Poornima Vijayashanker makes a very good point in her article called How to Build a Self-Sufficient Team, she says, “just because you can do everything doesn’t mean you should. “

“Good point, but sometimes it is just easier to do things myself because everyone is so busy all the time,” I thought.

She goes on to say that “doing everything not only leads to burning out, but it can also be very de-motivating for your team, especially if you are doing tasks you had hired them to do! It’s a sign to them that you not only don’t trust them, but you think they’re incapable of functioning without you.”

That is not what I want people to think at all. So, how do I sharpen my delegation skills?

I started thinking back to another article I read recently, also by Vijayashanker, she says “Stop Thinking You Are the Center of The Universe and Learn to Rely on Others.” Her statement is straight to the point so you can see why it was easy to remember. She says that we should ask the following questions before we try to do everything ourselves.

  1. Does the task really need to be done our way?
  2. If we have to do it, what else is it preventing us from doing?
  3. Why don’t we think someone else is capable?
  4. Are we really burdening others?

I am going to keep these questions on my desk so I can look at them the next time I try to do everything myself.

What projects will you work on now that everyone is doing what they were hired to do? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Photo Credit – Bob Eckstein