The reasons most managers don’t delegate are complex, often wrapped up in values, identify, trust, power, control, and fear. So we’ll save that article for another day – that is, something on why managers don’t delegate. This article examines the other extreme end of the delegation continuum – the handful of things a manager should never delegate. Everything else is fair game.
- Vision.Vision is the essence of leadership, so if a manager attempts to hand off the creation of a vision to someone else (a consultant, a team, a team member), they may as well be delegating away their leadership. Sure, it’s often a good idea to get others involved in the creation of a vision – for more on that see How to Align Your Team Around a Shared Vision. This is one area where the manager is going to set the stage, be very involved, and ultimately, have final approval.
- Hiring decisions.I’ve also seen managers be overly dependent on search consultants, agencies, search committees, and HR for finding talent and making hiring decisions. I may be an outlier when it comes to this, but I believe hiring talent is one of the most important things a manager can do in order to be successful. Why would you delegate such an important process? I even go as far as to insist on doing my own phone screens and background checks. I want to talk to former bosses myself, in order to verify things the candidate told me, or to gain valuable information that will help me be a better manager for the candidate if hired.
See the rest here