In the first of a two-part podcast episode about delegation, LZ and I share how a leader can know it’s time to start delegating, the obstacles they’ll face, and how to develop trust with other team members, including contractors and employees.
We’ll also talk about the myth of the “superhero ideology” and why “I’m fine” just doesn’t always cut it.
Here are some takeaways we shared:
1. Delegation is a leadership skill.
Delegation allows you to multiply your efforts and results as a leader. When you delegate, it allows you to help develop and empower other people.
Delegating effectively frees you up to do what you are the best at doing without getting – or staying – caught up in the weeds. If you’re buried in tasks that aren’t the best use of your time, that’s something that someone else could be doing for you.
Time-consuming tasks can be delegated. For example, you can delegate 80 percent of a research project and reserve the final 20 percent for your review and approval.
It’s also helpful to create a feedback loop. You don’t just accept subpar work. Everyone wants to know how they’re doing and how they can improve.
As leaders, you should do this, too. Humbly ask for feedback from your team after you delegate to them so that next time it becomes easier and your trust continues to grow.
2. If you're the bottleneck, it's time to start delegating.
If people are always needing you, and there are 20 other things that still need to be done, then it’s time to find a way to pass that responsibility on to someone else.
You should trust the people that you’ve hired, so allow them to grow by passing off the things that you simply cannot do anymore.
And if you’re sending a good amount of emails that start with ‘Sorry for the delay,’ then it’s time for you to delegate more tasks.
And don’t forget that you can delegate in your personal life as well as your professional life. Identify the tasks that you enjoy and feel accomplished when you can check them off the list, and delegate the rest.
3. Learn the 70-percent rule.
The “superhero belief” tells you that you can do it all. If this is true for you, then you may find a lot of your self-worth in the amount that you can handle. However, if someone can do the job 70 percent as well as you can, it’s time to hand that job off.
That is an opportunity to teach someone else how to do it, knowing that their 70 percent will get better. It might take a little time, but this will free you up in the long run.
It’s important to keep in mind that when you delegate a task, you have to be willing to hand over the entire project and not step back in. You should delegate the end result, and trust your team to take on the rest.