Delegate: Help for Overworked Managers
High aspiration people – who don’t delegate – work themselves to oblivion. They don’t see how they hinder the team.
People newly promoted often struggle to delegate. They hang on to their old job and do their new job.
What causes managers to work too hard?
#1. Compassion.
Misplaced compassion is over-protective. Some people don’t put weight on people because they don’t want people to feel stressed. Over-protection insults talent.
#2. Distrust.
Workaholics don’t delegate because they don’t trust people.
#3. Skill.
They earned a promotion because they’re good at the job. The new person seems incompetent compared to the work they did. An under-delegator does other people’s work because other people don’t do it right.
7 things to say to people who don’t delegate:
- I have a job for someone on your team. Who is best suited to take this on?
- When they say, “I’m going to …,” challenge them to explain what the team will do.
- Dig into weight. “On a scale of 1-10 how heavy is each team members load?”
- Send them to their team asking, “On a scale of 1-10 how heavy is your load? What makes you say that?” Explore weight.
- Teach them to stop saying yes to everything. “How can you learn to say no?”
- How is doing it all yourself serving you?
- How is doing it all yourself serving the team?
You may need to say some of these things to yourself.
Joy:
Effective delegating brings joy to everyone. People enjoy contributing in new ways. Put weight on competent people so they can shine. They enjoy stepping up when it serves their aspirations.
Warning:
When you delegate cheer progress, don’t tweak. Don’t improve on someone’s work when they’re doing good work. Choke your tweaker back, if it’s good work. Make room for learning.
How did you learn to delegate effectively?
What are some secrets to learning to delegate?
Still curious:
Delegate: A New 5-Step Approach
How to Delegate Effectively: 10 Tips for Managers
Excellent post. I have been guilty of “misplaced compassion,” but I have gotten much better. Leaders have to remember to have compassion for themselves as well as their team.
It’s easy to do. I wish you success on the journey.
The next step is after delegating tasks to not take on new ones in their place!
Good point, Jennifer. Also , it’s useful to make time to equip and encourage others so they have capacity to carry weight.
Over-delegating can also be a problem.
Some leaders over-delegate to their superstars. They know their A-performers will do a great job and hit the ball out of the park. However, overloading your top performers causes stress and burnout. Even worse, your top performers may start resigning and move to your competition.
To avoid over-delegating, use a chart to list what you have delegated to each person.
Thanks Paul. Great point. I had written something about over-delegating but had to cut it to keep within my 300 words. Glad you brought it up.
I came at from a lazy leader perspective. People resent leaders who delegate because they’re lazy.
Thanks Paul.
I’ve noticed the “favoritism” effect in always going to top performers. This can push non-high performers out of the loop and a downward spiral can result. How have you been successful in balancing who you delegate to?
Delegating used to be one of the hardest parts of my new promotion. I didn’t want to “burden” others with more work, so I did it, and I was burning myself out.
It took a friend in the company to tell me to slow down and she asked me for more responsibility and trust. I didn’t know how to do that yet, so I got started by reading books on leadership, experimenting with a skills matrix and creating an Eisenhower matrix that worked for our new dynamic.
In the end, I realized I was the problem. And with some training and actual development of my team, I was able to let go of many tasks and through that experience I began trusting my team to get things done. The best part was they began trusting me, because they knew I would give them tasks that could challenge them without it being a burden.
Most people want to do well. They want to develop their skills while learning new ones. As leaders, its our responsibility to provide that for them.
Wonderful illustration. I’m so glad you shared your story, Keala. Love how you made the journey transparent. I had a recent coaching session where I said, “You’re people would stand and salute if you just ask them to do something.” This leader is respected and loyal to her team members.
I wish you continued success.
Thank you for the kind words. Your blog was one of the resources that helped me find my inner leader. I look forward to reading it in the years to come.
“Warning: …Don’t improve on someone’s work when they’re doing good work …”
Want to know how to kill success? Correct it!
> Been there/done that – not going back again!
Great lists and observations. Hard to pick a favorite question in the article. One question I ask is: What is behind your reluctance to delegate?
Another area of focus is the clarity of the agreement on what is being delegated. There can be no accountability without clarity on what is being delegated. Great leaders are masters of moving from ‘expectations” to “agreements”.