I’ll be candid: Delegation is not my forte.
As a parent, for instance, I’ve inadvertently sabotaged some pretty cool ideas for teaching my kids about household chores because I refuse to relinquish control. If I tackle the task, it’s easier and faster. Plus, I’m picky about how things are done. Sound familiar?
Supervisors often find themselves in a similar predicament. An online article – Why Mastering Delegation is Crucial in the Gig Economy – contends that giving up control can make a big difference with delegation barriers. While the piece, posted by ReadWrite, is targeted to freelancers, the lessons are applicable to any industry or job role.
Interesting takeaways:
Giving up Control
Right now, I have people that do web research and data to support my arguments and narratives around a variety of topics. I have an expert who does motion graphics. I have another editor for videos. Sometimes I need graphs and charts based on the data I’ve sourced to support articles and newsletters. All of these tasks represent someone I’ve delegated to. Someone I’ve trusted to run with my instructions. This is the type of delegation that will allow you to thrive in the Gig Economy.
Conferring Authority on Your Team
The reason delegation is difficult is that it requires you to assign both responsibility and authority to the freelancers with whom you work.
Responsibility is easy. When you hire someone full time, you are giving them responsibility. It’s part of their job description. When you delegate to someone, you are assigning them authority. They can make decisions based on your instructions and your intent. You are trusting them to make the right choices in pursuit of a shared goal, for which you are ultimately accountable. For so many people I’ve met, that is the scariest thing imaginable. … If we’re honest with ourselves, it looks like a threat. We all have that expectation that we are “the only ones who can do this task.” We tell ourselves that we’re the only person who can do it. If we don’t do it personally, it just won’t get done. Or it won’t get done right.
For anyone who has managed a team of people, you know delegating won’t lead to the same end result as doing something yourself. But I’ll bet that you have experience of getting things done through delegation.
No matter the task, you and your team pulled through. And that diversity of thought made the project better. Different doesn’t equal worse. Working with a wide group of people adds new voices and perspectives and helps find new solutions to a variety of challenges.
A Delegation Revolution
To excel at delegation, you need to be clear about what you gain. It is all about your relationship with time. You have to go back and look at all the tasks for this project. What are the trade-offs? What has to go? No matter what you do in life, your time is finite.
Whether you work in the mailroom or the top-floor corner office, you have the same number of hours in a day. You can’t do everything you want. You can’t even do all the tasks you need to do, at least not alone. So, you need to start looking at your life and selecting those items you can delegate out. What can you give up, relinquish all control of, so you can have more time and space?
Symone Skrzycki is the senior communications manager for the Indiana Chamber. She is also a senior writer for the Chamber’s award-winning BizVoice magazine and has been with the organization for 19 years.