You’ve heard the phrase, “Get it off your plate—delegate!” It’s a nice phrase for those of us to justify passing off work, isn’t it? However, in an organization, delegation is a much more serious challenge. Market demand dictates that no deadlines can be missed; you miss a deadline, and it may affect the bottom line. In the case of quality management systems (QMS) and environment, health, and safety (EHS) management systems, missed activities can have an adverse effect on quality and safety, something that cannot be tolerated in organizations today.

As a result, we have backup roles, cross-training, and delegation rules in place to ensure that if someone is out, or is not able to complete their tasks, the work still gets done. In the case of QMS and EHS management systems, these delegation rules are often built into the system. This automates the process of assigning tasks and enabling the process to get completed without relying on one single person for any step. However, there are some best practices when looking at delegation management, especially those within an automated QMS or EHS system.

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