STOP! [Opportunity] Thief!

February 13, 2021

In last week’s Thought Partner Friday, we examined three factors that CAP our willingness to delegate, even when we know we could and probably should:

Desire for CONTROL
Lack of AWARENESS when it comes to certain jobs and the talents of our teammates
PERCEPTION surrounding delegation (of ourselves and what others might think)

The truth of the matter is: when you don’t delegate what CAN BE delegated, you’re a THIEF.

You are literally STEALING OPPORTUNITIES from others.

You’re an OPPORTUNITY THIEF.

How does that make you feel? Not so good? Follow along with me as we look at a quick cost benefit analysis of said thievery.

Costs of STEALING OPPORTUNITIES from your team:

You limit the contributions of your team
Your people can’t learn, grow, develop or further expand their skills
You limit diversity of opinion and creativity
Your final product or service, delivered to your customers and clients, suffers (let’s face it – you don’t have all the answers to everything. Two (or more) heads are always better than one)
Your team will feel underutilized, undervalued and will be more apt to look for opportunities elsewhere
You miss opportunities to create a team-centered environment
You cultivate a reputation, as a leader, that will not serve you

STOP! THIEF!

Benefits of GIVING OPPORTUNITIES to your team:

You free up your capacity, creativity, and return time to your day
You strengthen how you and your team deliver, work, and show up for one another
You have more minds, more perspectives, and more skin in the game from everyone
You open doors for collaborations that may not have appeared previously
You check your arrogance at the door and operate from generosity
You develop your people and your collective team
Your final products and services are more creative and innovative
Your ability to declutter your mind and innovate yields exponential growth
You can LEAD vs. MANAGE

Most of us struggle with delegation; however, if you consider it from the perspective that you are STEALING from your people when you don’t allow yourself to do it, maybe answering these questions might make it a little easier:

How is it serving me (or not) to do it this way?
How is it impacting my team members if I’m holding back on things?
How is my difficulty in delegating impacting this business?
If I removed myself from some areas what could the possibilities be?
Who can benefit the most from me changing one thing right now?
What can I delegate today? Now? Like right now.

Your ability to delegate impacts how you use your brain as a Leader vs. a Manager.

You ultimately strengthen your team members, your relationships and the products and services you deliver.

Just like any other aspect of leadership, this is a muscle that must be developed. Challenge yourself to get a set of delegation reps in today and let me know how it goes!