Why am I doing everything? – Delegate!
Depending on when you read this you may never know, but this blog post is late by a couple of days. So was the last one. The justification, or so I tell myself, was that I am too busy with other obligations to get it done on time.
After saying this to myself, I realized that I fall into the same trap of most executives and managers: I think that I can do something different, better or faster than someone else. The challenge is, (even if it were true), there are only 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week in which to get things accomplished (fewer still in a work week). Intellectually I know I need help to get everything for my company done. But something happens between the knowing and the doing.
Why did I not delegate sooner? What stopped me?
I know that I needed help. But being a typical Type A manager, I don’t ask anyone for assistance. I go to the internet to find out the information for myself. (Hmmm, could I be a millennial if I weren’t as old as I am already?) After a bit of research I found a very good article by Harvard Business Review specifically about my issue called, “Why aren’t you delegating?”.
After reading the highlighted reasons in the article regarding why people do not delegate, I rapidly realized that I had yet another reason not mentioned. I simply got so busy “doing” that I forgot to pause, take a breath and ask myself, “Should I be doing this?” It sounds like I am rationalizing my predicament, but I sometimes let work get in my way of doing work.
I stepped back and looked at our company. I realized that every single person on our team is as good or better at what I am doing. Yes, I am fortunate to have a team of colleagues that are amongst the best of the best people from multiple facets of business. What prevents me from delegating to them? Habit. I default to my standard pattern of behavior. We are a very young company and are growing rapidly. We need to address all of the change that a growing company does and will continue to for the foreseeable future. What will it take for me to delegate? To focus on changing the habit. To involve my colleagues where I can. They know what needs to be done, I just need to delegate. Help is there.
How do I do it? I need to look at who is available, has time and has the ability. If they don’t have a commitment with a client, can they help me? We also need to put aside the notion of single role positions and leverage the talent that is accumulated within the team. My colleagues are already asking what they can be doing to help me, so the HBR article is on to something. My team knows I need help.
The author of the Harvard Business Review article suggests to ‘really let go’. I want to embrace this approach… I am taking everything I do and making a list of who I could delegate the task to. I want to get caught up and back on top of my business rather than under it. I had initially worried about my colleagues’ reactions. There was, of course, no problem. The first two team mates I called immediately wanted to jump in and begin helping. They then started to call others on the team. This is exactly what we needed. Things are starting to get done without me having to focus on them and I get my regular updates for progress reports and status.
I think I like this new approach. Delegation does work! Just remember to get others involved which will allow you to unburden your task list. Now I just have to figure out…..”What things do I keep to do myself?”
