Do you find delegation tricky?
When it comes to delegating more, 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?
To learn more, check out our Free Skills Taster over on YouTube: How to Delegate Successfully with Think Productive.
Happy Delegating (and, you’re very welcome)!
Need more delegation skills support?
Take a look at our brilliant inhouse “Delegate like a Productivity Ninja” Masterclass.
Want to round out your own Manager skills to inspire brilliance in your team? You have just a few weeks left to apply to join Cohort One of The High-Performance Manager starting in April.
Our Subject-Matter Experts and Coaches will take you through the fundamentals of good management, from Delegation, Giving Feedback, Time/Attention Management & Prioritisation, your personal style as a Manager and how to role-model Sustainable Productivity. All in the indubitable human-centred, fresh, authentic, thought-provoking, practical Think Productive style. There are only 20 places on this special Cohort.