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Chapter 3 - Delegation: Where Organization Begins

We live in an age of organization. It is difficult to think of anything we need that does not come from an organization. The cars we buy, the meals we order and the health clinics we visit all originate in an organization that we hope is well-planned and efficient. The human services of the voluntary sector all come from organizations. Health care comes from clinics and hospitals, religion comes from congregations and education comes from schools.

Private practice is still with us, but it is shrinking.

The purpose of a human services organization is to offer its best for its clients. Albert Einstein himself famously said, “We have to do the best we can, that is our sacred human responsibility.”

Professionals and volunteers do their best in their contacts with the clients. These folks rely on their leaders to bring them their best. That leader, in turn, relies on the wider organization. The organization then becomes the vehicle for helpfulness.

Delegation is the Starting Point for Organization

Once upon a time, a keen observer must have discovered that two people working together can produce more than twice their own results. This is the origin of organization. And delegation is how it happens.

There are three necessary steps in delegation: responsibility, authority and accountability.

The delegation of responsibility begins with the leader who needs to share the workload. In delegation, the leader selects a section from his job description to create a new job. Clarity is the first requirement. A newly written job description is required to identify the service and organization roles that are being delegated.

Clarity requires brevity. A multipage job description does little for role definition. Consider the following job description.

Sample Family Counselor Job Description

Service Responsibilities

– Case management with disadvantaged families

– Counseling on family issues and options

– Liaison with community agencies

– Review case regularly with the team

– Regular case file recording

Organizational Responsibilities

– Serve as member of the service team

– Account regularly for job performance

– Participate in regular supervision

– Explain the organization’s mission and policies

Delegation relieves the leader of a chunk of responsibilities—but that is only one-third of the story. The next step is authority—a weighty matter. Authority enables the new worker to make decisions within the scope of the new job.

In one small step, the leader gives the new person authority to act. This can be frightening for the leader—actually backing off and letting the worker do the job the leader has given away. The alternative is to withhold authority and force the employee or volunteer to be little more than a gopher with a controlling supervisor checking on his every move.

When this happens, no real delegation has occurred.

For the leader, this process can be threatening because she has given away things for which she is accountable to her own supervisor. Her performance will now be judged partly by the work someone else is producing—or not producing.

Delegation involves a mutual understanding of accountability. Accountability is a key concept. The new person must account on all-important matters, whether the report is good or bad. Accountability is written into the new job description.

How does this work? The worker ensures that his supervisor is kept informed on all issues arising within his new responsibilities. The supervisor must not hear important news through the grapevine. If Stan has not managed to meet the deadline on his new project, he must share this news directly with Audrey, the supervisor who delegated the project to him. Audrey must not hear about it while pouring a coffee in the staff room.

Delegation is a mutual affair. Authority works when delegation finds its match in accountability. In most cases, that accountability can comfortably happen in scheduled supervisory sessions. There, the worker has the main agenda—to report the successes and challenges in new areas of responsibility.

Delegation is about trust. The supervisor can sleep at night, trusting that what she needs to know is already at hand. Delegation frees the leader to concentrate on other areas of her job—and to do them even better.

When the three essentials of responsibility, accountability and authority are in place, delegation achieves:

• Lightened workload for the leader.

• Latitude for new workers to do the job.

• Assurance for the leader that there will be no big surprises.

• An important new relationship based on mutuality.

• Clarity on roles.

• The establishment of an atmosphere of trust.

Here we have the origins of organization: a simple sketch of two boxes and a connecting line. We can extend this process to fit any organization. This is the basic organizational chart.

For the voluntary organization, this is a misnomer. In Chapter 1, we saw that all leadership in a helping organization contains two dimensions: human relationships and performance. The network created by delegation provides us with a picture of jobs and roles. But a simple line drawing does not take into account the human relationships. A thin line only shows connections. The delegation chart needs a revamp to represent the full story.

We have an authentic picture of organization when we pay attention to the links. The real picture is seen when we amplify the links to include vital elements of relationships. In Chapter 7, we will describe key ingredients in the working relationships.

Organization finds its origins in delegation. The more complete organizational chart lays out the roles and their links. This chart ensures that the working relationships are clearly defined to enable the process of helping clients.

Sound benefits for clients require an organization where delegation exists to ensure clarity of roles and relationships. Role clarity is achieved through the balance of responsibility, authority and accountability. Healthy working relationships are achieved by a clear understanding of the supervisory process.

Delegation Keys to Leadership

• The quality of organization shapes the quality of services to clients.

• Delegation ensures the quality of roles and relationships.

• The quality of the relationships affects client relationships. The client relies on the organization for quality service.