b'BY: JONATHAN SHAVER, OWNER OF ENVISION PARTNERS, LLC. DELEGATION MIGHT BE YOUR MOST DIFFICULT CHALLENGE YETT ransitions between roles or positions often pass through aIt takes too much time. For some, delegation feels like more stage when you are doing some of your old work and somework. How many times have you said, It would be easier to do of the new work. Because the activities and responsibil- it myself? It only feels like more work because the work that ities are so different, this near doubling of the workload is par- comes with delegating is new work. Its new work to judge what ticularly recognizable for those transitioning from an individualis appropriate to delegate; to teach someone to do the activity; contributor role to a manager role.to clearly communicate your expectations like timelines and Therefore, discussions on time and workload managementquality; and following up to make sure the work was done. In are often one of the first topics in my transition coaching expe- truth, the new work resulting from delegation will collectively rience. Learning to delegate is often an outcome. Delegation isstill take less time than actually doing the work yourself. The more than simply telling or asking someone to do somethingreturn on investment increases with each time that you do not you would normally do. If that was all, then we really wouldnthave to do the activity yourself. You only need to judge once, struggle with delegation. Lets take a look at several aspects ofmaybe teach twice, and eventually, you wont need to follow up what underlies the difficulty of delegation.once they own the work.Giving up control. A barrier to delegation occurs when we perceive delegation as giving up on responsibility, accountability, and control. Delegating an activity to someone else means that it was an activity for which you had the original full responsibility to complete but now someone will be holding you accountable if it doesnt get done. Giving up control means there is a potentialDELEGATION SERVES THE that it will not get done. However, given your current workload, its more likely to get done if you delegate it. However, it willPURPOSE OF LIGHTENING likely be done differently than you would do it. Losing your identity. When we are very good at somethingYOUR WORKLOAD SO THAT or have been doing it for a long time, it becomes part of our iden-tity. Delegating an activity that is part of our personal identityYOU CAN DO THE THINGS feels like giving up part of ourselves. This can feel threatening,THAT ONLY YOU CAN DO and is perhaps the largest internal barrier for not delegating. Perception by others. Even further from being correct, isAND SHOULD DO.the external barrier of believing others will view delegation neg-ativelythat you have given up your responsibility, accounta-bility, control or identity with a particular activity. Or believing, They will think I am lazy. In my experience, your supervisor or peers will not care who does the work as long as it gets done. Do you really believe that we are supposed to continue doing what we have always done and do new work too? Loss of advantage. The lack of ability to delegate can be a Everyone is busy. When it comes to fellow team memberscareer limitation. When we dont teach others how to do our job, or direct reports to whom you would delegate, we often choosewe become indispensable. Thats great, until your skills or role not to delegate because we believe that others are as overloadedare no longer needed. Being irreplaceable also means you are as we are. Therefore, it wouldnt be appropriate to give themlikely to be passed over for new opportunities, because no one more work. They may be overloaded, but if you are willing toelse can do that job. More subtly, if you are overloaded doing delegate to them, they will be more willing to delegate some ofthe equivalent of your old job and your new job, you just arent their work to someone else. If they dont have this option, it isdoing any of them well. important for you to help them prioritize their work in order toDelegation serves the purpose of lightening your workload take on the new tasks you are delegating. Worse yet, they mayso that you can do the things that only you can do and should be overloaded and bored with their current workload. Likely,do. When we dont delegate, we are holding ourselves and others they would love to do something new and more challenging.back from filling our potential. If we fail to delegate we are Your ability to delegate is a growth opportunity for someone else.simply not doing our job. EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 33'