Do you delegate effectively? Take this delegation quiz
Delegation is a key skill that supervisors and managers can utilise to achieve success in their roles. However, delegation can be a complex and challenging task if people don’t fully understand and apply proven delegation practices and principles.
Many managers, supervisors and team leaders fail to delegate or share responsibility because they fear that the quality of the work will suffer. They complain, “If I want it done right, I’ll have to do it myself”. If you are tempted to put off delegating, remember, that at some time in your career you did not know how to do what you can now do easily. Someone invested the time to teach you.
Some managers also fail to delegate because they fear that strong, well-trained employees may replace them. Actually, this possibility should be welcomed rather than feared. When you have trained people to do your work effectively, you are available for promotion not replacement.
Delegation challenges the most promising and capable people on your team to develop their potential and use more of their abilities. It entrusts them with responsibility and offers them the chance to become involved with interesting and challenging work. When they do, you and the organisation are direct beneficiaries of their growth.
Take the following quiz to test your understanding of effective delegation:
Tick True or False for each question:
| True | False | |
| 1. Delegation is a training tool that helps develop an organisation’s employees | ||
| 2. Delegation can free you of details so you can focus more time on the important aspects of your job | ||
| 3. It’s always good practice to hand over or delegate a “hot potato” project you’d rather not handle yourself | ||
| 4. It’s alright to delegate a project to someone by giving them a clear picture of what has to be done, without specifying how to do it | ||
| 5. When you delegate the authority to complete a task or a project, it’s good to inform other employees in the workplace about this | ||
| 6. Even though an employee seems to understand a task or a delegated project, it’s wise to ask them to give you an idea of how they plan to accomplish the project | ||
| 7. It’s not good management practice to ask for periodic checks on the progress of the delegated project | ||
| 8. The fact that you can do it better and faster yourself is a good reason not to delegate a task | ||
| 9. If an employee shows you that they are unable to do a job, you shouldn’t give them a second chance. | ||
| 10. When errors in a delegated project could be highly costly to the organisation, it’s important to maintain closer supervision of the project |
| Answers: 1. True, 2. True, 3. False, 4. True, 5. True, 6. True, 7. False, 8. False, 9. False, 10. True |
Developing effective delegation skills is featured in many of our management and leadership development courses, click here to view suitable courses and/or contact us today to speak with an LMA representative in your area.
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