From the desk of Grace Lange,
Do you trust yourself to make good decisions?
Do you trust those around you to make good decisions?
How about delegating? Is your fear of imperfection holding you back?
A few weeks ago, Kelsey had mentioned to me that she needed help with a project for one of her networking groups…
She didn’t give me many guidelines, so I just took it upon myself to come up with some ideas.
Kelsey often puts many things in my hands without giving me much direction…
She trusts me with a lot of things and has the opportunity to delegate some tasks to me that stretch me.
I recently asked her if it was hard to trust me to do the job to her standard…
She responded by explaining to me that delegation is one of the hardest things you will have to do as a business owner and boss…
Perfectionism is a battle that we both struggle with, so allowing someone else to take over something that ultimately has your name behind it is scary.
Delegation allows for imperfection, but it also allows something very beautiful to happen…
“When I delegate things to you, it gives me more time, allows you to learn, and it brings creativity and new ideas to our company, but it takes practice to get there.” Kelsey added.
It takes trust.
Trust is one of the most important aspects to any relationship, especially at work.
One of my favorite quotes goes like this:
“If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.”
– John C. Maxwell, American author
This is hard… here’s why:
Delegation and trust are hard, because of these two reasons:
- Fear of losing control
- Fear of dropping the ball
Either of these resonate with you?
Before you can learn to trust others, you’ve got to learn how to trust yourself, and be okay with losing control. Here are a few good tips we’ve used to learn how to trust ourselves at work and at home.
- BE YOURSELF
- SET REASONABLE AND ACHIEVABLE GOALS
- GIVE YOURSELF GRACE
- BUILD ON YOUR STRENGTHS
- SPEND TIME BY YOURSELF
- BE DECISIVE
What about delegation? Here’s our mentality.
Delegation Tips: Is it urgent, important, or significant?
- DELEGATION RESPONDS TO THE PERMISSION OF IMPERFECTION
- 80% DONE RIGHT BY SOMEONE ELSE IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 100% DONE BY YOU
- LEADERSHIP ISN’T ABOUT GETTING THINGS DONE RIGHT IT’S ABOUT GETTING THINGS DONE THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE
- SET CLEAR GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS
- GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE
- PROVIDE DEADLINES
Ultimately, when you trust yourself to make good decisions, you will trust that you will delegate the right task to the right person.
P.S. Here’s a bonus tip from Simon Sinek:
When leaders are willing to prioritize trust over performance, performance almost always follows.
P.P.S.
We know delegation and trust is hard to discover within leaders and teams. Does your team struggle with this?
We’ve got you!
We’d LOVE to come into your company and talk to your leaders and your team about the importance of delegation and what it looks like for them!
Talk soon!