Delegate Like A Pro

In my coaching practice, I work with many women who are at the cusp of transitioning from operating on their own to leading capable teams.

They are independent contributors in corporate roles who were recently promoted.

Solopreneurs scaling up to the next level of their businesses.

Project owners taking on high stakes initiatives for the first time.

This is an uncomfortable moment in leadership for many. It requires releasing control. Stepping out of the tasks upon which you’ve built your reputation and moving into the unknown, the uncertain—exactly where you need to be to level up.

In fact, this is where I see many women get stuck on their career paths.

They spend their days in the nuts and bolts tasks and neglect the strategic work.

They micromanage.

They nurture their teams to a point where they protect everyone else’s time above their own.

They overwork themselves into overwhelm.

Whether they come to me after receiving feedback on their leadership style or when they are in a word—depleted—we begin to practice the art of delegation with these steps:

1. Build awareness of the resistance
In order to change your behavior, it helps to understand your motivation. Notice when you are holding onto tasks you know you should delegate and use your curiosity to probe further. What’s blocking you from releasing this work? Is it fear that your team will make mistakes? Or that you won’t be good at the more strategic work? Once you pinpoint your fear, you can acknowledge it and tailor your solution to move through it.

2. Define the tasks that MUST be you
Zero in on your strengths and even better—what is the subset of strengths that also brings you flow? In his book The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks calls this your Zone of Genius.  Once you’re clear on this, work to redesign your role or your business over time so that you are focusing on these things. Everything else is ripe for delegation. In my business, I learned early on that writing, coaching and networking must be me. I made a list of all the things I was doing besides those three and delegated where I could. It freed me up to focus on the areas of the business where I can bring my magic and release those that were draining me.

3. Think about growth for others
What is rote or draining for you can be a learning opportunity for someone on your team. Check in with your team about what energizes them and what they want to learn, and delegate accordingly. Many leaders say things like, "I don’t even have time to train my people." Part of this transition is moving from a short-term to a long-term mindset. Making this a priority now will save you time in the long-term and help to engage that employee you’re developing. And sometimes, when an employee is enthusiastic, he or she will be willing to go the extra mile for you when things get busy.

4. Set time parameters
Often managers fear that if they throw one more task onto their employees, their people will combust. So said managers take it on themselves. First, this may or may not actually be true. Often new leaders are much more protective of others’ time because they want to be nice or liked. One middle ground approach here is to delegate the task, but say, "I don’t want you to spend more than an hour on this." This way, the employee can create the first pass of the task that the leader can then review and edit—a way to cut the time at least in half.

As with most of my work with clients, the tactical components of delegating become easy and achievable once the mindset piece is addressed. On the individual level it requires navigating that inner critic voice that may be saying, "I should stick with the things I know how to do so I can deliver the most value." Or "I must check as many to do’s off my list as possible." While on the institutional level, it requires leaders and companies to think beyond the women on their teams excelling at only productivity and efficiency—getting shit done. It’s also about giving them opportunities to be strategic and innovative—and supporting them through this uncomfortable and yet expansive moment in their careers.