If you’re anything like me, when you started your business or took on a leadership role, you found it difficult to stop being the 'doer'. Delegating is one of the hardest skills a new leader needs to learn.
I was delegating the wrong way for so long. I knew how I wanted things done but no one seemed to do it to my standard. After a while, I realised I needed to change my approach. Here are the two key changes I made:
Encourage problem-solving
If you are delegating tasks instead of problems, you take away people's ability to think for themselves. This can result in people missing the big picture and stopping before the desired objective is achieved.
Instead, when delegating, give a set objective or a particular problem to solve instead of a series of tasks. This empowers people to problem-solve as issues arise but still results in the target objective being achieved.
Provide guidance
Once you have delegated an objective or a problem, you need to make yourself available. Give advice and guidance as needed but encourage independent thinking rather than providing the answers. The more you do this, the more your team will become self-sufficient.
A commonly used framework for people management is GROW.
Goal: Set one
Reality: What is the current situation?
Options: What can you do?
Will: Get commitment
TAKEAWAY: Delegating is the only way to stop burnout. There's too much work and too many decisions to try and do it all yourself. After learning this the hard way and spending too long delegating the wrong way, I found these tips were life-changing.