52 Leadership Tips- #8

The Art of Delegating

If you use Google, and you Google 'The Art of Delegating" this is what you would get: Results 1 - 10 of about 99,100 for the art of delegating. (0.17 seconds)

Maybe in a few days my post will make it 99,101. But, let me continue... Delegate. Yes, I agree that you need to do it, yes I think that it is hard, yes it will allow you to focus on what you really need to focus on, yes you will achieve your results in less time, yes, yes yes. And frankly bla, bla, bla. This is nothing new, and really nothing that you don't or should know already. But, there is the nugget that I want to leave you with:

Delegating is not just releasing or assigning a task. Webster is missing something:

Main Entry: 2 del·e·gate
Pronunciation: -"gAt
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -gat·ed; -gat·ing
transitive senses
1 : to entrust to another <delegate authority>
2 : to appoint as one's representative
intransitive senses : to assign responsibility or authority

Delegating is 1) physical 2) mental/emotional. Everything that I read about is physical. Assigning a task, releasing and entrusting to another, but that is the easy part. The hard part is what I have struggled with for years, it's the emotional connection to the task. To effectively delegate you must release the task or project completely and no longer hold on to it emotionally. Listen to this:

"My experience observing managers and acting as one myself squares with both stories. My most successful acts of delegation occurred only when circumstances, such as a serious automobile accident or a hectic travel schedule, forced me to let go. On the other hand, my biggest botches, despite my pure intentions, occurred when I only "sort of" let go." -Tom Peters

Let go, physically and emotionally when you delegate. Don't wait until your in a car accident to get this right.  Surround yourself by a team you can trust and trust them. If you don't your stress level with go thought the roof, and anxiety can set in.