Delegate like you have cancer
This talk from Laura Vanderkam is not only witty, it’s such a valuable perspective. https://www.ted.com/talks/laura_vanderkam_how_to_gain_control_of_your_free_time
Delegating Against my Will.
Around the time I saw this video for the first time I had a serious health issue and had to have surgery. The health issue was made worse by the fact that I kept putting off a follow up appointment after some bad test results because work was so hectic and I wanted to grow my career. (Tangental PSA: Get your pap smears, breast cancer screenings, prostate checked, and colonoscopies people. Don’t put them off!) I didn’t have time for pesky cancer. But when I had to take a few days off for a procedure, I absolutely had to delegate and move some things back. I delegated with the dedication and diligence of a woman trying to pretend she wasn’t sick. That is to say, in that moment, I was in the middle of the live action masterclass of all masterclasses. When I got back into the office, nothing had fallen apart. Not a single thing. My team and my peers were completely competent and didn’t need me to keep things moving. While that was humbling, it was also informative. It made me ask the questions, “what else can I delegate?” and “who exactly can I delegate to?”
Delegate the Whole Pie, not just pieces.
Delegating entire bodies of work served me, the person getting the work, and the company so much more than delegating parts of work. Give away the whole thing, not pieces. It gives someone full ownership which typically translates to them doing higher quality work because they are more invested. In turn, you don’t have to check in on progress as much and don’t have to put pieces together at the end which also improves the quality and cohesiveness of the work. This is also when I learned that I can delegate to people who don’t report to me. What a super power! Identifying someone who is really good at a particular type of work or interested in it and just asking them to help can be a life line for you and for the person helping. (Just make sure you are asking that right person and asking for help and not demanding they take your orders and peers tend to be happy to jump in with you.)
Ask More Questions.
Each week, I started looking at my calendar and list of deliverables asking:
If I were super sick, what would I delegate vs. move back vs. keep?
Does any of this work actually fall into the scope or purview of another team/person/department?
Who else can do this?
Who can do this even better than me? (This one can be humbling. Who has a gift, skill, or talent that is underused because you aren’t letting them do the thing? And how much could you, the person, and the company benefit from letting people do what they are awesome at?)
Who would get joy out of doing this?
By taking entire bodies of work off my plate, I was able to then focus on the things I was best at and enjoyed the most while also giving the people around me more ownership and the ability to work on what they were good at which increased the quality of the work the company got out of us as a team overall. Everyone won.
Just start.
When someone is new to delegating or struggling with it, I challenge them to delegate half of their current to-do list. There is usually a ceremony of disbelief, followed by pushback, then comes reluctance. But once they give it a try most people find they can typically delegate 30-60% of what is currently on their plate. What could you do with just 30% more capacity? Over time it means that the person practicing this gets more and more on their plate that fits in their skill set and at their highest level of competence. When this is a regular practice over several months it gets to the place where only 5-10% of the work can be delegated which is a sign that the team is working at a more optimal level. How would your work day be different if you were spending 90% of your time and energy on the things you are best at?
