Stop Trying to Do it All: Leaders Delegate!

Many women I speak with think it’s quicker and better to do things themselves rather than taking the time to delegate tasks and projects to someone else. Sadly, this may be hurting your leadership impact and reputation more than you think.

I get it. It quite possibly is quicker to do it yourself!

And no doubt no one else could possibly do it as well as you do 😉

But let me ask you this…

Does your CEO do everything themselves? Have you ever seen a CEO working late into the night entering data into a spreadsheet or fiddling with a PowerPoint slide, so it looks just, right?

No! If they did, they would have no time, energy or mental capacity to set the strategic direction, guide their senior leaders through high level problems, or make the decisions that only they can make.

Successful senior leaders have got to where they are, in part, through their ability to delegate all but the most important, high impact, high value tasks and projects.

And before you tell me that you feel guilty offloading your work onto others, let’s think about what you’re not getting to because you are hanging onto pretty much everything.

Do you have a project that’s been on your to do list for months without much progress?

Do you have an underperforming team member that you’ve been hoping will somehow, finally pick up their game so you don’t have to have the difficult conversation with them?

Or do you feel anxious all the time because you know that you’re spread way too thin, which means your work is not up to your usual standard?

These all require YOUR attention. No one else can or should address these issues.

So, here’s the thing…

The quickest and most sustainable way to do the true work of leadership more consistently is by creating the space to lead!

That’s why delegating effectively to others is one of the first places we focus when we are looking to free up your time and energy.

And it’s one of the foundational strategies I focus on with my clients.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking “I’ll just do this myself and get it done,” but every minute you spend on a low-level task is time you’re not investing in high value work … that only you can do!

So let me ask you this. Do you really want to keep struggling to get to the real work of leadership?

Or are you ready to step back, let go and trust others to pick up some of the load?