Improve Your Communication Skills, 2nd Edition

themselves relating to it. Does it fit with other
responsibilities that they currently carry? Can they see 
it as an opportunity to grow and develop new skills? 
Examine, too, the standards of performance. Are they 
appropriate or attainable? Would training be necessary? 
• Supply
. Explore with the jobholder the opportunities for 
taking on this new task. This is joint problem solving 
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102 Improve your Communication Skills
again, looking at the new arrangement in terms of how 
it might work, how you might help and how the 
interviewee might make the work more their own. 
• Part
. Now make your request a formal one. Give 
timescales or deadlines, as well as conditions of 
satisfaction: standards or targets to be achieved, how 
you will monitor progress and check for success. 
Make it clear to the delegate that they have four possible 
responses.
• They can accept the request and make a commitment. ‘I 
promise that I will do 
x
 by time 
y
.’ 
• They can decline. They must be free to say ‘No’, while at 
the same time being clear of the consequences of a 
refusal. 
• They can decide to commit later. ‘I’ll get back to you by 
time 
z
, when I will give you a definite response.’ 
• They can make a counter-offer. ‘I’m not willing to do 
x
; 
however, I can promise you that I will do 
w
 (or maybe 
part of 
x
) by time 
y
.’ 
The result of this interview should be a clear commitment by the 
delegate to action: to the task originally intended for delegation, 
to part of the task, to another task, or to refusal. 
In accepting a newly delegated responsibility, the delegate 
must be clear about three limits on their action: