Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. He invites you to take advantage of his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk
He writes:
Ask managers what their biggest challenges are and the chances are delegation will appear as one of the things on their list. At the same time they also often come up with a whole host of excuses for not delegating. Here are my 4 favourites:
Excuse 1: I Don’t Have The Time
Now is this illogical or what? If you are drowning because you have too much to do, you need to get rid of some stuff. Sitting down and delegating something is a one time investment of time that pays back over and over again. It’s not that you don’t have the time; you do. It is the choice you make not to delegate that is the issue.
Excuse 2: They Won’t Do It As Well As Me
Maybe they won’t. At the same time could they do it to an acceptable level? If yes, what’s stopping you?
Excuse 3: They Might Do It Better Than Me
Perhaps they will and if they do it is conclusive proof that you should not be doing it in the first place. Ask yourself this; would the manager of a soccer team play their top goal scorer as goalkeeper? Of course they wouldn’t. Your job as a manager is to facilitate getting the best from everyone.
Excuse 4: They Might Let Me Down
They might or might not. Just because someone let you down in the past does not mean that it needs to be that way in the future. The key thing is to learn from the things that did not work out as you hoped.
The Bottom Line: Unless you are willing to delegate you will always be under pressure and struggle to deliver to your potential. So what choice will you make? Be the serial underperformer or be a highly successful manager?
Smile and Let Smile 