ART-2846-E-1564327

https://dx.doi.org/10.15581/002.ART-2846
I
f you were the CEO of your company,
would you let the managers below you
make an important decision that would
affect the future not only of a certain
division but of a significant part of the entire
company?
ThatwasthequestionthatI(CarlosGarcía
Pont) once asked a group of 180 executives of
a multinational company with operations on
five continents who had gathered to develop
their plans for the next year. In the course of
ourdiscussion,itcameoutthattheyhadspent
the past three years trying to change a corpo-
rate culture that they felt was overly central-
ized. How could they get the management to
delegate more?
They began to discuss an actual situation
concerning a management decision that pro-
foundly affected everyone. It was in that con-
text that I posed my earlier question, to which
half responded yes and half said no.
To those who said yes, I asked a follow-up
question: “If you didn’t like the decision the
managers below you had made, would you
subsequentlychangeit?”Seventypercentsaid
they would.
Then I took it further: “Would you like to
work for someone who lets you make deci-
sions but then changes them whenever those
decisions are not to his or her liking?” Eighty-
six percent said no.
To the other group of managers who had
By CARLOS GARCÍA PONT and J. IGNACIO CANALES
DelegateResponsibilities
& Go Beyond the Task
MOTIVATINGYOURSELF&YOURTEAM
DEEP
insight
15ISSUE 29 SECOND QUARTER 2016IESEinsight
ThisdocumentisanauthorizedcopyforpersonaluseofMr.GarcíaPont,05/07/2016

Delegate Responsibilities & Go Beyond the Task
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originally answered no, they would not del-
egate such important decision-making to
lower-level managers, I asked them: “Would
you like to work for someone who did not let
you make important decisions on your own?”
Seventy percent said no.
I have repeated this poll a number of times
with various groups of executives, and the re-
sults are always pretty much the same, leading
tothesameoverarchingconclusion:essential-
ly 70 or 80 percent of managers would not like
to work for someone like themselves, which is
another way of saying that most managers dis-
like their own management style. They don’t
think they could delegate precisely that which
they themselves believe deserves to be del-
egated to people like them.
Unless you are at the top of the hierarchy,
most managers will find themselves caught
in this conflicting position. On the one hand,
theyknowwhatitfeelsliketohavetocarryout
the tasks delegated to them by senior man-
agement; on the other hand, they don’t allow
those below them any meaningful freedom
of action. They are carefully monitored from
above, yet when they have the chance to del-
egate to those below, they do so reluctantly,
checking up on them to make sure the action
they take is the one they want, and changing it
if it isn’t. This position – of being both victim
and instigator – raises dual sets of questions.
(See Exhibit 1.)
As professionals who must answer to
those above us, how can we transform the
situationwefindourselvesinandgobeyond
the mere task we have been given? How can
we claim some of the autonomy that we feel
we deserve?
As managers responsible for people in
our teams, what can we do to facilitate the
same experience for our employees? How
can we help them become masters of their
own areas of responsibility, so that they
end up feeling more motivated and engaged
rather than deflated and undermined?
In either case, a fundamental change of man-
agement style is required. This article – based
on research, teaching, consulting and a recent
TEDx Talk delivered on the subject – will help
point the way.
Earning the Right to Contribute
Perhaps the best place to start is to think of
what you yourself can do. What must you do
to win the freedom of movement to go beyond
the basic tasks that correspond to your par-
ticular job? What must you do to enjoy the au-
tonomy necessary to become a master of your
own area of responsibility within the wider
context of your organization?
Three requirements are necessary: doing
your own job well, understanding the busi-
ness and realizing your wider contribution to
it. (See the sidebar on The Art of Managing.)
1 DOING THE JOB WELL THAT PERTAINS TO YOU
Although it may seem obvious, you must do
your job faithfully and reliably, so you become
Unless you are at the top of
the hierarchy, most managers
will find themselves caught in
a conflicting position, hav-
ing to carry out certain tasks
delegated from above, while not
delegating to those below, and
where no one experiences much
freedom of movement. In the
face of this reality, a change of
management style is required.
Based on research, teaching,
consulting and a recent TEDx
Talk delivered on the subject,
this article shares the keys that
will help readers earn the trust
of senior management, enabling
every person to convert his or
her tasks into more enriching
responsibilities. The authors
suggest the necessary manage-
rial and organizational condi-
tions to do so. If people begin to
look beyond the goal of simply
checking off tasks, and instead
focus on each person’s personal
and professional development,
this paradigm shift will bring
benefits for the organization as
a whole.
EXECUTIVESUMMARY
How can we transform the situation we find ourselves
in and go beyond the mere task we have been given?
How can we claim some of the autonomy that we feel
we deserve?
16 SECOND QUARTER 2016 ISSUE 29 IESEinsight

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known asan executivewhoalwaysfulfillsyour
duties.Inotherwords,youhavenorighttotell
otherswhattheymustdo,ifyourownin-boxis
cluttered and overflowing with unmet obliga-
tions and commitments.
In every business, there is the temptation
to want to involve yourself in other people’s
work, instead of getting on with your own.
Even if your unsolicited advice is valid, it may
result in someone not getting their job done.
That is why you must demonstrate that, first
and foremost, you are a responsible person
who can always be counted on to fulfill the
job that you have been given and to do it well.
Here we run up against the duality of manage-
ment: fulfilling your own tasks while being
A Dual Role
MOST MANAGERS FACE THE PROBLEM OF
DELEGATION FROM TWO PERSPECTIVES:
THEIR BOSSES REFUSING TO DELEGATE TO
THEM, WHILE THEY THEMSELVES REFUSE
TO DELEGATE TO THEIR SUBORDINATES.
EXHIBIT1
TO OVERCOME YOUR MANAGER’S
RELUCTANCE TO DELEGATE,
YOU MUST:
Perform all your assigned tasks
efficiently and reliably
Focus on the responsibilities
involved in performing the task
If both sides make
improvements in these aspects,
each person will feel a greater
sense of ownership over his
or her own work. People will
begin to look beyond the goal of
simply checking off tasks, and
instead focus on each person’s
personal and professional
development. This paradigm
shift holds positive implications
for the organization as a whole.
responsible for making sure others fulfill
theirs.
For this to happen, companies and those
who manage them must ensure that everyone
does exactly what they have to do. This entails
certainpreconditions:knowingwhatyouhave
to do, knowing whether you are doing it well
and knowing how to improve it.
KNOWING WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. All too often,
despite all the time and effort invested in se-
lecting and hiring qualified people, we fail to
dedicate equivalent time and effort inducting
themintotheirposts.Wemaysuperficiallyex-
plain the job functions and then hope people
willbeprofessionalenoughtoassumetherest.
Although the way you communicate with
each member of your team will vary according
to his or her rank and role, what they all must
have in common is a crystal-clear understand-
ing of their job objectives and the exact nature
Do I understand the business
context and make sure others
do, too?
Do I take ownership of my area
of responsibility within the wider
context of the business, and help
others play their part, too?
Do I look for the responsibilities
in the tasks given to me,
and the areas of development
for others?
DO I HELP PEOPLE
UNDERSTAND THE
BUSINESS AND ITS
STRATEGY?
DO I TRY TO GO BEYOND
MY OWN TASK AND
MAKE A WIDER
CONTRIBUTION TO THE
BUSINESS AS A WHOLE?
DO I GIVE TASKS OR
RESPONSIBILITIES?
TO LEARN TO DELEGATE TO
YOUR EMPLOYEES,
YOU MUST:
Adopt a more open leadership
style
Empower your employees,
so they can work in a more
autonomous way
DO I MINDLESSLY
PERFORM TASKS
OR ASSUME
RESPONSIBILITIES?
CAN I EXPLAIN
THE BUSINESS AND
ITS STRATEGY?
DO I ENCOURAGE MY
COLLEAGUES TO GO
BEYOND THE TASK
AND MAKE A WIDER
CONTRIBUTION TO THE
BUSINESS AS A WHOLE?
THE MIDDLE POSITION

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oftheircontributiontothesuccessofthebusi-
ness. Otherwise, you will end up with an unco-
ordinated team in which no one knows his or
her job or contribution.
KNOWING WHETHER YOU ARE DOING IT WELL. The
frenetic pace of day-to-day operations can
leave managers with little time to provide the
individualized feedback that each team mem-
ber needs. Employees need to know whether
they are going in the right direction. And they
need to know it on a regular basis, not just
once a year at their annual appraisal. There
also need to be mechanisms in place to help
employees work out any problems they might
have, and help them get back on track.
Though hardly anyone would dispute that
positive feedback improves performance,
surprisingly few companies actually develop
programs aimed at improving managerial rec-
ognitionofemployees’work.Communication
lines between managers and employees need
to be two-way, with managers making it clear
that they are open at all times to suggestions
Carlos García Pont is a
professor in the Marketing
Department of IESE. He holds
a PhD from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, an
MBA from IESE and a degree
in Industrial Engineering from
the Polytechnic University of
Catalonia (UPC). His work
emphasizes the importance of
alliances in understanding com-
petitive strategy, the organiza-
tional needs of market-oriented
organizations in industrial mar-
kets, and subsidiary strategy in
global corporations.
J. Ignacio Canales is a Reader
in Strategy at the Adam Smith
Business School of the Univer-
sity of Glasgow. Previously he
was a senior lecturer of Strategy
at the University of Glasgow
Business School. He began his
academic career as a lecturer in
Management at the University
of St. Andrews, after obtain-
ing his PhD from IESE Business
School. His research interests
focus on the strategy-making
process and its effects on orga-
nizational members, topics on
which he has published widely.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
and constructive criticism. After all, you are
unlikely to win the commitment and engage-
ment of people if they sense that their opin-
ions are not valued or welcome.
KNOWING HOW TO IMPROVE IT. If we enrich our
work and that of those around us, we con-
tribute to the company’s progress and to the
personal and professional development of all.
Thechallengeisintransformingtasks–clearly
defined and assessed – into responsibilities.
Doing this forces employees to reflect on the
work they do, which in turn can lead to change
and improvement.
Take what typically happens in a hotel. The
people responsible for cleaning the rooms re-
ceive training that specifies each and every
one of the tasks they must perform, from the
moment they enter the room to the moment
they leave it. Like computers, they are pro-
grammed to follow instructions to the letter.
As such, whenever they enter a room, they
automatically begin to go through each of the
tasks on the list and check them off as they
complete them. Their work is perfectly laid
out in a formalized to-do list. If they perform
each task properly in the defined order, their
supervisorcanrestassuredthattheroomswill
be ready for the next guests.
But what about the people who clean the
rooms? What do they think? They know their
work is done if they do what they are told, in
thecorrectorder.Tocertifyit,theirsupervisor
passes by each room after it has been cleaned,
pen and list in hand, to check that all the tasks
have been performed correctly and, if not,
to reprimand subpar work. As a result, each
member of the cleaning staff knows exactly
what he or she must do and does it well. The
problem with this approach is that people’s
work is reduced to completing a checklist of
monotonous tasks.
Some of us might resign ourselves to the
fact that some jobs are boring, and somebody
Employees need to know whether they are going in
the right direction. And they need to know it on a
regular basis, not just once a year. There need to be
mechanisms to help them work out any problems.

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has to do them. But let’s say that one day the
supervisor decided to introduce a new ele-
ment to the job, by giving the checklist the fol-
lowing title: “Turn the hotel room into a home
for the next guest.”
With this simplest of gestures, the tasks
suddenly take on a much larger meaning.
They stop being an end in and of themselves,
and become a means to an end. The tasks are
transformed into a responsibility: to make the
guests feel at home in this room.
Withthisgoalinmind,eachoneofthetasks
becomes a brick in the construction of that
1. DOING THE JOB WELL THAT PERTAINS TO YOU
People will assume greater responsibilities if:
each person knows what those responsibilities are.
there are mechanisms in place that enable people to know
how well they are fulfilling their responsibilities.
the organizational environment provides opportunities for
improvement.
2. UNDERSTANDING THE BUSINESS
People need to understand the strategy, the business model
and what the key activities are in relation to the value
proposition, at both the unit and corporate levels. If people
don’t have a common understanding of the shared business
aims, they won’t be able to exercise proper discretion
concerning which actions are appropriate to take.
3. REALIZING YOUR WIDER CONTRIBUTION
Are you dedicating too much time to second-guessing
other people’s decisions? Or do you set the parameters
and let people take more decision-making responsibility for
themselves?
The Art of Managing
Grasping these three basic features of
management will add real, lasting value.
home. It empowers the worker to assemble
the bricks in a different order, or even to posi-
tion an extra brick if it is felt it will contribute
positively to building this feeling of home.
At the same time, all the minor improve-
ments that each individual introduces into his
or her work processes can be shared with the
rest of the team so as to optimize the quality
of the overall product or service offered by the
organization.
Thefundamentaldifferencebetweenman-
agingtasksandmanagingresponsibilitiesisin
our mental attitude. When we manage tasks,
we do them one after another; we check them
off as we perform them until the job is done.
Whenwemanageresponsibilities,bycontrast,
wehavetothinkaboutwhethereachtaskisbe-
ing approached in the best way to fulfill the re-
sponsibility we have been given.
As many studies show, a job that demands
thought and reflection is usually more satis-
fying than one that is performed by rote. Bear
in mind that if your team members perceive
their jobs as boring, their capacity to innovate
or add any value to the business will be nil.
2 UNDERSTANDING THE BUSINESS
It is not enough to know the difference be-
tween tasks and responsibilities. We must
put it into context so that people understand
their tasks or responsibilities in relation to
the business.
Understanding the business goes beyond
mere operational information. If your busi-
ness was production, for example, you would
need to understand orders, specs, deadlines
and other data to plan workflows. In a perfect
world, with no ambiguity, that might be all
you would need. Alas, that is not the world of
business.
Managers have to make decisions in con-
texts of ambiguity and uncertainty, making
value judgments and trade-offs that are not
A job that demands thought and reflection is usually
more satisfying than one that is performed by rote. If
your team members perceive their jobs as boring, their
capacity to innovate or add any value will be nil.

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one-size-fits-all.Forthisreason,weneedcon-
textualinformationtoassessthecircumstanc-
es. To understand any business, this is basic.
As managers, we need to communicate the
businessmodel,thewayinwhichthecompany
contributes to society and why we are able to
do it better than other companies – in other
words, what the strategy of the company is,
how we organize ourselves to carry it out, and
what resources and capabilities we are en-
dowed with, which are unique to us and allow
us to do things better than the competition.
As subordinates, we must understand the
business model that we aim to develop, what
our key activities are in relation to that, and
why we expect customers to choose our value
proposition over another firm’s.
Consider athletes: before going out onto
the field, they need to know which sport they
are going to play. If it’s soccer, they need to
know if they are going to play an attacking
or counterattacking game, with deep strikes
or slowly building momentum. Likewise, the
particular playing field of your own company
will help define your work.
To develop a clear understanding of the
business, we must ask ourselves the following
questions. (See Exhibit 2.)
WHAT DO WE SELL? We need to know what our
value proposition is, which will define the
product or service we develop and which cus-
tomer segments we target.
In the hotel example, it is important to
know if you are working in an establishment
that merely aspires to offer clean, basic ac-
commodation, a home away from home, or a
luxury stay. In each case, the proposition and
the target customer will be very different.
Whichever it is, the management needs to
communicateitinsuchawaythatthemeaning
employeesderivefromtheirworkispositedin
the company’s mission, vision and values.
HOW IS THE VALUE CHAIN CONFIGURED? Our
work is always part of a complex, intercon-
nected organizational framework. The lo-
gistics chain (how we do things) is not just a
matterofprocedure;itiskeytoorganizational
decision-making.
Likewise, decisions on how the value chain
should be configured are not the exclusive do-
main of the operations department; they have
vital strategic organizational implications.
Think of all the roles a hotel’s general man-
agermustperform,fromaccountsandcostcon-
troltoservicequality.Heorsheisalsoincharge
ofattractinggueststothehotelaswellaschoos-
ingwhichservicesandprogramsfromthevalue
chain to offer. Each business model will bring
with itasignificantlydifferentvaluechain.
The Right Questions
ALL MANAGERS SHOULD ASK THEMSELVES
THREE QUESTIONS THAT WILL DEFINE
THEIR ROLE IN THE COMPANY.
EXHIBIT2
HOW IS THE VALUE
CHAIN CONFIGURED?
Are we aware of the
particular way we
do things to deliver
on our value
proposition?
WHAT DISTINGUISHES
OUR VALUE CHAIN?
What makes us
different? What sets
us apart from the
competition?
WHAT DO
WE SELL?
Are we clear about
what our company
does and its value
proposition?
Whatever the value proposition is, the management
needs to communicate it in such a way that the
meaning employees derive from their work is posited
in the company’s mission, vision and values.

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WHAT DISTINGUISHES OUR VALUE CHAIN? This
is the most difficult question to answer, since
identifying the most important goals driving
thebusinessisnoeasytask.Butwithoutaclear
answer, a company risks becoming just more
of the same.
Just as we associate Zara with the “fast
fashion” business model, Apple with innova-
tion and Xiaomi with the capacity to adapt
and competitive pricing, we must be able to
identify which of our own assets sets us apart
from the competition. If we can’t explain to
our colleagues and employees what makes us
different, how can we possibly convince them
to contribute more to the company beyond
performing the simple tasks they have been
assigned?
3 REALIZING YOUR WIDER CONTRIBUTION
When we complain that our managers don’t
delegate, we can do one of two things: hope
they wake up one day and give us all the rec-
ognition we think we deserve, or get them
to do so. Make no mistake: if you opt for the
first approach, you could die waiting. No mat-
ter how true it may be that you could vastly
improve the way things are done if only they
recognized your capabilities and allowed you
to contribute more, imperfect organizational
realities mean that your brilliance will prob-
ably go unnoticed unless you opt to do some-
thing about it.
This is where personal initiative comes in.
You have to be willing to go beyond the task,
to create an environment in which people are
encouragedtoreflectonanddefinetheirwork
beyond what it says in the job description. In
thisway,boththeorganization,andthepeople
who make it up, grow and flourish.
If the success of the hotel, for exam-
ple, is determined by the extent to which
guests feel at home, all employees – from
the CEO to the cleaners – must view their
You can influence how your piece contributes to the
whole. This means seeking excellence not only in your
individual area, but in other units, too, so that everyone
develops and achieves complementary goals.
contributionsthroughthatprism,aspartofthe
global strategy of the company. And if the best
practicesaretransferable,everyonehasthere-
sponsibility to share them with the rest of the
organization.
You may not be able to change the value
proposition as given, but you can influence
how your piece of the value chain contributes
to the organization as a whole. This means
seeking excellence not only in your individ-
ual area of responsibility, but in other units,
too, so that everyone develops and achieves
complementary goals.
ConsiderthecaseoftheSpanishsubsidiary
of a German multinational. It made constant
operational improvements to its production
processes, which translated into substantial
cost reductions and an improved bottom line.
But it didn’t stop there. Since many of the
components used in its manufacturing pro-
cesseswereassembledinotherplantsinother
countries, the Spanish company adapted its
strategytocoordinateitsprocesseswiththose
ofitsaffiliates,goingsofarastorelocatesome
of its staff to those other plants.
Moreover, it identified two ways to im-
prove competitiveness. The first – to develop
newprojects–waskeytosurvivalintheindus-
try. The second was to drive the industrializa-
tion of those projects, and achieve excellence
in the assembly process.
Thankstothissubsidiary’sself-determina-
tion to go beyond the task and take on greater
responsibilities, it set itself apart, and eventu-
allyalltheotherunitsadopteditsapproach.In
addition, a manager of this subsidiary was put
in charge of new launches at the global level.
The subsidiary could have made do with
fulfilling its assigned objectives, consisting
primarily of “producing components effi-
ciently.” Instead, it identified opportunities
to improve the value chain, to develop stra-
tegic capabilities that could be transferred to
others, and to support the entire company’s

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n Watch the video “Going Beyond the Task” in
which Carlos García Pont defines the mindset
needed to understand how to transform tasks into
responsibilities, which he delivered as part of a
TEDx event held in March 2016 at IESE Business
School in Barcelona. https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=NtYxsb56GKE
TO KNOW MORE
progress by innovating in both product and
market development.
In doing so, not only did it contribute to its
own business and bolster its own strategic po-
sition, it also undertook responsibilities that
went far beyond the original tasks it had been
assigned.Indeed,itassumedarangeofnewre-
sponsibilities that helped make both the unit
and the company more competitive.
At the same time, this capacity to take on
newresponsibilitiesprovidedthesubsidiary’s
employees with the opportunity and space
to drastically rethink their roles and grow
professionally.
It Depends on You
In surveying executives about their current
level of job satisfaction, we have repeatedly
heard them voice the same reasons for their
dissatisfaction: “My values don’t match the
company’s,” “I don’t feel appreciated” and “I
can’t see any chance of developing myself at
this company.” For them, the grass is always
greener someplace else. None of the problems
is of their own making; it’s always someone
else’s fault.
While there is always room for improve-
ment in any organization, there are things
that each individual can and should take re-
sponsibility for, to try to resolve certain issues
at individual, group, departmental and divi-
sional levels. How many times have you heard
someone in sales complain about production,
or someone in purchasing moan about the
finance department? Internal frictions like
these can degenerate into a demoralizing at-
mosphere for everyone, making it difficult for
the company to progress.
To turn this situation around, we must
first provide the tools and context for people
to take ownership of their own work. This re-
quires open organizational cultures in which
managers fulfill their own obligations while
encouraging collaborative efforts among
employees for the benefit of the entire com-
pany. It means putting the right systems in
place, so that people know exactly what they
have to do and how to do it. We have to make
sure people are performing well, and continu-
ally encourage them to do better.
If we can transform our tasks into respon-
sibilities, we will change the very nature of
our work. What was once boring will become
stimulating. And gradually that transforma-
tion will begin to infect the people around us.
Perhaps,intheend,wemightevenbecomethe
boss we would like to have.
While there is always room for improvement in any
organization, there are things that each individual can
and should take responsibility for, to try to resolve
issues at individual, group and divisional levels.

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