William was six months into his new role as a V.P of New Products. “ He is still struggling with how to let go of his former responsibilities and delegate more,” said Lucinda, the division’s president. His team members even validated this, who felt less empowered than before he assumed his new position.
He was trying to “solve problems” for his team members at the expense of building their capability to grow and develop. More importantly, work became overwhelming for William. Doing too much himself was impacting his work/life balance as he told me, “ I am not able to shut it off at night.”
As an Executive leadership coach, I find this a typical challenge for leaders who step into a position to manage a function. The new leader is a worker with department heads and, in many cases, is now responsible for managing their peers. Learning to delegate is a critical skill and separates leaders from individual contributors. Research shows that delegation is highly linked to Organizational effectiveness, · Stress reduction, · Increased motivation, and Job satisfaction. This is even more important as teams are more vulnerable in a virtual work environment.
Why New Leaders don’t delegate:
- Loss of control. Giving up power when they have been the go-to person on essential projects “that’s how I add value.”
- Do not have confidence in team members to “get it right” and lack trust in their staff’s capability to do it well –which “might reflect badly on me.”
- Time –quicker – “doing it myself is just easier” it takes up valuable time of my time to teach someone else to do it
- Do not want to burden others with the work (feel guilty). “I don’t want to ask someone to do what I wouldn’t do, or they are already overburdened and stressed out.”
- It is fun. “I enjoy doing that part of the job – I know I need to give it up; it’s just hard to do.”
Here are a few things you can do:
- Create a say-no list – Is this still important? — “who else can I give this to?”
- Ask yourself, “what would have to be in place for me to feel comfortable delegating this? Is a win for your team a win for you?”
- Have regularly scheduled one-on-ones that focus on outcomes versus process. “What is the expected outcome? Ask, “Can we deliver on this by?”
- Consider how to support and advise: Ask, “what support do you need from me? “Let me connect you with” is there anything I can help with specifically?”
- Communicate the why versus the how. “Here is why it is important.” Providing context is a critical and often overlooked leadership skill.
Unless you can do your team’s work yourself, performance, engagement, and results will suffer. Leaders who delegate create a motivational environment. Leaders who delegate develop people—leaders who delegate become more strategic—leaders who delegate free up time.
You cannot fulfill your potential until you learn how best to delegate.