Of all the leadership attributes we have discussed so far in this blog, the ability to delegate seems to be the Waterloo for many of us. Why is that? Well, many leaders I’ve worked with have provided the following reasons for their reluctance to delegate: ‘Things go more quickly when I do them myself”; ‘I don’t have time to delegate’; ‘Things are not done well when I delegate’; ‘I’m faster and smarter and I get better results alone.’ ‘I don’t like to ask other people for help’.

I can relate closely to all of these reasons, particularly the last one since I grew up with family members who were pretty poor at asking for help (an inability which nearly cost my mother her life!). But such reasons must not be allowed to deter us from learning to delegate. In fact, because delegation skills are so crucial to good leadership, delegation will be our subject for the next couple of installments of the blog.

Delegation has been my most difficult lesson in leadership, and I’m nowhere near perfect in this department. I’ve been reminded of this this past week during which I’ve had my 5-year-old goddaughter staying with me. We had a family dinner on Saturday, and there was a lot going on in the kitchen. She’s bright and active, and wanted to help, but I confess my heart fell when I saw how much longer things were taking when she took an active part in the tasks. Everything had to be explained S_L_O_W_L_Y, and the pace at which we proceeded seemed interminably slow! But isn’t that exactly the same issue we face when we delegate in our professional world? Although we can explain more quickly to adults (at least in most cases!), and things are likely to move forward more rapidly, the teaching process takes more time than completing the task ourselves. And we can feel quite stressed by this, especially if we have a heavy workload.

Some of you know that in an earlier life I wrote the biography of one of Switzerland’s icons of the 20th century, a man named Paul Sacher (Symphony of Dreams: The Life and Times of Paul Sacher. Rueffer & Rub, Z√ºrich). Paul Sacher was an amazingly productive man. When I asked him how he managed his huge workload, this is what he said about delegation: ‘I always had people around me to help with things. I would say: “You could do that, could you do this?” People were happy to help. They wanted responsibility. It made them feel needed. It made them feel important.’ ‘Needed and important’. Think about that. Those are strong motivators!

It is part of the job description of a leader to empower and motivate others, and much of this can be achieved with delegation. Are you good at delegation? Are there aspects of delegation which are particularly challenging for you? We look forward to your comments on this topic, so let us know!