Delegating More Can Increase Your Earnings

How can a busy professional become more productive when there is only so much time in the day? One simple answer: Delegate more of what you don’t have to do yourself. This frees up your time so that you can spend it where it is really valuable. There is nothing new about delegating, of course. Attending physicians delegate to residents, senior consultants to junior consultants, and CMOs to their marketing directors. CEOs, following the example of longtime General Motors CEO Alfred P. Sloan and the recommendation of countless management professors, “manage by exception.” But just how valuable is delegation? After all, hiring others to work under you is costly, and coordinating them takes up your time and theirs. These costs are highly visible, while the benefits are sometimes less so. The upshot often is managers doing too much themselves.