When stating that project leaders should have more authority delegated to them, most organizations react negatively. The traditional way of running organizations is very limitative in delegation of authority. There is, however, a good fundamental reason why delegation should be increased when tackling large, complex projects: delegation is the adequate response to the required agility. In our new White Paper 2012-15 we investigate why, and how this authority delegation should be implemented in project organizations.

Let’s take some time to appreciate an amusing contradiction here, in particular in the realm of large, complex projects. The organization leaves the responsibility of project leadership to a person, knowing that project failure can have dramatic effects on the organization (complex project failure can easily lead to very substantial losses of an amount comparable to the project value, i.e. several hundred million dollars). At the same time, the organization often requires external approval for expenditures above a few hundred thousand dollars!

In summary, you can’t give the keys to your Ferrari to your project leader and them ask him to ask permission every time he would like to exceed 30 kph!!

Be consistent with your stand: you give someone responsibility for executing a project which would cost hundreds of millions if it were to fail. Give the project leader the possibility to take the required decisions in an agile manner to succeed!

In project environments, where agility is a requirement, delegation is not just a competitive advantage, it is a must. Understand why, and how to best implement delegation, in our new White Paper 2012-15.