In our coalition work, there are a ton of big and little details involved in building partnerships, developing plans, reporting on progress, maintaining progress. From meeting planning (which has at least 25 tasks in itself) to prioritizing, strategizing, implementing and evaluation, there is a lot. And if you have been doing this work for a while, you may be thinking it is just easier if you continue to do the work. You know how the systems work, you can craft the email without asking for input and you have the existing relationships. However, when it all relies on you, you will constantly be in a place of overwhelm and will stifle the ability of your coalition to grow and meet the needs of your partners and constituents. While it may not be easy, moving toward strategic delegation can help both you and your coalition. Join me this week as I share reasons why you don’t want to keep doing it all yourself.
You will let people down.
When you try to do it all yourself – you cannot! And when you cannot, you are forced to let people down. Sometimes it may be one of your key partners, your funder or your coalition co-chairs. Other times, it will be your family, your friends and those closest to you. In our coalition work, relationships are most important, and one of the foundations of relationships is trust. When you cannot be trusted to follow-through with what you said you will do or you end up trying to do too much, you are compromising trust. Thankfully, most of our partners, family and friends are gracious when this happens every so often. When this becomes a pattern and we keep trying to do it all without delegating, the level of disappointment and frustration increases and the trust decreases. By trying to do it all yourself, the very work you are trying to do – build and maintain partnerships – will suffer. As a recovering “people pleaser”, I am continuing to practice remembering this important reality. By trying to please people by doing it all, you are actually doing just the opposite, and are letting them down. There is a better way! This is likely a combination of both delegation and practicing your brave “no.”
You will burnout.
We all have areas of strength and struggle. When we consider all the tasks in a given day or week, some of them fit into areas that we are good at and we enjoy doing. When we are focused on these types of tasks, we are more energized and encouraged. Alternatively, we all have areas of our work that fit into the opposite category. These are the tasks we are not good at nor do we enjoy doing them. The more time we spend here, the more frustrated, grumpy and unproductive we will become. This will eventually lead us to burnout and our coalition will miss out on the best strengths we have to offer. In addition to work burnout, continually trying to do it all yourself can lead to life burnout. Your health, relationships and more will suffer. Now is a great time to start thinking about areas of your life – all areas – where you need to consider someone else to take on some of the responsibility. You may also start thinking about areas of life that need a firm “no” boundary so that you will not end up in a place of burnout.
You will miss opportunities.
In every coalition, partnership and team I have worked with, there are always more opportunities than time to consider the opportunities. When you get strategic about delegating, you create more room and margin to be open to new opportunities. While some opportunities are not a good fit, other opportunities are exactly the right fit, and if you are stuck in a place of doing it all yourself, there will be no margin to pursue the opportunity. Additionally, you will miss opportunities to build capacity, team members’ skills and sustainability of your work. By delegating to the right people at the right time, you are in a place of training, coaching and teaching that will help your coalition succeed long after you have retired or chosen another path. By delegating, you are able to both pursue opportunities and increase your team members’ opportunities to grow in their strengths, skills and capacity.
Are you ready yet? What is your motivating factor to begin (or try again) with delegating?
If you want more support in this area, check out my free masterclass recording, Escape the Overwhelm.
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