Delegate before you need to

I’m working with a Thinker who needed help.

She was running two big projects and was spending so much time firefighting that she couldn’t take a step back.

Our conversation went a little like this:

Me: How capable are your team to pick up some of these tasks?
Thinker: Some of them definitely could, but they have so much on already.
Me: Did they tell you that?
Thinker: No
Me: [Holds the silence]
Thinker: I need to ask them right?
Me: [Nods encouragingly]

The thing is, delegating is hard. It involves a lot of trust and, *gulp*, giving up control.

It also means checking if your assumptions are true.

My Thinker was feeling overworked and assumed everyone else was too.

After our session she brought the team together and told them she expected more from them.

And guess what?

They loved it (well most did).

She told me in the next session they were more engaged than ever, and she finally had some space to breathe.

They had been waiting for a chance to prove themselves and she’d been standing in their way.

Now we’re working on how she can delegate before she needs to, so she doesn’t end up in the same situation again.

What about you?

What could you start delegating now, even if you don’t need to?

When I told friends I had hired a Virtual Assistant they were all praising me for my forethought. It’s so much easier to delegate when you have time and aren’t stressed.

Until I had the crisis before the crisis, I had assumed Think with Jude was too small to hire a VA. Now I see even the few things she does frees me up more than imagined.

So if you’re feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day ask yourself:

What assumptions are you making that stop you from delegating?

Are these true?

How could you find out?

And then drop me a line to let me know, the downside to having a VA is that there are fewer things to procrastinate on!