Principles of Planning: Effective Delegation

by David N. Rasmussen

In my last Advisor (see "Principles of Planning: Managing Stakeholder Expectations," 12 March 2008), I described the importance of actively managing stakeholder expectations. I went on to state that as much as 50% of a manager's time can be spent on this task -- communicating with board directors, executives, employees, vendors, customers, and the other myriad of organizations that have an interest in the company's performance.

So how does a project or business manager satisfy this responsibility and still be able to oversee the technical aspects of a complex business initiative, as well as continue to monitor the financial progress of the program? The answer is that he or she does not do all of this by him or herself. The business manager is surrounded by a team of highly skilled and trusted functional managers who handle the details of engineering design and implementation, finance, marketing strategies, and all of the other functions involved in a business endeavor. In other words, these people create a minibusiness management team, and this team is given responsibility for the thousands of details associated with the effort. The business or program manager cannot possibly manage the technical details of the initiative -- and keep the stakeholders informed of progress while staying on top of the financial performance as well. At least, not for any major initiative that may last longer than three months or involve more than a handful of employees.

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Principles of Planning: Effective Delegation9 April 2008