Stephen R. Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Eff People pdf

Delegation: Increasing P and PC
We accomplish all that we do through delegation -- either to time or to other people. If we
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delegate to time, we think efficiency. If we delegate to other people, we think 
effectiveness. Many people refuse to delegate to other people because they feel it takes 
too much time and effort and they could do the job better themselves. But effectively 
delegating to others is perhaps the single most powerful high-leverage activity there is.
Transferring responsibility to other skilled and trained people enables you to give your 
energies to other high-leverage activities. Delegation means growth, both for individuals 
and for organizations. The late J. C. Penney was quoted as saying that the wisest decision 
he ever made was to "let go" after realizing that he couldn't do it all by himself any 
longer. That decision, made long ago, enabled the development and growth of hundreds 
of stores and thousands of people.
Because delegation involves other people, it is a Public Victory and could well be 
included in Habit 4. But because we are focusing here on principles of personal 
management, and the ability to delegate to others is the main difference between the role 
of manager and independent producer, I am approaching delegation from the standpoint 
of your personal managerial skills. A producer does whatever is necessary to accomplish 
desired results, to get the golden eggs. A parent who washes the dishes, an architect who 
draws up blueprints, or a secretary who types correspondence is a producer. But when a 
person sets up and works with and through people and systems to produce golden eggs, 
that person becomes a manager in the interdependent sense. A parent who delegates 
washing the dishes to a child is a manager. An architect who heads a team of other 
architects is a manager. A secretary who supervises other secretaries and office personnel 
is an office manager.
A producer can invest one hour of effort and produce one unit of results, assuming no 
loss of efficiency. A manager, on the other hand, can invest one hour of effort and 
produce 10 or 50 or 100 units through effective delegation. Management is essentially 
moving the fulcrum over, and the key to effective management is delegation.