I’ve been writing a lot lately about delegation, the who, what, when and how.  There’s no question I will continue to discuss this topic as so many of my clients have this challenge.  But what if you don’t have a team or someone you can delegate to?

You feel overwhelmed, there is just too much stuff to do and it seems that every time you turn around your boss is asking you for something else.  What can you do when you don’t truly have responsibility for someone as a manager so there isn’t  someone to whom you can hand things off?

The first thing you can do is work on shifting your thinking about delegation.  Delegation is more than handing off tasks or something from your to do list.  It includes setting boundaries, saying no and negotiation. 

A big part of why we feel overwhelmed is because as people we carry around these beliefs that are self-sabotaging.  We think we can’t say no, or if we do that others don’t see us as a team player, someone loyal and hardworking and with upward potential.  The same applies in our personal lives, we don’t want to disappoint or hurt our loved ones so we say yes. 

Shifting your thinking means stepping back from thinking/believing that you have to be all things to all people, all the time.  And the best at being all things to all people all the time.  It’s insane, besides impossible!

I’m a girl and we are brought up to nurture others, to put ourselves last and take care of others.  That belief permeates both my personal and professional life. And I gotta tell you, lots of my males clients suffer from perfectionism, not wanting to disappoint others and beliefs about what they need to do to be successful.

One way to delegate is to ask for help.  There’s a team member, a colleague, your boss, a family member…there are people that are totally willing to help, if you ask.  But in order to ask you have to get over believing you shouldn’t ask.  What if you could think of asking for help as others a gift? 

Most people genuinely want to help, and enjoy being asked.  It makes them feel useful and special that you would ask them. As long as you tell them that no is an acceptable answer if they can’t or don’t want to, ask away.  You’ll be surprised how often someone wants to help.

The second thing you have to shift your beliefs around are saying no and setting boundaries.  When your boss asks you to handle something else and you are already at capacity it’s acceptable to share your capacity concerns with your boss, and offer other alternatives (timing, resources etc.).  You don’t have to blanketly say yes. 

Ask more questions when someone makes a request of you or you are shuffling around your schedule.  What has to be done, by when, what’s the impact if not completed, is there room for negotiation on what or by when?  Is there someone you can tap into to help?  Before you say yes ask questions so at least you know what you are saying yes to.

Do what you love.  Don’t volunteer because it’s on your ‘should’ list.  Spend your personal time doing what you love, not what you think you should do. 

It’s okay to go back after you’ve said yes and revisit the agreement.  Maybe once you started the project you realized the scope was bigger than you anticipated and the time line can’t be met, at least not with the current resources.  Or maybe you were out of the office unexpectedly for a week and you’re way backed up.  Life happens and when it does we have to be able to be flexible enough to revisit our plan and agreements. 

Perfectionism is not the goal, and especially when you don’t really know what perfect means to others.  Of course your children would love for you to come to every sporting event game they are in, and likely they would be thrilled if you could make half.  You just have to ask them.  What you believe someone else defines as top notch may be way below what you would have considered.  I promise you could give up doing 20% of what you do and no one would notice or care but you.

There is an art and science to the act of delegating to others.  In today’s fast paced, ever changing world even if you don’t have a team you likely have more to do than is humanly possible.  Learning how to shift our beliefs is the first step.  In order to change what we do we first have to shift how we think. 

Wondering where you could improve your delegation skills?  Have you ever wondered what you believe about delegation and how it impacts your decisions and actions?  It’s easy to find the answer to these questions, and others by taking our delegation quiz.  The link is below.

© Incedo Group, LLC