Encouraging Acceptance of Delegated Responsibility

If you are in a position in which you direct the activities of others, it is important to encourage subordinates to do more of their own thinking about delegated tasks.Many young people, particularly when transferred from line to staff kobs, flounder when delegated assignments. During orientation, they may seek as much help and guidance as possible. Up to a point, this is not only understandable but desirable. However, continued too long, it becomes a crutch, destroying their ability to get things done on their own. Give delegatees a chance: Let them evaluate their own progress by measuring their accomplishment at any specific time against the jointly outlined goal.
Prepare for errors: Mistakes are inevitable. If you aim at overall accomplishment, minor mistakes en route shouldnt affect you unduly. Obviously, when delegatees make an error, they have responsibility as far as you are concerned, even though ultimate responsibility properly falls on you. Criticism should be constructive: Rather than irate and thus destructive reactions, show where the mistake occurred and how the problem might be handled next time.
Scolding alone causes delegatees to avoid decisions involving risk. They will either follow previous patterns exactly or keep referring decisions to you or someone else meaning that you are right back to the time consuming, effort diverting patterns that delegation was supposed to address. Avoid overruling or reversing delegatees decisions: When delegatees have responsibility for certain results and the authority to take the necessary steps to achieve them, they are far more likely to make the right decision.