Delegation

Republished from 2007

Delegation is a word that is spoken often, yet seldom truly understood.  There are so many ways to delegate. To prepare yourself for delegating, try thinking about these common questions in relationship to your workload.

1. Where do I start?
2. What do I delegate?
3. How do I share my needs?

Start with listing projects and tasks that are no fun.  What takes you the longest to do?  What projects don’t make you money but need to be done?  As you list these out, it’s important to jot down your feelings relating to the tasks and projects too.  This will help you to take ownership of your feelings so that you’ll be able to communicate them with the right person when the time is right.

Delegation is a skill that is not utilized enough.  When you ask any industry leader about how they got to where they are, a common answer is through hard work, dedication and delegation!  No one person can do it all.  That is what makes learning to delegate such an important a part of any professional training.  So important that it equals the actual task specific training.

We are so used to doing everything our self, that learning to trust and delegate can be an awkward skill to acquire. To do it successfully, requires thoughtful preparation and practice.  I recently read a newsletter article by Professional Certified Coach, Vickie Bevenour about delegation.  Her article mentioned that delegation is a skill and as a skill, it must be practiced in order to perfect it.  This is a statement that I agree wholeheartedly with.  Practicing delegating, forgiveness and letting go is useful in business and all areas of life.