How to delegate for people who hate delegating
October 21, 2009 | By Caitlin McCabe |
Turn Here is a guest column on Wednesdays by Caitlin McCabe who blogs over at Smile Like You Mean It and is into architecture, social media, and irreverence.
Something that not a lot of my online network knows is that I have fake nails. Everyone in my face-to-face life has an opinion about it. For example, my mom hates them and tells me that it’s ridiculous. My friend’s husband is enthralled with how much money I spend on them and lots of people think it’s wasteful and/or too much time to have them. Some people like the fact that I paint them weird (I say stylish) colors.
Really, it’s none of those things. Instead, my nails were lesson 1 for me in delegating.
Good grooming is important in business and so are your hands. I hate the idea of presenting an idea with gross, chewed up nails so I started doing them myself. Keeping up with this generally meant spending two hours each week and buying products. When I had them professionally done, I only spent an hour every other week and $35.
Hi, my name is Caitlin and I have spent years learning to delegate.
That sentence has made me very, very busy throughout my life. So busy that I’ve missed a lot of birthday parties, family brunches, movies, and get-togethers. So busy that I’ve sometimes had a job title longer than I probably should have just because I was “way too busy” to take on any other responsibilities. Being “super busy” doesn’t mean that you are really important or moving forward. It just means that you might be halfway to work and realize that you forgot your laptop. I have gotten to the office and realized that I forgot to put on a bra as a result of early morning conference calls and paperwork.
You are probably too busy too.
I know someone has written “the 4 hour workweek” but here’s the thing: most of us are just trying not to go nuts with all of our to-do’s and maybe we need a baby step or two. Also, there are people out there like me who just don’t really delegate well. Here’s how you should start:
1) Realize that you are too busy. It’s possible you are too busy to move forward. Once you admit that you are at capacity, you will be able to decide which things need to go. So say it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Ok, now you are ready to let someone else do something you were once doing, because you want to move forward right?
2) Start Small. Delegate 1 thing. For me, that one thing was the 2 hours I was spending doing my nails each week; there was just no way I was going to start with work delegation. Pick out the thing that you spend 3 useless hours on a week that you can let someone else do. Maybe it’s answering cold sales calls or explaining what your company does to people. You might even be surprised, my nail people put my self-manicures to shame and once I calculated what I make an hour and apply it to the two hours I spent doing my nails, it’s less expensive to get them done.
3) Delegate beyond work. Maybe you spend just the right amount of time on work and you can shift things in your personal life easily. For example, could you join Peapod and stop grocery shopping? Could you get a salon blowout and spend less time in the morning doing your hair? Resist the urge to say that it’s more expensive because that’s assuming that your time is worth nothing which it isn’t.
4) Pay someone. This might make you feel better. Simply asking someone else to take on more responsibility makes me cringe. Why would someone do another job simply because I asked? Even if I am their boss. Create incentive. Pay them or find some other reward to even the playing field.
The sort of sinister side to this is that if I pay someone or create a reward, I am far more justified in yelling at them if it’s not done or not done correctly. I could have asked the New Jersey-ite to walk the dog every day, but since I don’t pay him I’d probably end up stuck with it occasionally and I couldn’t really yell at him. So we hired a dog walker and spend a lot less time running home at noon to do it.
5) Don’t delegate jobs you love even if they are below you. I will never delegate reading social media blogs. Even if I am the most busy person in the universe. My boss once tried to make me delegate advertising strategy sessions to someone else and I felt the bright spot going out of my day. Don’t delegate things you love in order to move forward or you’ll regret it.
Once you start with small things, I promise it gets easier.
I love your comment about not delegating what you love. Super!!
Comment by Dr S — October 21, 2009 #
Love the anecdote about the nails — you’re a great writer!
Comment by Nisha — October 21, 2009 #
Really enjoyed this article … your note about not delegating what you love is especially wise. I also couldn’t help remembering a post I saw recently in Daily Candy about some cool new Japanese art nails:
http://www.dailycandy.com/all-cities/article/74253/Kawaii-Nails-from-Japan
These nails might be a bit much for work situations, but would be really fun for special parties or themed events!
You article also brought to mind a funny and warm new book I’m really enjoying right now called “The Power of Pause: Becoming More by Doing Less” by Terry Hershey. Delegating is a super way to make time to pause and reflect on what’s really important in life — and to not miss the deeper sense of wonder and meaning that is always waiting within our day-to-day hustle bustle when we take time to stop for a minute and notice it.
Thanks again for your great perspective and your very enjoyable writing voice. I’ll look forward to your weekly columns (and you have a good eye for writing talent that complements your own enjoyable style, Rebecca!).
High fives,
Paula
Comment by Paula Farrington — October 21, 2009 #
@ Paula – Ha, thanks! Isn’t she great? I like to think Caitlin’s writing and ideas run parallel to my own. Like, we’re in the same city, but in different neighborhoods. I’m glad everyone is enjoying her weekly columns as much as I do.
Comment by Rebecca Thorman — October 21, 2009 #
Here’s the thing about don’t delegate the jobs you love.There’s a caveat, especially when you move into management. For many, it can be difficult to stay interested especially if you are a highly skilled tactician and love the stuff you are now equipping and leading other people to do. So this is where the not delegating what you love happens. But it’s dangerous just in and of itself. (Especially if the stuff you love is the stuff anyone would love.) The last thing you want to do is be a cool-stuff-hog.
So the key is not to sacrifice what you like and hate work by delegating all of what you love. That’s actually a great way to make everyone miserable. Instead, it’s to get creative and find ways to 1) make everything more lovable and 2) bring other people inside what you love (especially if they love it too).
So that’s my challenge.
To find ways to keep what I love in my job at the same time I’m equipping my team to love what they already do more and to do more of what I already love.
Comment by Tiffany Monhollon — October 21, 2009 #
Paula – thanks for the nail link and compliments – I always love looking at the crazy nails some girls get
Tiffany – that’s a really insightful comment, I am probably a “cool things hog”. Love that term! It is difficult to know which things you love to eventually delegate at some point and which to keep. Thanks for the comment!
Comment by Caitlin McCabe — October 22, 2009 #
Tiffany – that’s a very astute comment about not hogging all the cool things – great thought and great content on your site too.
Caitlin and Rebecca – thanks (and I’d never delegate reading your respective posts!)
Comment by Paula Farrington — October 22, 2009 #
This is a great post. I am sending my husband through law school and money is tight. But I declared about a year ago that I was getting my eyebrows and nails and toes done regularly. I couldn’t stand looking unkept and had to admit that there are things in life I just can’t do.
That holds true professionally too.
Comment by Natalie — October 22, 2009 #
Your evaluation of the cost of YOUR time to do your nails rings with me. Once I began placing a dollar value on my time to do things, it became more appartent that others could do some things just as effectively, but more efficiently. And yes, I would never relenquish the duties I love, but I do find some satisfaction in teaching others how to do them. After all, I have a passion for them and do them well, others will only be imitators. In my personal life I often pay family and friends to do tasks I would rather not, but they would benefit from the extra money and they have a skill in the task. Sometimes this is more expensive than my own time to do it; however, in the end, it’s always nice to see something done and I didn’t have to do all the legwork myself. Delegation is great, and so is your post!
Comment by Jonathan Bradley — October 22, 2009 #
I was at a networking event this morning and there was a panel of senior level managers available to field questions from the young professionals in the audience. Someone asked about the process of delegation and this question yielded the most enthusiastic response to every CEO, CFO, VP on that panel! They couldn’t stress enough the importance of that question and learning the proper way to delegate and lead.
No matter where you are in your career, this is great advice! This post did an awesome job of outlining simple ways we can all delegate and keep our workload (and sanity) under control. I especially loved your point about considering the amount of money you spend on something that consumes your time (like doing your nails). It was an interesting take on the idea of delegation
Comment by Cassie Holman — October 22, 2009 #
Rebecca you are lucky, C-Mac (as we at FIWK call her) saves all her best stuff for her guest blogs on Modite =P
All she posts on her own blog for us pedestrians these days are photos of women’s tights with Twitter references:
http://bossygirls.blogspot.com/2009/10/is-it-geeky-that-i-want-this-follow-me.html
ANYWAY, I actually was lucky enough to learn how to delegate at my job. As a project manager for some of my company’s properties, I don’t know jack about installing security cameras so I sure as hell had to lean on the expertise of someone who does. It also taught me to shop hard for rates, negotiate, and work with people to pick their brain and integrate their own expertise into your own. All in all it’s been a great learning experience.
I am still learning how to integrate these lessons about delegating into my own life, like Caitlin did in #3 on her list. For instance, I have learned that I really need to get a maid service to keep my apartment with 3 dudes clean and sanitary… but I haven’t bitten the bullet and paid for one yet. Getting pasts #4 – paying someone – is harder because I always think “well I’ll do it myself and save the money” but then never actually do it myself. D’oh
Comment by Royce Hadden — October 23, 2009 #