Leading Others

Leading others is a crucial, but difficult part of leading a rugby organisation. Leaders have many roles. They need to develop a team spirit and build effective teams. They need to be able to delegate authority to others, to build and maintain relationships and resolve conflicts. They are responsible for the creation of a positive working culture and environment and for developing others to enable them to succeed.

Delegation is the assignment of responsibility and authority to someone else to complete a clearly defined and agreed task. It requires differing levels of supervision depending on the individual and the task. Delegation may act as a bridge between management and operations

From the leader’s perspective, the following are some of the common barriers to effective delegation which have been articulated in a number of articles:

• Insufficient time
• Loss of control
• Loss of respect
• Thinking you can do it better
• Doing the work yourself
• Loss of confidence in others.

From the team’s perspective the following some of the common barriers to effective delegation which have been articulated in a number of articles:

• Insufficient time
• Insufficient experience
• Lack of resources
• Fear of failure
• Lack of responsibility
• Hierarchical disrespect
• Fear of blame
• Reaction of others.

From the leader’s perspective, the following are benefits of effective delegation which have been articulated in a number of articles:

• Time saving
• Increase in value
• Increase in team motivation.

From the team’s perspective, the following are benefits of effective delegation which have been articulated in a number of articles:

• Development opportunity
• Increase in self-esteem
• Re-evaluation of worth
• Increased efficiency
• Increased flexibility
• Increased teamworking opportunities
• More balanced working load
• Increased communication within the team
• Feel-good.

The following stages of the delegation process have been adapted from a number of freely available online sources: