HOW TO: Deal with your reluctance to let go of things.
There are many good reasons to delegate, and it doesn’t happen as often as it should. Why not? Why don’t managers do what they say they’ll do? They can come up with a whole list of “reasons” why they don’t want to delegate, but all of them can be disproved. If you’re going to be a good manager, you have to trust. It would help if you did this.
1. Find the time to let someone else do something.
A time management problem isn’t just an issue with delegation. If you don’t delegate because you are too busy to do so, because the project is too hard to explain, or because you don’t have time to train someone, you have both an assignment and a delegation problem. Remember that smart delegation saves time.
2. It’s also important to accept the fact that other people could do it just as well as you could.
The perfectionist thinks that “no one can do the job as well as I can,” but that’s not true. Doing the job yourself isn’t going to help you in the long run. Nobody else has learned how to do it. In the long run, your abilities and energy can make it hard for you to delegate and help your staff grow.
3. Accept that other people may make mistakes.
Besides, do you think that your subordinates might mess up the job?
Everything goes wrong at some point. Skills training, counseling, detailed instructions, and so on can help you avoid making the same mistakes again, but you don’t have to stop people from delegating. Your employees should also be able to go, and the cost should be seen as a way to help them grow as employees.
4. Don’t put your ego first.
To get credit from your boss, do you try to do all the important things yourself? Do you worry that your subordinate might do too well and make you look bad? Do you think that by giving the job to someone else, your chances of getting a promotion might even get worse if that person does well? In the event that I can’t get my subordinates promoted, should I be promoted as well?
5. Let go of the things you like to do on your own.
Managers are usually promoted because they are good at and enjoy certain jobs. Indeed, some managers enjoy working all hours of the day and night. They feel a need to put their own stamp on all projects. But managers are paid to run things, and running things means delegating. Because you enjoy doing the things you do, it’s hard to give up what you enjoy doing.
6. Do not do it yourself.
As a new manager, do you want to keep making decisions related to your old job? By focusing on your current tasks and letting others do your old work, you will be able to do more for the group.
7. Improve your skills. Trust your subordinates.
Perhaps you aren’t sure how well your staff can do their job. This lack of trust is usually not true. Make sure you know what each member of the staff can do. Then you’ll find that many people just need a chance.
8. Be more open to the ideas of other people.
Not at all. You’re just not an obstruction in the system. Managers must be able to welcome the ideas of other people and be ready to plant their own ideas in the minds of their employees and praise them later for their ingenuity.
9. Don’t be afraid that you’re going to lose control.
Only insecure managers are afraid that they’ll lose control of their empire, even their job, if subordinates are trained to do more work through delegation. Those fears don’t make sense. Because of this, people and the company won’t be able to reach their full potential.
10. You should believe that delegating is not a sign that you are not strong enough.
There is still more to learn about managers. If you’re afraid, you’ll be criticized for “passing the blame” every time you delegate, you need to know that managers get criticized all the time. That’s part of a manager’s kit. As long as you don’t have these fears, you can delegate freely and well. Delegation is not a sign that you are weak. Not delegating is, in fact, a bad thing for management.
11. Get rid of any fear that you’ll be disliked.
They worry about being unpopular or disliked by their staff if they put too much work into the system. Leaders who get good or great reviews from their staff are the ones who delegate the most. Make sure you delegate to your staff because they want you to do it. Most people want to feel important to their company; they want to be given an important job to make a difference. To make things worse, you might not let them help you.
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