Barriers to delegation

I have yet to meet a leader who disagrees with delegation in principle. In practice, all sorts of mind traps get in the way. Here are a few of my favorites:

I can do it better/faster/smarter.

This may be true for now, but if you’re the head of an organization or a team, it shouldn’t be true forever. Pick a specialty. If you’ve been promoted to leadership because you were the best litigator, chemist, architect, writer/editor, salesperson… congratulations. It is no longer your primary responsibility to deliver the thing you know best how to deliver.

Instead, you must now develop others to do that thing as well, quickly and intelligently as you did – if not even better.

This is going to be a frustrating experience on occasion, and it’s going to require some time. (See the next item.)

I don’t have time to explain it.

The quickest way to get the thing off your desk isn’t always the best way. If you’ve ever found yourself doing the cost-benefit analysis of just answering the question or executing the task versus handing it off, pause. Doing it yourself because it’s faster is the perfect way to ensure you’ll always be doing it yourself.

Instead, invest in that explanation. Invest in the guidance you’ll need to offer when it’s not quite right the first time, or even the second. You’ll get your time back and then some.

I don’t trust them to do it.

One of the leader’s most important jobs is to have the best team in place to move the organization’s mission forward. Easier said than done. We often inherit staff, or find ourselves subject to a hiring freeze. (I once spent nearly three years in a high-level leadership position without being able to hire a single direct report.) It’s easy to react to a situation like this by hanging on tightly to work.

Instead, start with trust first. Empower your folks and assume they can deliver. You’ll face disappointments on occasion, and you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.

I want to share the load.

You might feel guilty for how hard everyone else on the team is working. If you’re understaffed and they’re overworked, you don’t want to add to that burden by piling on even more. The manager of a grocery store will sometimes jump on a register to get the checkout lines moving. Why not just roll up your sleeves and pitch in, until we get through crunch time together?

Instead, consider whether crunch time may never be over. And you’re probably not managing a Safeway. If an occasional, largely symbolic attempt to help your team isn’t enough, pause. Perhaps you should dedicate your energy to the fundraising or internal lobbying process that could yield an extra position or two. Or to pushing back on unreasonable demands from upstairs.

It feels beneath me, but it shouldn’t.

Ages ago, I volunteered for a minor presidential campaign and got to meet the candidate himself a couple of times. I remember being surprised that he carried his own bag when he traveled, never wanting to seem (or feel) too important to do this himself. Jimmy Carter famously did the same thing.

There is feeling too important, and there is realizing you need some help. You’ll probably get to a point where some menial task is just out of reach for you, and you’ll be slightly embarrassed to ask for support.

Instead, know that providing this support is likely someone’s job. They’ll succeed by helping you succeed. And the organization or team you lead is more likely to succeed as a result.

After all, the President never runs out of toilet paper.

What stands in the way of your ability to delegate?