A great leader doesn’t have to do everything. Go back and read that again. You can read it again if you need to, but don’t keep going until you really get the fact that as the leader, it is not your responsibility to do everything in the workplace. It’s hard to give up control but you’ll quickly find that delegating certain tasks out to others not only frees you up to be more productive on more important tasks, it’s also good for your mental health. Here are some good ways to start delegating tasks out to free yourself up more.
The Power of Priorities
Wouldn’t it be amazing to only have to focus on one project at work? Most of us can only dream of such a scenario, so it’s vital that you learn to prioritize. Get an idea of what tasks are most important down to the least pressing ones, then break each one down into the steps that will be required to get them done. You’ll find that there are a lot of small steps involved that you could delegate to someone else and allow you, as the leader, to focus more on the big picture.
Leaders Know Who Follows Them
The worst thing a leader can do is to put somebody in charge of a task that is the total opposite of their skill set. If you have a member of your team that isn’t great at talking to people on the phone, don’t give him or her a list of phone calls that need to be made. If you’ve got somebody who struggles with grammar, maybe they shouldn’t handle all the electronic communication on a project. Know who is following you and assign tasks based on what they do well. Great leaders set their people up to succeed.
Follow Up to Follow Through
As the leader of any team, ultimately the results are your responsibility. The people who lead you aren’t interested in what the people you’ve delegated tasks to didn’t get done; they’re going to ask you why they’re not complete. You can delegate tasks out but it’s important to stay informed and be prepared to help during the process.
You don’t have to do it all in the workplace. Find a happy medium between producing results and overworking yourself.