Learning Team Skills Exercise

This week, the Learning Team read and discussed the Skills Exercise at the end of Chapter 10 in the text. This exercise deals with learning how to delegate, or assign authority, to another person in order to carry out specific duties. In other words, delegation allows employees to make decisions. This is a summary of the points we covered:
The first behavior discussed deals with clarifying the assignment. The situation in the scenario is far too often a common occurrence in the daily functions of work. Ricky Lee did the right thing by getting approval from his boss Anne Zumwait before passing the assignment to Bill Harmon. Ricky now understands that reassigning the project to Bill means that …show more content…

The fourth behavior that we discussed requires that a manager inform others that the delegation has occurred. This also requires effective communication skills. Nothing derails a project faster than a failure to let the involved stakeholders know that a specific task or certain responsibilities have been re-assigned or delegated. In the initial meeting between Anne and Ricky Lee, since permission was given initially to bring Bill into the project, finalizing this plan in writing, possibly in an email sent to both Bill and Anne, will accomplish this goal.
Finally, the fifth behavior deals with establishing feedback channels. In the scenario, Ricky has indeed established feedback channels with his employee, Bill Harmon. Ricky states in the scenario that once he has passed off his assignment to Bill, that Ricky has arranged to meet with Bill to get an update regarding the assignment. Establishing feedback channels is very important in any type of successful business or work flow environment. Effective feedback not only minimizes any room for miscommunication, but it also aligns accountability within each employee.
In conclusion, this Learning Team believes the scenario was handled appropriately. Anne, the boss, delegated to Rick, the manager, who in turn delegated to Bill, everything needed to