So you’ve mastered delegating tasks. Congrats!
Now, did you actually delegate the task, or are you micromanaging your employees?
If you’re anything like me, I’ve kept the quote, “If you want something done right, do it yourself,” near and dear to my heart, but I quickly realized that I was going nowhere fast.
Because I was not duplicating myself and pouring into the growth of other potential leaders, I was limiting our capacity to move forward and grow. I realized this much:
Micromanaging All Comes Down To The Lack of Trust
Lack of trust can go in two directions:
- If you are currently micromanaging, it most likely means that you do not trust the potential of your team.
- Hovering over their work, telling them that they’re wrong, or asking a million questions every time they alter one thing harms the morale of your team. You are creating a culture of dependent employees instead of empowered leaders.
- If you don’t trust them, they won’t trust you!
- Allow them to fail and grow from their experiences. No one likes to work in a suffocating environment. When you don’t trust your team, they know it. They think that you don’t see them as capable of making things happen, so it puts a cap on their productivity. Why should they put so much effort into something that you’re going to be unhappy with?
In The Long-Run Your Business Will Be Better Off If You Allow Others To Step Up
Although it may be difficult at first, you will avoid burn out and cultivate a team of thinkers, solution-seekers, innovators and leaders.
People want to grow.
People want to learn how to do more.
People genuinely want to help and feel included.
It is your responsibility to help them help you.
Learn to let go of the small stuff, your team has your back! If you spend enough time developing them and showing them your ropes, they will learn to help. Make sure you have clear expectations and allow them room to put their personal spin on the task within your guidelines.
When you do this, they will free you of that task, so you can focus on the things that only you can do.
