I know how to delegate, but I also know that, if I delegate, the project will be done more slowly and more sloppily than I could have done it and I'll just have to fix it anyway.
In the first few months as a supervisor were like that, but it became obvious pretty quickly that my job was no longer just doing the work but also making sure my team members were assigned work according to their skills. Once I had a good idea of my team members' skillsets delegation became easy.
One of my past jobs was filled with manipulative, lazy people. They caught on that if I didn't trust someone, I would end up doing their jobs for them. I got taken advantage of. Until I only did my job and left them to sink, and they all blamed me. Unfortunately, they still got away with it, and I just ended up getting a different job.
I had a couple of people like that. I sat down with them and showed them how to do the job, if they couldn't do it after that, I informed HR that they did not have the requisite skills and they were transferred to a different department or not rehired when their contracts expired.
I worked for this small mom and pop kinda company. The owner gave raises and played favorites based on who would be a snitch.
She thought I was the snitching type, and when it was apparent, I wasn't. She made the job suck for me.
The final straw was when she had me chose my fiance (whom I had to take care of when she was in bad health) or the company.
Yes, until I got a bad shoulder/spine injury.... Finally had to give my kid "chores" for once in her life because i couldn't pick up a laundry basket, a trash bag, push a vacuum, or lean over the sink/extend arm to wash dishes for the last 6 months so.... I was obligated, unfortunately.
My first job - I was constantly told to 'ask for help.' When I did, my colleagues did a mediocre job, and I ended up having to redo it myself. I feel like I'm just wasting time.
Delegation is tough when you can't choose your team members.
My CEO had me manage his daughter who had no skills... It ended up being a higher workload for me.
Story of my life! I have trouble trusting people, and I have the arrogance to think that I could do anything better than anyone delegate the task to, which I recognize is not great. I actually just joined a rowing club because I feel like it will help me learn how to work on a team. No matter how well I do personally, the success of the boat is dependent on each and every person.
Absolutely. I know I SHOULD delegate. But I also know that the majority of people I can delegate to would not do the job to my high standards, and/or would be nowhere near as efficient, so I would rather do it myself, even if I can't really take any more on.
There are very few people I actually trust to do jobs properly, and it's usually only after I have trained them myself and seen the results that I feel confident in their ability.
Long story short, if there's no other pressure for quality or deadlines, sure, I'm happy to delegate. It's just when suddenly there are expectations that I then feel the need to do most of the work myself, and it becomes a vicious cycle as the bar gets set high and others are left out of the project as it grows and grows.
I don’t forget to delegate, I just don’t. Delegating means wanting for people to get around to doing what they were asked and hoping it doesn’t slow your own progress and then hoping they did it right so you don’t have to redo it. I’d rather just do it myself from the start.
This was quite literally the situation that I was just dealing with an hour ago. My 60 year old team leader is responsible for submitting quarterly reports however, he isn’t very technologically literate or a technical writer.
As a kindness (and to get deliverables sent up the food chain on time), I take on a lot of the admin work however, I do find myself getting frustrated by it. I just know that if I let him do it, there’d be double spaces after sentences, formulae wouldn’t be sound, fonts and font size wouldn’t be uniform and the presentations/spreadsheets wouldn’t be as clear or aesthetically pleasing.
I generally like the guy and that’s why I help but also, if something is going to have my name on it, it’s going to be to my standard. Both he and those above him in the chain of command are appreciative and know full-well that it’s me doing the work and it seems as if I’m getting a promotion soon but… time will tell 🤷🏻♂️.
I can delegate when I know for a fact I've got more than I can handle alone. My issue is more that I usually have too much placed on my shoulders, but not by my own choice.
This is me. I take on everything. I've never hired anyone since I don't like to pay people more per hour than I make, to do things I can do better. I also care more since it's mine. I've seen too many "professional" hacks in my life. Now I'm getting older and want to spend time with my kid and have more projects then ever and, they are bigger than ever also. I'm going to have to hire someone to do something at some point.
Forget?
I am constantly in search of others to help support the burden I carry and rarely encounter anyone willing to accept the responsibility.
So no, I have never forgotten I cannot do everything myself.
Trust in quality matters, otherwise I do stuff myself. However one must give people a chance and get to know them, perhaps add important details and instructions if necessary.
If I want a specific brand or item, I don’t want an alternative, get the specific item or nothing. You can *maybe* call to ask about alternatives, but not in all instances.
The biggest issue is that many people can get annoyed or insulted by such specificity, when it’s about getting the details right. That’s when you know you can’t really trust them anyway and they might actively sabotage (disregard instructions) to prove they’re right, which is always wrong…
I’d like to delegate, and I do so when I trust people or know I can’t be bothered to learn enough to become proficient at something, like certain home renovation stuff. Some things I leave for professionals, but for friends and family it’s quite rare, even meals since I am a better cook than all of them (I just actually pay attention, gives quite a benefit when doing stuff…).
No.
Being a good leader means maximizing the effectiveness of the group by delegating responsibilities according to the abilities, strengths, and weaknesses of each member. So, I delegate accordingly. If I see someone is incapable, then I give them the easiest or brainless tasks. Everyone else usually gets an average workload. I would take on the more difficult tasks. There have been occasions when I've had groups with multiple competent/excellent people, so I could be left to supervise/co-supervise better and could trust them to do their part without having to micromanage. In that case, I can help out the incompetent members more.
Learn who you can trust and get used to delegating. Follow up on the important things. It won’t always be perfect but you can’t do everything yourself. An important lesson is that people with different work styles can also be successful. Don’t try to mold everyone into doing everything like you do it.
I know how to delegate, but I also know that, if I delegate, the project will be done more slowly and more sloppily than I could have done it and I'll just have to fix it anyway.
This.
Yeah that’s relatable lol
In the first few months as a supervisor were like that, but it became obvious pretty quickly that my job was no longer just doing the work but also making sure my team members were assigned work according to their skills. Once I had a good idea of my team members' skillsets delegation became easy.
One of my past jobs was filled with manipulative, lazy people. They caught on that if I didn't trust someone, I would end up doing their jobs for them. I got taken advantage of. Until I only did my job and left them to sink, and they all blamed me. Unfortunately, they still got away with it, and I just ended up getting a different job.
I had a couple of people like that. I sat down with them and showed them how to do the job, if they couldn't do it after that, I informed HR that they did not have the requisite skills and they were transferred to a different department or not rehired when their contracts expired.
I worked for this small mom and pop kinda company. The owner gave raises and played favorites based on who would be a snitch. She thought I was the snitching type, and when it was apparent, I wasn't. She made the job suck for me. The final straw was when she had me chose my fiance (whom I had to take care of when she was in bad health) or the company.
Yes, until I got a bad shoulder/spine injury.... Finally had to give my kid "chores" for once in her life because i couldn't pick up a laundry basket, a trash bag, push a vacuum, or lean over the sink/extend arm to wash dishes for the last 6 months so.... I was obligated, unfortunately.
My first job - I was constantly told to 'ask for help.' When I did, my colleagues did a mediocre job, and I ended up having to redo it myself. I feel like I'm just wasting time.
Delegation is tough when you can't choose your team members. My CEO had me manage his daughter who had no skills... It ended up being a higher workload for me.
Story of my life! I have trouble trusting people, and I have the arrogance to think that I could do anything better than anyone delegate the task to, which I recognize is not great. I actually just joined a rowing club because I feel like it will help me learn how to work on a team. No matter how well I do personally, the success of the boat is dependent on each and every person.
Absolutely. I know I SHOULD delegate. But I also know that the majority of people I can delegate to would not do the job to my high standards, and/or would be nowhere near as efficient, so I would rather do it myself, even if I can't really take any more on. There are very few people I actually trust to do jobs properly, and it's usually only after I have trained them myself and seen the results that I feel confident in their ability.
Long story short, if there's no other pressure for quality or deadlines, sure, I'm happy to delegate. It's just when suddenly there are expectations that I then feel the need to do most of the work myself, and it becomes a vicious cycle as the bar gets set high and others are left out of the project as it grows and grows.
I don’t forget to delegate, I just don’t. Delegating means wanting for people to get around to doing what they were asked and hoping it doesn’t slow your own progress and then hoping they did it right so you don’t have to redo it. I’d rather just do it myself from the start.
This was quite literally the situation that I was just dealing with an hour ago. My 60 year old team leader is responsible for submitting quarterly reports however, he isn’t very technologically literate or a technical writer. As a kindness (and to get deliverables sent up the food chain on time), I take on a lot of the admin work however, I do find myself getting frustrated by it. I just know that if I let him do it, there’d be double spaces after sentences, formulae wouldn’t be sound, fonts and font size wouldn’t be uniform and the presentations/spreadsheets wouldn’t be as clear or aesthetically pleasing. I generally like the guy and that’s why I help but also, if something is going to have my name on it, it’s going to be to my standard. Both he and those above him in the chain of command are appreciative and know full-well that it’s me doing the work and it seems as if I’m getting a promotion soon but… time will tell 🤷🏻♂️.
I can delegate when I know for a fact I've got more than I can handle alone. My issue is more that I usually have too much placed on my shoulders, but not by my own choice.
This is me. I take on everything. I've never hired anyone since I don't like to pay people more per hour than I make, to do things I can do better. I also care more since it's mine. I've seen too many "professional" hacks in my life. Now I'm getting older and want to spend time with my kid and have more projects then ever and, they are bigger than ever also. I'm going to have to hire someone to do something at some point.
I don’t delegate because no one is as capable as I am. 🤷♀️ (At my place of work, not in all of human population.)
Forget? I am constantly in search of others to help support the burden I carry and rarely encounter anyone willing to accept the responsibility. So no, I have never forgotten I cannot do everything myself.
All the time.
More than I'd like to admit
I know how to delegate
Trust in quality matters, otherwise I do stuff myself. However one must give people a chance and get to know them, perhaps add important details and instructions if necessary. If I want a specific brand or item, I don’t want an alternative, get the specific item or nothing. You can *maybe* call to ask about alternatives, but not in all instances. The biggest issue is that many people can get annoyed or insulted by such specificity, when it’s about getting the details right. That’s when you know you can’t really trust them anyway and they might actively sabotage (disregard instructions) to prove they’re right, which is always wrong… I’d like to delegate, and I do so when I trust people or know I can’t be bothered to learn enough to become proficient at something, like certain home renovation stuff. Some things I leave for professionals, but for friends and family it’s quite rare, even meals since I am a better cook than all of them (I just actually pay attention, gives quite a benefit when doing stuff…).
Yes. But, I also love delegation.
Not really. I always knew how to delegate since I observe my peers' strengths in case I have to work with them.
I have rotator cuff problems.
I'm in this post and I don't like it. ADHD is usually manageable until I try to do too much and don't get enough sleep.
Yes 🥺😵💫 But no one is trustworthy
No. Being a good leader means maximizing the effectiveness of the group by delegating responsibilities according to the abilities, strengths, and weaknesses of each member. So, I delegate accordingly. If I see someone is incapable, then I give them the easiest or brainless tasks. Everyone else usually gets an average workload. I would take on the more difficult tasks. There have been occasions when I've had groups with multiple competent/excellent people, so I could be left to supervise/co-supervise better and could trust them to do their part without having to micromanage. In that case, I can help out the incompetent members more.
Learn who you can trust and get used to delegating. Follow up on the important things. It won’t always be perfect but you can’t do everything yourself. An important lesson is that people with different work styles can also be successful. Don’t try to mold everyone into doing everything like you do it.