The 7 Tasks that Cannot Be Delegated

Following my article on 22 April 2014 about the 7 Truths in Management, the part on Delegation attracted the most comments. In our management training, we often emphasized 7 children: the 7 Tasks that Cannot Be Delegated. They are like your 7 children, if you abandon them, you're abdicating them. That's sinful!

Giving Authorization. This is very obvious, you cannot delegate approval and authorization, thus you have to sign documents yourself.
Strategic Planning. You can get consultants to help you, but at the end of the day, you must select what strategy to take. When it comes to planning, you can delegate the details to your subordinate, but the overall master plan must come from you.
Praising People. You can delegate scolding, but compliments have to be dished out by yourself. If you are afraid that your hair will stand when you praise someone face to face, you can do it via electronic ways. But no matter how busy you are, a manager's job is to inspire motivate and lead people, thus you have to praise people yourself.
Showing Care and Concern for People. You cannot ask your staff to call the person on your behalf to express your care and concern, for sincerity is most important in giving out such love.
Taking the Blame. Yes, you can delegate taking credit but taking blame must be shouldered by you and you alone. We know that bosses are the problems, and all great bosses are the first to take the blame and last to take the credit.
Apology. Apology has to be done at the highest level or it has no effect at all. That's why Ms Pak, President of South Korean, has to personally apologize for the ship's fatal accident that killed 200 people in April 2014.
Delegation. This is most important, for you cannot delegate delegation. That means that at the end of the day, you are still responsible even though you have delegated the entire tasks! Like Apple Inc. has outsourced its manufacturing to Foxconn, but it has to be personally responsible when a fire broke out at Foxconn's factory.

The Secret Under the Mattress: Why would a 79-year Man Bet So Big on 4D?

It was 2007 when we discovered his secret. While moving my father’s mattress, we found them: heaps and heaps of Singapore Pools 4D tickets. They were stacked in layers, a paper trail of lost hopes. What shocked us most wasn’t just the volume, but the stakes. He wasn’t betting a few dollars for fun. He was punting hundreds of dollars per draw—nearly ten times a month. At the time, my siblings and I were furious. Our father was a 79-year-old retiree. We wondered, with a mix of anger and confusion, why a man at his stage of life would need to win such "big money." What was he going to do with the money? We saw it as a reckless habit, a sign of poor judgment in his final years. Some of us would say, "If I were to give him money to buy 4D, why don't I use the money and buy 4D myself? At least I have better discipline". It has taken me two decades, and the experience of raising my own three grown-up children, to finally see the truth that was hidden under that matt...

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How to Use Zoom Cloud Meetings Effectively

(Read also How to Secure Your Zoom meeting ) Other than Zoom Cloud Meeting, you can use other video conferencing platforms like Google Hangouts, Skype and WeChat Video Conference. Zoom is the most popular because it is free and is easy to use, especially on the phone . Here's how you can use Zoom effectively: Use a laptop, not your phone or tablet, especially when you are hosting a meeting. On a laptop, you can see everything: the PowerPoint screen that you are sharing, video of all participants and the group chats. You can easily type on a laptop and this is useful when you are translating or doing detailed explanations. The host of the zoom meeting should mute everyone at the settings and only unmute them when they speak. Participants can indicate that they want to speak by raising their hands before speaking Use earpiece or headsets or wireless earbuds so that you have a better concentration of the voices in the meeting and not be d...

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