When we empower people to think and take action and we expect them to put that empowerment to good use, what sort of action are we trying to delegate?

Are we empowering a person to take action to perform:

• tasks?
• roles?
• responsibilities?
• decision-making?
• acts of power?

Here's the simplest way to look at delegation...

We delegate Processes performed by People and those Processes are strings of Tasks, some routine tasks and some not-Routine tasks.

So...

When we delegate, our intent is to delegate the performance of Tasks.

Those Tasks may be performed by the person we delegate them to or they may be done by others who are under the authority of that person. Regardless of who will perform the Tasks, when we delegate it is our intent that the person we delegate them to accepts responsibility for the performance of the Tasks. It is also our intent that the person we delegate them to becomes accountable for the performance of the Tasks.

Responsibility for Tasks: that means the person understands the Task is part of his or her role.

Accountability for Tasks: that means the person not only understands the Task is part of his or her role but also accepts the responsibility as an obligation to perform the Tasks.