In section 1 and 2 we have already looked at how to assign tasks for people with epilepsy and how important it is in this context to understand the needs of the entire team to create a respectful and pleasant work atmosphere. In the long run, the goal for organisations may be for employees to organise tasks themselves. In doing so, employees can align with their individual needs and preferences. This means that an organisation is evolving towards a more self organised way of work.

Every organisation should be open to the concept of self-organisation, amongst other reasons they can distribute decision-making responsibility across many shoulders. A holistic approach that understands inclusive leadership as both the development of people and organisations is important for this. Leaders can become more effective again if they focus on decentralisation, shared responsibility, and collaborative decision-making. Leadership today is always inclusive.

How can an organisation evolve into becoming more self organised? How can team members, both people with epilepsy and the rest of the team, self-organise and assign tasks independently and thereby be successful? This requires encouraging employees to take ownership and act responsibly. The Erasmus+ project INCLUDE can provide valuable support in this regard by offering a handbook with 27 tools to help organisations self-organise in the age of digitalisation.

One of these tools is the “Delegation Board.” It can support the process of enabling people with epilepsy, just like other team members, to take responsibility and self-organise their tasks.

To encourage a team to assume greater responsibility, delegation should involve entrusting decision-making and goal attainment in a manner comprehensible to all. This approach enables team members to exercise their judgment within pre-established boundaries and learn from their own mistakes. Delegation in the sense of delegation board does not mean handing over tasks and goals to other people, only for you to then supervise it later. This approach is typical of traditional top-down management. Delegating responsibility in the sense of delegation board means handing over responsibility for the final result and encouraging employees to act independently. You can reach this goal if you determine the levels of delegation together with your team.

The first decision revolves around the extent of assumed responsibility. Delegation doesn’t necessitate an all-or-nothing approach, wherein you either oversee every aspect or delegate entirely. Instead, you can opt for a more nuanced approach. By selecting a delegation level that aligns with the individuals and the specific situation, you enhance your team’s engagement, encourage their development, and unleash their potential – benefitting both you and your team members. The delegation board provides a framework for determining the appropriate delegation level, allowing you to consider factors like the leader’s competence and maturity, the team’s capabilities, task complexity, and the business environment. With the delegation board the delegation of tasks can be visualised in a way that everyone can understand. This is done by differentiating between seven levels of delegation, from direct instructions through to the highest level of handing over control, where a leader is no longer involved at all. The nearer a team gets to this seventh level, the further they are on their journey towards becoming a truly self-organised team.

The seven levels of delegation: There are interim steps between control and unlimited trust. Delegation board differentiates between seven levels of delegation. These steps help leaders who struggle to hand over control to structure the process of ‘letting go’. At the same time, team members who previously had to or wanted to shoulder littler to no responsibility are impelled to accomplish more for the whole team.

Figure: INCLUDE – Handbook, p. 376f

In levels 1 to 3 the responsibility for making the decision lies with the leader. In level 4 everyone is equally involved in the decision. In levels 5 to 7 the team or individual team members assume the decision-making responsibility. On the delegation board you can easily recognise visually the extent to which the responsibility for the decision moves away from the leader on the right to the team or the team members on the left.

Example for a filled in Delegation board:

Figure: INCLUDE – Handbook, p. 375

Task: Develop a delegation board for your team

Start by answering the following question: why do you want to use the delegation board? There are various appropriate ways of putting it to use. Several of the following aspects usually come together.

  • You want to clearly define the relationship between you and your team members that you are delegating tasks to.
  • You want to determine the responsibilities within your team from scratch.
  • You want to define the boundaries of individual team members’ responsibility.
  • You are not sure of the extent to which your team or individual team members are able and willing to take on real responsibility. You therefore need a flexible and easily adjustable tool.
  • You would like to lighten your own workload and / or that of some of your team members.

Create a list with the decisions and tasks that you would like to assign the responsibility for together with your team and with the help of the delegation board (left-hand column). Do bear in mind that in the form displayed here you as a leader are the only one with the power to decide which decisions and tasks should be regulated by the delegation board and which should not. You could also decide, however, to pick the individual decisions and tasks together with your team members. This is particularly well suited to teams that already have a certain level of maturity and experience at managing themselves.

Keep a written record of what exactly should be decided for each individual decision or task. This makes it clear for all participants what is implied in the brief description in the left-hand column of your delegation board. These explanations also make it easier to integrate new team members. It is particularly important to clearly define what a task entails in organisations where most decisions have been made by the leader. This is the only way to ensure that your team members have a thorough overview of the consequences of each of the decisions. This will equip your team members to play a competent role in discussing how responsibility should be redistributed. If you create the list of decisions and tasks together with your team, then you can use the discussion about the various positions to ensure that everyone understands the specific tasks in the same way. In this instance the results should also be recorded in writing so that everyone can understand them.

Finish by creating a list with the names of everyone who can or should take on responsibility. This list will include the names of all team members, you as a leader, individual clearly defined roles within the team, or the entire team (with or without the leader).

Organise a team meeting and ensure that all team members can attend. Good opportunities to start working with the delegation board are the integration of new team members or the start of a new project. If you are already convinced that the delegation board is a useful tool then you shouldn’t wait for one of these opportunities, however.

Explain to everyone in the team what the delegation board is and why you have decided to suggest that the team should work with this tool. Focus on showing the advantages that using the delegation board would have for your team, for each individual team member, and for you as a leader.

Explain the seven levels of delegation and how they are different from each other. Think about some examples that are easy to understand and have a link to your daily work in the team. You could also use the resources that we recommend below, including an explanatory video.

Together with your team, you now need to determine an appropriate level of delegation for each decision or task in the left-hand column of the delegation board. It works best if you prepare a flipchart with post-it notes for this. If you are conducting the meeting online, then there are tools such as Miro (see resources below) that work well for this. The decision-making process will then go as follows:

  • All participants will state which level of delegation they think is appropriate.
  • You will discuss the arguments that speak for or against the suggested level of delegation and try to reach an agreement.
  • If you cannot reach a consensus, then you as a leader have the decisive vote.

The results should be depicted in a way that they can be easily accessed both physically and virtually by all participants.

For further information and tips on the day-to-day support in using the delegation board see the INCLUDE handbook, p. 373ff.