority. Delegation of change frequently asks the delegate to “lead his peers” to do things a different way, which is an impossible task.

Don’t Even Think About It!

So the bottom line is simple, but against many of “our teachings.” Delegate run the business tasks to your heart’s content, but don’t even think about delegating change or you give your change initiative a death sentence!

 

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