You Need To Get Good At This To Be A Good Leader

Please don’t run away when I say this word. It’s something you need to learn to do if you hope to be a good leader:

Delegation.

I know, I know, it’s not very sexy. It’s one of those over-used words like “accountability” and ” engagement” that’s lost a lot of its meaning. But it’s shorter and sounds better than saying: “getting other people to do your work”.

So why do “they” say you can’t be a good leader and advance in your company or grow your business without learning how to delegate? Well, because they’re right, and here’s why.

1. It saves you time (in the long run).
2. It saves the company time
3. It saves the company money
4. It’s good for your staff (development wise)
5. It’s good for the company (leadership succession wise)
6. It gets you promoted

Today I’d like to tackle the first three:

Delegation Saves You Time

Teaching, training, coaching, and correcting somebody else’s work takes more time than just doing it. In the short-term. But if you invest the time in the long run you’ll be saving time, like this:

It’s hard to do, especially at first when you have the least time to spare. Your can choose to stay in the same job forever because you’re the only one that can do it, or take the long slow journey to the bottom of the ocean drowning in work. Short term pain, long-term gain.

What should you do with your new found breathing room? Up to you, but I do know that “not enough time” is the biggest complaint among many of my clients, so use it wisely, and keep delegating.

Delegation Saves the Company Time

Yes, sometimes it’s faster doing it (whatever “it” is) yourself. Problem is that we end up doing all the “its” ourselves. So then we become the bottle-neck. Which means people are literally lined up out our door. Yes, I’ve had consulting clients complain about exactly this. Not only don’t we get our own work done, neither does anybody else. Which means that part of operations, sales, or finance grinds to a halt.

So while you’re getting stuff done faster and being the hero, the company as a whole is suffering and opportunities are missed. Turns out doing it yourself is actually kinda selfish.

Delegation Saves the Company Money

It stands to reason that work done by somebody reporting to you costs less than if you do it. Assuming they do it to a reasonable standard in a reasonable amount of time. This save the company money. Which is kind of your job as a boss: to get the work done as effectively and efficiently as possible.

If you’re keeping work that can reasonably be done by somebody who gets paid less, then why isn’t it being done that way? Otherwise you’re deliberately wasting the company’s money (and your time). Stop that please.

Next Time: How delegation is good for you, the company, and gets you promoted.

Question for the Comments: What can you delegate today that will save you time or the company money in the long run?

Other Articles You May Be Interested In:
Why Delegating to Your Staff is Good for Them
Learning By Doing