Delegation Strategies for Collection Agencies

Advice For
In-House
Debt Collection

Del­e­ga­tion Strate­gies for Col­lec­tion Agencies

By Dean Kaplan

Good man­age­ment skills help col­lec­tion agen­cies and com­pa­nies in gen­eral to stay com­pet­i­tive and suc­cess­ful. The term “man­age­ment skills” is a broad cat­e­gory which includes moti­vat­ing, dis­ci­plin­ing as well as del­e­ga­tion. This is the fourth of five arti­cles deal­ing with how excel­lent man­age­ment skills lead to increased suc­cess for col­lec­tion agen­cies and credit departments.

A really good credit man­ager knows how to del­e­gate respon­si­bil­ity to his or her debt col­lec­tors. This is a skill which does not come eas­ily to some peo­ple, because it is easy to fall into the “I can do it quicker and bet­ter myself” syn­drome. The real­ity is that man­agers who del­e­gate well do their own job bet­ter and their col­lec­tors are hap­pier because they feel val­ued and trusted to do their job to the best of their abilities.

Agen­cies and credit depart­ments should ask their man­agers the fol­low­ing ques­tions to ascer­tain whether or not man­agers are del­e­gat­ing appro­pri­ately to their debt collectors:

• Are you doing work that your col­lec­tors could eas­ily do them­selves?
• Are you fre­quently over­whelmed with detail work?
• At the end of the day do you have so much work left to do that you end up tak­ing it home with you?
• Do you work a rea­son­able amount of hours, or are you con­stantly putting in extra time?
• Do you find your­self com­plet­ing impor­tant man­age­ment tasks barely on time or even a lit­tle late?
• Are you spend­ing a lot of time doing things that feel unim­por­tant?
• Does your job feel bor­ing and routine?

If your man­agers answer “yes” to many of these ques­tions, this sig­nals a lack of del­e­ga­tion skills. It is time to teach your man­agers how to del­e­gate effec­tively. When man­agers are del­e­gat­ing prop­erly, more work gets done, and debt col­lec­tors and man­agers feel greater job sat­is­fac­tion. In addi­tion, man­agers who del­e­gate well gen­er­ally move up more quickly in an orga­ni­za­tion. Typ­i­cally, man­agers who del­e­gate well can han­dle greater respon­si­bil­ity and a bet­ter pay­ing job.

Even the Pres­i­dent del­e­gates his duties so he can focus on what's most important

The bot­tom line is that suc­cess­ful lead­ers get things done by sur­round­ing them­selves with hard­work­ing, loyal employ­ees. If a man­ager places com­pe­tent col­lec­tors around him or her, this reflects well on the man­ager. The man­ager shows con­fi­dence in his or her own skills, and con­fi­dence in the skills of the col­lec­tors report­ing to him or her. Ulti­mately, del­e­ga­tion will enable the man­ager to move onto more impor­tant tasks, includ­ing find­ing ways to make the agency or depart­ment run more smoothly and efficiently.Below are some sug­ges­tions for suc­cess­ful delegation:

• Under­stand why it is good to del­e­gate. The objec­tives of del­e­gat­ing are to get the job done, allow you as the man­ager to do more impor­tant work, and enable your agency or depart­ment to ben­e­fit from increased pro­duc­tiv­ity and effi­ciency.
• A man­ager must study his or her own job and iden­tify exactly what tasks can be del­e­gated. The goal is to del­e­gate as much as pos­si­ble, leav­ing the man­ager only with tasks that no one report­ing to him or her can do.
• Under­stand that sub­or­di­nates will make mis­takes. When del­e­gat­ing, be sure to clearly com­mu­ni­cate exactly what the col­lec­tor is expected to do, and be ready to take the blame for mis­takes that are made. A good man­ager has his or her employee’s back at all times.
• Once you have deter­mined what you will be del­e­gat­ing, do it. When del­e­gat­ing, be very spe­cific, and let the col­lec­tor know what author­ity you are giv­ing him or her along with the task. Tell oth­ers in the agency or depart­ment what has been del­e­gated and to who so that there is coop­er­a­tion extended where nec­es­sary to get the job done. Remem­ber, del­e­ga­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion goes hand in hand.
• Follow-up! Even though you have del­e­gated respon­si­bil­ity and empow­ered your col­lec­tors to do a job, the ulti­mate respon­si­bil­ity of the task remains with you, the man­ager. Com­mu­ni­cate fre­quently with your debt col­lec­tors and ask them to sub­mit reg­u­lar sta­tus reports on their progress.

Agen­cies, like any oper­at­ing busi­ness, need capa­ble man­agers and debt col­lec­tors to pro­mote prof­itabil­ity. Man­agers who can del­e­gate respon­si­bil­ity well will be bet­ter able to pro­mote pro­duc­tiv­ity and good morale within their depart­ments. Click here if you missed the first arti­cle in this series Moti­va­tion Is A Key To Suc­cess For Col­lec­tion Agen­cies. Click here if you’re ready to go onto the fifth and final arti­cle in the series Empow­er­ment Strate­gies For Col­lec­tion Agencies.

The Kaplan Group is a bou­tique col­lec­tion agency spe­cial­iz­ing in large (over $10,000) debt col­lec­tions due from busi­nesses. Founded in 1991, the com­pany has a stel­lar rep­u­ta­tion (A+ rat­ing with the Bet­ter Busi­ness Bureau) and is rec­og­nized as one of the lead­ing col­lec­tion agen­cies for results on large and com­plex mat­ters.

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