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Despite delegation being one of the most powerful tools a manager can and should leverage, many avoid it due to their own discomfort with the idea as well as the fear of how it might be perceived by their teams. We'll dive into various delegation strategies in future issues. Today, we're focusing on common myths and excuses that many leaders I've coached have raised for not delegating.
Myth: Delegation is a way for me to push-off unwanted work on others.
Delegation is a way for you to focus on your priorities while simultaneously developing your team. It is not about desired vs. undesired work, but rather ensuring that the right items are being worked at the right level. If one of your directs is capable of doing a task that you are currently responsible for, it is economically responsible to do so.
Myth: I can't delegate [task], because the employee won't be as proficient at it as I am.
Employees won't be as proficient as you at first, but delegation is about strategic long-term benefits. As long as you help to coach and develop them on the task, they will be come as proficient (maybe even more) than you.
Myth: It's just easier for me to do it in the first place.
It's only easier for you short-term, but you are sacrificing long-term efficiency and hindering the growth of your team.
Myth: I don't want to risk me or the employee getting in trouble if something goes wrong.
You are always responsible for work performed in your areas, which is why it is critical that you coach and develop the employee on this task just as you would their day-to-day work. Additionally, you are still accountable for delegated work, so your employee should not be at risk.
Myth: I'm just waiting for the right thing to delegate. I don't know what to delegate.
You likely have several responsibilities that you could delegate today. While letting go of responsibilities can be hard, there is no benefit to putting it off another day. Start small, pick a couple items and go from there.
Myth: I've already started working on [task], so I'll delegate the next thing.
See above. Don't wait for the perfect right thing to come up. Delegate what you already have. As long as it's not a project that's wrapping-up in the next couple days/weeks, there's little reason to wait.
Myth: Both me and my team are too busy. They don't have time to take on any additional work and I don't have time to coach them through it.
You are likely too busy because you are not delegating. While we are all busy, you will be surprised by the capacity and creativity that your team can leverage to ensure we're all working on the right things. This might even mean that they delegate some of their tasks or that the organization stops doing certain low-value tasks altogether.
This Week's Action Items:
The format was a little different this week, but there are still some action items that you can take away…
Identify one or two of the above myths that are preventing you from delegating more.
Identify one thing that you can delegate this week that will help disprove the myths you identified. If it helps, it can be something relatively low-stakes just to get you started.
Delegate that item to somebody on your team.
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