DO YOU FIND DELEGATION TRICKY?
Instead of seeing delegating as a win win situation, do you find yourself using excuses like these?
- I don’t have time to explain it or track it. I might as well do it myself.
- I’m just a control freak. (It’s not you, it’s me!)
- I’ve been around the longest, so I’ll just know how to do it better than someone else on the team.
- I feel bad dumping my work on already overloaded colleagues.
All valid reasons, but have you considered what message each of these excuses is sending your team?
- I don’t trust you to understand the assignment or to keep me updated. Also, I don’t want to waste my time investing in your growth.
- I just don’t trust you to do as good a job as me.
- I don’t believe that new ideas can come from anywhere, I’m not open to doing things differently and I may even feel threatened by you.
- I don’t think you can handle it.
It’s time to reframe this messaging because delegating when done well, is WIN-WIN.
YOU WIN
You get to:
1. Show trust and build psychological safety.
2. Nurture a growth mindset culture where people are encouraged to learn, improve and innovate.
3. Give colleagues the space to safely make mistakes and to learn from them.
4. Reclaim some of your precious time back.
5. Demonstrate confidence in yourself (which creates security for the whole team).
Ultimately you end up creating and leading a high-performing team. An organization of thinkers. Looking good my friend.
THEY WIN
They get to:
6. Prove themselves and build trust.
7. Think, problem-solve and figure things out for themselves.
8. Fail, learn, grow, succeed, learn, grow.
9. Experience your excellent delegation role-modelling and take those skills forward for themselves.
10. Feel empowered to innovate, suggest ideas, and experiment.
11. Feel good about themselves, more motivated and engaged.
Trust, growth, innovation, engagement, happy people. And YOU, making the best use of YOUR time. What’s not to love?
Happy Delegating (and, you’re very welcome)!
NEED MORE DELEGATION SKILLS SUPPORT?
Take a look at our brilliant in house “Delegate like a Productivity Ninja” Workshop.