Switch Your Thinking from Delegating to Developing

In the last week I have had several conversations with leaders regarding the challenges of delegating. Over the years I have found this is one of the most difficult practices to learn when supervising others. 

Bosses get caught up believing:

“I can do it a lot faster myself.”

“They’ll never do it as good as me.”

“How can I give them more work when I know they’re swamped?”

If you find yourself agreeing with any of these statements and want to change your belief about delegating consider this:

Switch the word delegate to develop. 

It is your responsibility as a leader to teach and cultivate your staff which you can do by developing them through delegation. When you don’t delegate work you deny others to grow.   

An easy way to get started practicing this concept is to list on a sheet of paper all of the tasks you do on a daily basis. Then draw three columns next to the list.

Entitle the first column Keep Doing – these are tasks only you can accomplish.

Name the second column Stop Doing – these are time wasters that have little to no bearing on your productivity.

Label the third column Give Away – this is the important column – look at each task and think about who you could delegate it to? Who needs to learn and develop a skill so they can take on this task? 

By changing your thinking from delegating to developing and breaking down your workload into the three columns previously discussed, you will be on the road to becoming a leader that is known for cultivating great talent. 

This one is dedicated to Avi and his team at Jarden Solutions: Carlos Christiana, David, and Ray and Diana from Aventura – some of the best growing leaders I know.