Many of us, CAs in practice as well as employment, are very busy and find it difficult to achieve a worklife balance. We do all the work ourselves for a variety of reasons. We have no time for recreation, family or training ourselves. Our bosses/ clients are satisfied with our work, but we wish we had a little more time. There are a lot of jokes on our lack of humour and creativity.
All of us know that free time could be possible if the work was delegated down the line. This is especially true in a CA’s office where the partners have no breathing time, especially in certain parts of the year.
While some of us avoid it due to a lack of confidence in ourselves, and also a belief that one is the type who does not like to take assistance. Many others would like to do so, but have a number of concerns as under:
- Whether our junior would supersede us once he/ she has all the information we have?
- Our staff including qualified are too slow to learn and lack experience.
- The training of the staff takes far more time and they may not be with us for long.
- We cannot ask others to do, since giving instructions would take more time than doing it.
- What has to be done would only be known as the work progresses.
- We are anxious that the quality of work would suffer considering the lack of commitment / responsibility of the staff.
While these among other concerns could be genuine, all agree that effective delegation would be advantages. The advantages of the same known to all of us have been enumerated as under:
- There is a limit to our time and therefore limit to the work we can take. More capable are the people involved, more the work that can be done.
- There are numerous jobs requiring different skills sets to be attended to all the time. May be somebody is better suited to do some of the work. Managers need not do routine work.
- Stress gets created when all the work is done by one as timelines may not be possible to be met. This also limits the effectiveness.
- There are a number of areas of new opportunities which can be tapped which may require more of your time at that stage, but we are busy.
- Delegation builds confidence and is a great motivating tool for the juniors.
- Successors, future partners could be groomed using delegation.
After examining the realities and limitations of our environment, we can start this process. However all jobs cannot be delegated. No delegation should be done at a stretch or in one go. When taking the decision to delegate the following questions can be asked:
- Is there anyone else who can do this job? If the answer is yes, then go ahead. If it is no, then ask yourself what is required to have that happen. Training of staff or recruiting a competent person.
- Would the job develop the skill of the other? This can also be an important aspect as the job may not enhance one’s skill which is already at a high level.
- How much time is available? Is there time to redo the same if need be? This may be important as timely service is critical ingredient of client service.
Looking at these questions in a proactive manner would lead to situations where some amount of delegation appears possible. The ideal method of delegation [HOW] includes certain action which would increase the success of the exercise as under:
- Provide clear instructions with background of desired objectives and also timelines which are reasonable considering the knowledge and experience of the staff.
- Select the right person, which is easier said than done. See that you think about the alternative persons before deciding.
- Do not abdicate the responsibility. Be responsible to the final delivery.
- Provide enough independence to the staff while guiding him/her.
- Support, review the work done and guide the staff.
- At the end of the process assess the results as also the ability of the person and whether there is any training need for that person.
The key ingredient at this time is patience. At this juncture, many of us decide that the assistant will not be able to do it or will not do it properly or that we would have to redo the same and step in. When a work is not so critical, that is the work which could be delegated. As more and more responsibility is taken up, more urgent works could also be moved down.
Delegation as a way would allow leaders within the organization who can then become leaders outside the organisation and may be world leaders of the tomorrow. Great management leaders normally are found to delegate substantially as they realize that if they try to do everything they simply cannot.
In the words of Carnegie Andrew, “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.”
Unlock your potential for great enjoyable life by using the tool of delegation!
Acknowledgements to CA. Dhanashree D. Prabhu for assisting in updating this article.