It was obvious to everyone but her. A coaching client recently had an epiphany that delegation was the missing link to her success. She knew logically that she should be delegating but just hadn’t found a compelling enough reason to start.
On the face of it, time was the issue, she has a very hectic senior executive role. However, it turned out that the hook for her wasn’t about reducing her load, but the realisation that her team were missing out on the opportunity to learn, practice and grow. This is what she really cared about and valued as a responsibility of leadership.
She realised she had to let her team try, maybe fail sometimes and learn, rather than not give them the chance at all. She realised that she was holding everyone back and getting in her own way.
It may seem obvious when it’s not us in the hot seat, however, this is easily lost when the pressure is on. Delegation often gets put on the ‘should’ shelf, but there’s usually a good reason why people don’t do it.
We have to be motivated enough to go to the effort. Because let’s face it, it takes a lot more time at the front end before you reap the rewards.
It helps to identify the belief about what’s stopping you, as well as what drives you, so you can address your delegation delays.
Here are some of the beliefs I’ve come across that prevent delegation:
1. Time: “It will be faster if I do it”
2. Care – “They don’t have the capacity; I don’t want to burden them”
3. Guilt: “I feel bad for asking”
4. Doubt: “They can’t do it as well as me”
5. Skill: “They don’t know how to do it”
6. Control: “I don’t like to let go”
7. Worry: “I might have to do it again and it will be too late”
8. Pride: “They might do it better than me”
So, my advice is to consider which belief might be holding you back from moving forward and give it a go.