Welcome to issue #22 of Pondering Leadership: A Deliberate and Thoughtful, Yet Informal Look at Leading and Managing. Welcome to my new subscribers! Thank you for your interest in my content.
Last week, I wrote about lists of things that need to be updated annually. It is always nice to have a fresh start in the new year with updated lists and dates that work better for us. Today, I am writing about delegating. We don’t have to do everything ourselves. We really don’t.
How many times have you thought, “I don’t have time to do this task, yet it would take me longer to train someone to do it than it would to just do it myself.” Many times, that can be true. But, not all of the time. I am sure you have items on your to do list that could be passed to someone else. There are a few good reasons why you should delegate.
It gives your staff an opportunity to grow. If you have someone who has been doing a great job completing their work fairly quickly and easily lately, it might be time for them to be challenged. It is good to keep staff engaged and giving them projects that will allow them to learn is smart.
Great ideas that are not in your lane. Did someone suggest an idea that would be great for your organization, but it is not in your area of expertise? This is a good opportunity to see if someone else has experience in that area.
Not great ideas that you do not to want to bother with. Did someone above you or on your level make a suggestion that does not really fit with what you do, but you cannot say no? Let someone else look into it. They might be able to find an angle you had not thought of.
Ideas you are not sure about that someone else could take a crack at. Why not let someone else explore a new idea? Who knows what someone else might come up with.
Who Wants a Fun Excel Project?
That question worked one time. The person who raised her hand quickly found out it was not a fun project. But, she was ok with it and helped me out every month with some data reporting I needed for my board packet. To whom should you consider delegating?
If your organization is open at night or on the weekend, pass some of your work on to people working the desk during those times. I wanted to send out a new member welcome email but didn’t have time to think about writing it. One weekend, two of my top people were working both weekend days. I assigned them to write it. They each wrote drafts on Saturday. On Sunday, they worked together to combine the two. It was a really good letter. I added a couple things, and I had my new member welcome email with minimal work on my part.
Do you have a slow season? If you have a really busy season and then a slower season, give people a break for a bit. Then, delegate some projects that they can use different skills to produce.
In many workplaces in the states, it is slow for people working during the December holiday season. This is another good time to delegate some projects you did not have time for during the year.
Your Turn…
What are some projects or tasks that you have delegated? To whom have you delegated? You can comment in discussion.
Thank you for reading issue #22 of Pondering Leadership. I hope to see you next Thursday afternoon for issue #23 when I will write about emergency procedures. Thank you for reading and supporting my writing.
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