NQ blog - February 2016: Delegating a task or responsibility

I was recently asked by a friend of mine about the workings of legal practice and being a solicitor. After some conversation about it, he sighed: ‘I just wouldn’t be able to get my head around all the different laws!’ My response was that being a lawyer involves much more than simply knowing the law.

It also requires, among other things, an ability to manage, ie managing people, managing a business and managing problems (in this latter sense, I also joked with my friend that lawyers are also a lot like firefighters in that we quite often have to extinguish raging fires!). Until now, my only experience of managing people was in relation to my clients. However, I have recently had the opportunity to broaden the scope of my remit in this regard in working closely with our newest trainee who is based at our Glasgow office.

On a daily basis, he assists me directly with my very busy workload across the civil and criminal departments. This is the first time I have been able to give direct guidance and supervision to a colleague and it has added another layer to my existing responsibilities, which I really enjoy. It helps, of course, that we have a great working relationship. I remember being a trainee myself not so long ago so I am using my own experience to assist him with his learning.

Effective delegation is crucial to ensuring results; it provides opportunities for the person to whom the task is delegated to increase their learning, as the tasks which are delegated become increasingly complex, and also for the person delegating the task to have more free time to concentrate on more urgent or complex work. To ensure the task is delegated effectively, it requires a continued oversight to ensure it is completed and the results reported back.

This is not to say that micro-management is required. Once a task is delegated, it is important to allow the person the freedom to carry out the work. On the other hand, macro-management isn’t always enough because, in the midst of a busy office environment with other pressing matters to attend to, it can be easy to overlook a piece of work which has been delegated. A simple diary system or file reminder system can be a great way to ensure against either person overlooking a task.

So far, my experience of being able to assist and manage a colleague has been particularly positive given our mutual willingness to achieve results and the wider environment of the office within which we work, which is close-knit. We have colleagues around us who are always on hand to help. All of this, ultimately, is to the benefit of our clients.