Weekend Engagement - Lack of Delegation

Sometimes while we seem really productive, there is always something within us that is breed unproductiveness or inefficiency. Many have told me that they are amazed by the amount of things I can do and how I am able to achieve so many things in a short time by myself. The matter of fact is, this is where the my most unproductive habit lies, the inability to delegate.

While I appeared independent and self-reliant, these traits if not managed properly will become a stumbling block. When not swarmed, I can still manage and function good, but when swarmed, all the unproductiveness pops up like flowers blooming in spring.

Doing everything ourselves, is there anything wrong?
I am managing a small team in the place I am working. All of them are minimally undergraduates of the top universities in Singapore. But somehow, instead of delegating work to them, many a times, this line appears in my head, "It's alright, not a big issue, I will settle it myself." And it ends up, I clearing bulk of the work myself instead of getting people in my team to complete the work.

What happens when we do everything ourselves?

1. Work Quality Drops
   While those work that were supposedly not a big issue stacks, it takes up alot of our time. Essentially robbing us the opportunity to double check or find ways to present the work in the best way. Because time become an issue, we clear work for the sake of clearing which ends up with just enough to get the work done.

2. Lost Opportunity
   There is only 24 hours a day, every work that I choose not to delegate out will mean that I will need to segment one portion of the 24 hours to get it done. This means that I forgo time that could be better spent for personal development.

3. Work-Life Imbalance
   One will constantly fell tethered to work, unable to disconnect and enjoy quality time with family and friends. Everything becomes unbalanced, longer hours are spent in the office, work becomes your best buddy that will always be "by your side".

4. Lack of Collective Wisdom
   I came to realize, when I do everything myself, I will not have a perspective of how things can be done in other manner. Skillset or expertise in a certain subject matter will not be discovered. I had this one experience when I had to do up powerpoint slides for department work showcase, I was desperate due to other work that were more pressing, so I gotten one of my direct reports to help me with it. The outcome, her slides were so good that everything had the right highlights and easy to read. I then imagined if I were the one doing those slides, it will just be bullet point after bullet point with big chunks of words.

5. Burn Out
   And yes, when one is stretched till their very maximum, burn out occurs. We will feel physical and emotional exhaustion, essentially like carrying a brief case of bricks wherever we go. And when this occurs, our body might break down and we go in to an extended state of illness and fatigue which takes very long time to recover.

Knowing all these, why do I still not delegate?
It all boils down to 2 words, trust and control.

Trust
The lack of trust breeds doubt and insecurity. Many a times, I tend to doubt on the capability of the people I want to delegate to. Many what ifs will pop in my head. "What if he/she is lost and not sure what to do?" "What if he/she makes a mess out of this?" And when these questions pops in my mind, who do I trust most? The self trinity - me, myself and I. And from there, I ended up clearing stuff myself.

Control
This is something that most people want and cannot let go. When I want something to succeed, I need to ensure it is done the way I want it to be or the supposedly "right way", and who else that can ensure that and can be controlled easily by me? Again it comes back the self trinity - me, myself I. That desire to control and worry of things not done to the "right way", seeds another deterrence to lack of delegation.

Breaking The Habit and How Life Will Look without this Habit
Recently I attended a mandatory inhouse training class conducted by the workforce development department of the company, it is called the "Speed of Trust". In this class it shared about the price to pay for not trusting and shared practical steps to building trust, such as start small, delegate smaller task to start building foundation for trust and subsequently increasing the intensity of the task delegated. I found it useful and setup weekly meeting with my team and started sharing some of the less high intensity to build up the trust I have for my team. This has started for 1 month and I am seeing myself more able to let go and starting to delegate more to my team members.

While this habit still lingers and not fully purged, I do see how potentially life can be if I am able to get rid of this habit. I am seeing myself having more time spent with friends and family instead of facing the PC monitor in my office. I can even feel less tensed up than before and definitely knowing that I have a strong team whom I can work to develop together to become even stronger.

Closing
I know many people whom are in leadership positions in companies do have the same struggle of having an unproductive habit of lack of delegation. But with active and small steps deployed, I am certain that things will become better and for sure work-life will be much more balanced to even have a great weekend to spend with love ones.

Have a great weekend!