Stop Being A Control Freak!
It’s better when you do things yourself, right?
After all, you accomplish tasks better and faster than your teammates do. You can’t trust them to create the same high-quality work you do. So why not do everything yourself?
Because it’s a BAD idea, for the following reasons:
- Your team won’t learn anything.
- You automatically shut yourself off from their valuable input.
- You’ll be overworked and stressed.
- If the work quality is good, your teammates will get undeserved credit.
- If the work quality is poor, you’ll be an easy target to blame.
So what’s the solution?
Delegate.
So how do you delegate tasks to your teammates?
- Eliminate. There are some tasks that don’t need to be delegated because they are unnecessary minutiae that isn’t part of the big picture.
- Know your team. What is each members strengths and weaknesses? How high is their willingness to learn?
- Start delegating the routine tasks. Start by assigning the simple tasks such as research, typing, collecting paperwork, etc. Since these tasks are less intimidating, people will be more comfortable to take them on.
- Be clear about the expected output from each member. Clear as in written down in black and white, so that the team has something to refer to when judging if expectations were met.
- Check progress, but not details. Get an update on how each member is doing, but don’t tell them how to perform their tasks. Offer your help whenever they need it, but don’t intrude on their process.
So the next time you hear yourself saying…
“I can do it better myself.” or “He/she isn’t qualified, so I’ll take on this task instead.”
Stop and delegate.
Photo Credit: Image from Vangelis Thomaidis from stock.xchng
