EngineerHer

(No, finishing a sentence with a preposition isn’t bad English. It’s bad Latin.)

After last week’s post, I got a lot of comments about people not having anyone to delegate to. A few of them are below:

• “Not all of us are managers.”
• “My team is too busy to take on more work”.
• ” I’m too junior to delegate.”
• “It takes too long to explain everything, it’s quicker to just do it myself.”

So, let’s dive in.

It takes too long to explain everything, it’s quicker to just do it myself.

OK, take a deep breath. I’m about to get really blunt here.

If you don’t take the time to organise and delegate and clear out the clutter from your diary and your mind – nothing will ever change.

It really is that simple. You will continue to get busier and busier, until you burn out if you follow this premise. This is not leadership behaviour. This is not effective behaviour. Are you really telling me in the course of a 40+year career, you will never pass on work to someone else?

I’ve been this soldier, by the way. I know. It all seems like too much effort. But it’s not.

Make the time.

Seriously. Even think about if you won the lotto in the morning. Would you really want to be coming back into work? Would you leave your team in the lurch?

Most professionals would say “no way in hell would I be coming into work” but equally, most of us have a work ethic and some professional integrity and wouldn’t like to think of causing panic and torture among our teams. So having other people in the team who know how to do what you do is an essential part of working. And once they know what to do and how to do it, it’s perfectly sensible to give them ample opportunities to practice.

Write out the process, take the time to take someone else through it, support them a few times so they know what they’re doing. It pays off and it’s worth the time investment.

Not all of us are managers.

As many of my past managers will tell you, I’m as likely to delegate up as down. You don’t have to delegate to a member of your team. You can delegate to an intern, graduate, peer, admin… there are loads of people you can delegate to.

Don’t allow not being a manager to stop you here. Alright, for some – or indeed most – of the above, you will probably need to discuss it with your own manager first. But trust me when I say, a manager is a lot happier to see you coming with a problem plus solution, rather than problem alone.

Imagine how differently these conversations would go:

• “I have too much work to do and I’m struggling to get it all done. Why can’t someone else do this?”
• “I’m overloaded at the minute. I’ve looked at the tasks I’m doing and identified those I think are either not-value add or could be completed by someone else. I’ve also had a think about people who might be able to support me here and I’ve written out how-to guides for most of it. Would you be willing to talk through this with me?”

As a manager, I know which one I prefer. I hate people coming to me continually with only problems. Now, look – once in a while, we all have to say, “I’ve been trying to solve this and I’m not succeeding. Here’s what I’ve tried so far. Can you help me brainstorm a few new ideas please?”

That’s grand.

But don’t just regularly, consistently, continually show up at your manager’s door with a list of issues and expect them to solve them all.

Put the work in. Maybe have a chat with a few people you trust in the workplace. Sound out a few people on what they enjoy doing – maybe some of the most boring work imaginable to you is their joy and delight to do! (Or at least, less painful than it is for you!)

My team is too busy to take on more work

Really? Really and truly?

Or are their calendars cluttered and messy and full of non-value-add tasks as well?

Because once you start passing on work and they start complaining about taking on more work, it’s time for them to complete this exercise as well.

There are times, as a manager, that you need to put a bit of pressure on your team. It’s not something I enjoy doing, but I make sure there are easier days to balance. Maybe this exercise is the signal that the whole team needs to complete this exercise.

On the other hand, it’s entirely possibly that a member of your team, looking at the task with fresh eyes, can see a more efficient and quicker way to do it, and turn 30mins of work into 3mins…

Yup, that’s happened to me as well.

Your team know better than you where they can fit in an extra few bits and bobs, so give them the chance to shine.

I’m too junior to delegate

OK, maybe if you’re an intern, an apprentice or a very recent graduate, I’ll accept this excuse. But I would still revisit the “Not all of us are managers” section for ideas on how to get around this.

Also, have a look at the tasks you’re doing. Can you make them easier, better, quicker, less painful? Reach out to people in your team and in your network and ask.

I’m an Excel person – I run most reports, graphs, you name it through Excel. It’s my comfort software. But I know that there are advanced AI and automatic options out there that are better. So when I look at something I’m going to be doing for a while, I reach out to the people who use that software (PI is the name of it. I think…) And I ask them for help to make what I’m doing better, easier etc.

If you’re young and energetic (instead of old and cynical) you could even figure out how to do it yourself and learn a new skill…

But there is no excuse for sitting there, allowing work to pile on top of you and not do something about it. There are tools and methods out there to help. Maybe it’s not delegation. Maybe it’s automation. Maybe it’s elimination. Maybe it’s a combination of a whole load of strategies. But don’t just accept the situation.

There were other comments

But honestly, most of the commentary was captured in those four.

Fundamentally, there is never absolutely nothing you can do. There is always something. You might just have to put up with a bit of discomfort or pain to do it…

And with the way the job market is in Ireland right now? There will be someone out there who values your skills and talents more than where you currently are…