Learning to share

Too often we think we are Supermen or women – able to do everything ourselves. We say things like “it would be quicker to do it myself” or “no one else would do it as well as I do” and we convince ourselves that we are irreplaceable. Working to become an indispensable asset to your home based business is an excellent goal; knowing where to focus your efforts, and when to share the load is even more important. Failure to delegate appropriately reduces your productivity and prevents you from achieving your goals. Choose to become more productive by teaching others and helping to build their skill sets. You’ll give others the satisfaction of learning something new, reward them with more responsibility, free up your own head space to focus on other important things and empower everyone to achieve more. Work on learning these new ways of being and choose to improve everyone’s productivity by delegating.

Give it up.

Recognise and admit to yourself that you can’t do everything all the time. Let go of needing to be in complete control. Acknowledge that you will benefit from other people’s help and give them the opportunity to shine in the process. Learn to delegate; and then learn to be comfortable with delegating. You don’t need to delegate responsibility if you choose not to, but you can at least delegate tasks and functions to others.

Trust yourself.

You already believe you are the best person to do the job – now believe that you are the best person to delegate tasks to others. Trust in your ability to teach and give other people the best instructions on how to complete tasks.

Trust other people.

One of the biggest reasons people don’t delegate is because they don’t trust other people to complete a task or activity in the same way as they would do themselves. And this is absolutely true: no one will do things exactly like you. Accept that something done by someone else 80 per cent to your liking may be better than having to do 100 per cent yourself. Accept that maybe your way is not the best way, and someone might do better than you. Either of these results is good – everyone benefits. Try delegating small tasks at first to build trust in yourself and your delegate.
Establish a template for task delegation. Write down specific details of the action and time frame required along with references to any documentation or key stakeholders involved. Work through this sheet with the person you are delegating the task to. This helps you to both be clear on what is being asked for and what resources are available or need to be considered. When complete, use the template to check off the task against your written instructions.

Clear time frames.

Often when delegating we get frustrated because people don’t complete things in the same amount of time as we do. Be specific about the date and time you want the task or activity completed, and give people reasons so they understand why your deadline is so important. Also, understand that while people are learning something new, it may take them a little longer.

What do you expect?

Communicate your expectations clearly and specifically – people don’t read minds! Make it very clear if you have a specific way of doing something and you want the task completed in that same way.

What was that?

Ask your delegate to summarise in their own words their understanding of the task – what is expected, by when and how it is to be completed. At this point you can clarify any questions and confirm that you understand each other.

Feedback.

When complete, let the person know how they performed according to your instructions, expectations and time frames. Recognise their achievement through praise or an appropriate reward.

Congratulations!

Congratulate yourself for trusting someone else to complete activities or tasks that you would normally do yourself.