The art of delegation

 

On the first anniversary of joining the company, Nasser mentions how many difficulties he faced since his first days at work.

Despite his university studies in accounting and the courses he took in functional behavior and playing an active role in the team, he still had difficulty understanding the company’s system and how to deal with others.

He was trying all the time not to make mistakes and his manager was following him without confusing him.

The company was in a tight spot, a software vendor that made deals with large sums of money with clients.

But it was always late in delivering products on time, and behind this was a clear and obvious reason, which was the high turnover for employees that move to international companies.

The scarcity of calibers in this field was evident in the market, and therefore companies were seeking to obtain the employees of their competitors, and the company was spending a lot of money on employee retention programs and employee free courses.

 

Back to Nasser, as his manager began to deliver tasks to him, sometimes to teach him a new skill, sometimes to let him learn by himself and motivating him to do so.

Eventually, Nasser was able to perform the duties of his manager during his absence at the end of his first year of work.

He took decisions with ease.

 

One day the manager was absent and was replaced by Nasser, and the new accounting officer asked the manager to sign the payroll so as not to be late.

Realizing the importance of receiving the payment on time, Nasser decided to sign the payroll himself.

Two days after the employees received the salaries, and the manager returned to work, the manager was bombarded with phone calls, asking how and why the managers got half their salaries, while the employees got the double.

 

The news reached Nasser, who was confused and embarrassed because of his mistake of not reviewing the new employee’s work.

He realized that he and the new employee had lost their places in the company and started to prepare for that.

Then he received the phone call he had been waiting for two days.

His manager asked him to head to his office.

 

His Manager: Sit down, Nasser.

Nasser: Thank you, boss, I know that I failed you, and I know the severity of the matter, and I know that the company, even if it does not lose money, will lose its calibers because of the anger of the managers, and even the anger that will affect its calibers of engineers when they know that the increase in their salaries was a mistake, and I even realize that this mistake shows lack of professionalism I am ready to submit my resignation and apologize to everyone.

His Manager: Your resignation? I don’t ask you to submit your resignation, Nasser, but I ask you to correct the mistake. If you see the mistake is due to a lack of professionalism, then you must find a professional solution to the situation, and if you think that the retention of the calibers in the company is at risk, find a solution that will retain them.

Think of a two-day solution, and take a break from the stress of the office.

Nasser took two days off to think of a solution, motivated by the manager’s confidence in him, then he returned to the company and prepared a presentation and met with his manager and the board of directors.

Nasser started the conversation, apologizing for the unintended mistake and then proceeding to explain the solution.

First, he talked about the budget for consulting and training on how to keep the company’s employees.

Then he ended up suggesting a meeting with the employees and managers and informing the employees that the increase they received was for motivating them and thanking them for their efforts in the company.

As for the managers, a special meeting would be held to inform them that the company decided this month to cancel the employee retention program, which cost a lot of money,

The company will calculate the money it spends on it, and distribute it to salaries again, which means that each manager will get the other half of his salary from the increase in the coming days.

Nasser also suggested canceling the employee retention program and replacing it with financial incentives, based on performance indicators for each team, if employees and managers accept this situation for this pilot month.

 

This is what happened, and everyone got the incentives and the program was canceled, and even every manager sought to play the role of advisor to his subordinates so that he could keep them.

It was a genius solution that helped the company retain its employees and managers.

Nasser and his manager were promoted and the new employee wasn’t laid off.

One day, Nasser sat having lunch with the new employee.

The employee told Nasser that he learned a lot this month.

Then He asked him, “Your manager must have made you trust him more, Nasser.”

Nasser replied, “It made me more confident in myself, managers usually make you trust them, their abilities and their expertise, but leaders make you trust yourself, your abilities, and your expertise, and the secret is in the delegation, as without allowing me to do some of my manager’s tasks, we would not have reached this result.”