Are you delegating this?
When we talk about improving delegation skills, we almost always focus on task delegation. While this focus is undoubtedly important, it's not the only thing we can (and should) delegate as leaders.
Thanks to a helpful recent tip from leadership expert Bobby Powers, I was prompted to address two other critical areas of delegation that are often neglected in this week's video.
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One leadership skill that I really struggle with, and I suspect you might as well, is delegation. And the truth is we typically struggle with this because of arrogance. We trust ourselves more than we trust others. We think that we can do all the things better than others. And so we hold on to it.
Now, on top of this bigger problem/challenge around delegation is also a challenge within.
Let's say I am trying to grow in my delegation abilities, trying to do it more frequently. Well, we often are kind of narrow-minded in terms of what we can delegate. And I was reminded a couple weeks ago by an email that I received from one of my favorite thought leaders in leadership, Bobby Powers. He reminded me in that email that delegation includes more than just delegating tasks, right? That's what we think of first. Oh, I'm going to delegate more. So what are the tasks I can pass off? And he reminded me, well, no delegation it includes tasks, yes, but we can also delegate meetings and decisions.
And so my question for you today is, in addition to the tasks that you can pass to an employee, to a team member, what meetings do you no longer need to attend? Who can you send in your place? And then also, what decisions do you need to delegate? Sometimes we just pass the task, but we retain ownership of the decision making, and that really stifles the employee's opportunity and ability to own the task holistically. How can you pass the decision making power as well?
So take a look at what's on your plate and what are the tasks and meetings and decisions that you can consider delegating to others on your team.