Why The Best Leaders Delegate
Unless you want to be a frazzled leader, it’s worth the effort to delegate!
As a leader, you have your limits. I know you would like to believe otherwise. You may be attempting to do more than is realistic for a variety of reasons including…
- Control issues – you don’t want to feel out of touch with what’s going on, make sure tasks are done right, or done the way you would do them.
- Trust issues – you doubt your team’s ability to execute with excellence, fear they aren’t dependable, or you can’t shake being let down when you’ve delegated in the past.
- Experience – when you’ve previously had the roles under you, you know exactly what and how things should be done so you are quick to jump in.
- Perfectionism – you have incredibly high standards leaving your people feeling like they won’t complete what they’ve been given to do well enough.
- Fear – It feels safer to do what you know how to do rather than stepping into the unknown areas a leader is responsible for and that only you are in a position to do. Or you may fear may be that if you delegate certain responsibilities, you will become replaceable.
- Lacking time to reflect – because you perpetually putting out fires, you are unable to step back, analyze situations, get the right people in the right places, and strategize around handing tasks off. As a result, you aren’t actually leading.
- Mindset issues – believing you don’t have the time to delegate, you equate being “hands-on” as being valuable, or you think that seeking help is a sign of weakness.
- Lacking the skills – Unsure of how to delegate well, what to delegate, or who to delegate to.
- Misconceptions – thinking that as the leader you need to have all the answers, do all the work, and essentially keep it all together rather than collaborating with the team in a way that frees up time for you to pour into what only you can do.
If you don’t address the reasons you aren’t delegating, you will eventually burn out!
A Chaotic Conductor
Imagine going to see your local symphony orchestra play a selection of music you adore. You settle into your seat and wait for the show to begin. The curtain raises to reveal the conductor and some eighty musicians with their instruments.
The conductor taps his baton on the music stand and then begins to gesture dramatically. The musicians are poised and ready. The conductor begins wildly waving the baton and then races to a musician, snatches their instrument, and begins to play.
Of course, it’s impossible to play and simultaneously wave the baton so the baton is parked on a music stand.
A few moments later the conductor picks up his baton, picks up the tempo of the selection, and then grabs another instrument from one of the musicians.
And the behavior continues throughout the piece.
Not only would the conductor’s behavior be distracting, your favorite piece of music would suffer as well.
A conductor’s job is to select the right musicians, manage the timing of the piece, and interpret the mood, phrasing, and more to produce a compelling performance.
A conductor unwilling to delegate and attempting to simultaneously conduct and play the instruments at the same time is a dramatic scene to picture! However, when a leader struggles to delegate it creates a very similar experience. The best leaders delegate!
With that scene in mind, I trust you are motivated to making the effort to improve your delegation skills so you can delegate better!
Here are eight more great reasons for delegating because I’m guessing you want to…
1. Reach Goals!
As a leader, your goal is to reach the goals of the organization. Attempting to do it all is exhausting and it diminishes your chances of reaching those goals.
If you resist delegating and while trying to accomplish more, not only is that unsustainable, but it also prevents you from truly leading! The same is true if you are a solopreneur and trying to do it all!
Leading isn’t about you successfully doing it all, it’s about how well you guide, coordinate, and collaborate with your team to successfully reach goals.
2. Enjoy the Journey
When overwhelmed, it’s tough to enjoy life! There’s no time to devote to what matters most to you in life including the treasured people in your life. There’s no time to breathe, relax, or make space for those life-giving activities that fuel you and enable you to lead from a more filled up and creative place.
3. Save Time & Money
A big deterrent to delegating is the up-front time it takes to communicate your expectations, train, and follow up. There may even be a few missteps along the way that feel time consuming. That’s a shortsighted perspective.
Delegating is like any investment. It takes time for it to pay off, but it does pay off in the long run saving you time and money so that you are able to do the high-level activities that contribute to your success as a leader and the success of your organization.
In the end, you’ll be ahead and able to accomplish more if you invest on the front end.
4. Enabling Others to Learn and Grow
When you hang onto tasks or responsibilities you are robbing others of the opportunity to learn and grow which holds them back in ways that end up hurting them, you, and the organization!
Providing opportunities for those under to gain new areas of expertise only enhances and expands the potential for the team. That’s powerful!
As a business owner, parent, or teacher, you are a leader. Leadership isn’t about a title. How might you create learning opportunities for your employees that would benefit them and help you? How about you parents? Teachers?
5. Focus On Less
The saying “less is more” is spot on. Your capacity is limited. Concentrating your efforts on what only you can do and what best utilizes your strengths is more productive. There’s no reason to dilute your efforts and stretch yourself so thin.
If you want to have a significant impact, focus on less!
6. Make Better Decisions
When you are tapped out and lacking the time to consider issues carefully, your decisions suffer. However, delegating frees up space to think through and make better decisions and that’s critical for a leader!
7. Reduce Stress & Burnout
I don’t know anyone who intentionally seeks out more stress in their life! It’s motivating to step up and delegate knowing that it lessens your load, alleviates stress, and protects you from burnout.
8. Increase Trust
Letting go and handing off tasks requires trust! Trust in your people and trust in God. Do you have faith that God will work out the details if you begin delegating?
There will be mistakes and tasks may not get done your way. They may even have some fantastic ideas on how to do things better! And you’ll want to rely on God in greater ways which is a good thing!
Meet Christy
You are not alone when it comes to the delegating dilemma. I worked with a gal I’ll call Christy. She knew the ins and outs of her job – I’m certain her wide range of knowledge and strong work ethic contributed to her being promoted to manager.
New to her managerial responsibilities, Christy continued to do many of the tasks she was responsible for prior to her promotion because it was too difficult for her to set clear expectations and offer feedback – crucial aspects of delegation. As a result, she was really struggling in her manager role.
If Christy had been willing to stretch, work on her communication skills, and share her wealth of knowledge with those under her, imagine the difference it would’ve made! Not only would she have expanded her skills, she would have also multiplied herself as leader!
Meet Carson
Carson was a leader responsible for overseeing a sizeable organization. He readily admitted he was a control freak and that he actively resisted delegating. His quirky personality and authenticity were very appealing and as a result he naturally attracted capable people who were eager to take on responsibilities.
Rather than hand off the tasks that were bogging him down, Carson hung on to them. After all, you want things done right, right?
Unless Carson embraced the value of delegating, he would ultimately spread himself too thin and deprive others of being able to contribute in valuable ways.
When people can’t contribute in significant ways they move on. That leads to turnover that keeps an organization from growing and thriving.
Delegating is a skill, and like anything, the more you do it the easier it gets!
How easy is it for you to delegate?
