"I am learning how, who and what to delegate"

It was a very busy weekend for me. I worked 12 hours both Saturday and Sunday. Today I had a couple of interviews (and yes, I am looking for work and who is not looking these days?) then I attended the United Way Board of Director class, is a 10-week, 40-hour training program designed to develop and enhance leadership skills, increase diverse volunteer participation in nonprofit board and leadership positions, and increase placement and retention of individuals from metro Atlanta communities.

So I never stop learning. Now I am home doing a bit of email clean up, budget work and numbers review but other than that, I have been keeping with the media in Haiti for most part. I didn’t watch Monday Night football today but I plan to check online for the results, just playing technology….

Tonight I have been thinking about delegation. I know in order to grow, I need to learn how to delegate. I learned the theory of "delegate anything that someone else can do significantly easier, faster or less expensively than I can" from my Business class. I learned the theory of "include the why, not just the what needs doing" by practice.

The thought I have is on what is appropriate for me to delegate? What resources I have to delegate to? I am thinking of approaches to the challenge. I am going to monitor my time use for a week or so to see what things I might be able to delegate appropriately.

Sometimes in delegation, there is a relationship that is creating between the delegator and the delegatee (if that is a word..lol) and a learning curve for the delegatee. So I have to consider that in my analysis. One thing that can stop my growth is not accepting that others can often do something better than me (even though it is not necessarily to the same way I would have done it). I believe everyone has a unique talent and skill. As leaders, we all realize that is challenging sometimes to let go of our standard and accepting something less. Well, it has taken me a long time to realize that perfectionism can kill growth sometimes. So the ultimate key is to find balance and appreciate others for their contributions.

So right now, no answers, just thinking and analyzing.

I often hear one of my associates said they have no one to delegate to since no one works for them. Sounds familiar? Well, I believe they can delegate to peers, to suppliers, to customers or to the person they work for or people in other departments or their family members. The key is appropriate delegation. Sometimes I can solve a problem with just a quick call or an email that might take someone hours to figure out and then plan along the way.

So my tip for future leaders is to look at what you might have that you can delegate it’s also called “comparative advantage”

Please leave your comments, thank you!

Rony Delgarde