Many days run together in business and as a leader our job is to separate out what we do and what others can do for us …or with us. The way to do this is to let go. Not something that comes easy to leaders; most of whom like the control that comes with the title, especially if it is your name on the outside of the building.
Letting go is hard. Letting go takes courage. Letting go means planning and following up. Are you prepared to do this? It is easier said than done! What if the task is not done the way you want it? What if the time-lines are not met? What if they do it better than you do? Well, so what? Think about that for a minute; new ideas, new perspectives, new solutions, the chance to develop someone else – could you ask for more? And yes – it may take longer to let go and delegate the first few. The fact is, in order to let go, you need to have the instructions, the explanations, and the planning come out of your head and into someone else’s. Eventually, they will get what you mean. As time goes along, you will find that the follow up becomes more important and providing feedback and recognition is really where the growth comes in.
The benefits of letting go far outweigh potential issues that can arise. Let’s look at just a few of the benefits of letting go:
- Helps develop your team
- Helps build morale
- Helps build team spirit
- Helps improve your delegation and follow up skills
- Opens up time to reflect and plan what to let go of next
- Shows your leadership in action
Letting go and empowering others will give you a sense of release and build morale on your team. This is an opportunity to look at your team and help them develop personally and professionally. By letting go, you are also setting the example that it can be done, and perhaps your team can look at what they are holding on to and find ways to do the same. Leaders surround themselves with smart people who often have the skills and expertise they may lack. Smart Leaders use the talent of letting go to function at full capacity.
Here is an exercise I do with my clients because the phrase I hear quite often is, “it is just easier if I do it. It would take longer to delegate”. Take 5 minutes today and think about all the ‘things’ you do as a leader. What are you doing simply because it would be faster/better if you did not pass it on? Who can you let that go to with the correct explanation and follow-up? It may not be exactly how you would do it, but a new twist and perspective may create a very unexpected and positive result.
Go on …let go!
How are you going to let go? Please comment below to keep the conversation going.
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About Lora Crestan
Hello Lora, this is a very interesting topic for me, since I get to work with mostly line employees in order word, with the Action team, the working bees, those who make things happen!. I am a strong believer the first step is giving employees the proper training to allow them to do a good job, to me this is the hardest process because sometimes the job requires one on one interaction, and team up to do the job with them, this empathize the team work, and gives me the chance to see the new colleague progress and most importantly to give them that important honest, kind feed back.
Once they are trained and they know the job, I normally let them go, but I check up on them, ask them questions and encourage them to find more than one way to do it and figure out what work best. when new projects arrives I ask feed back to see what they think it’s going to be the best way to get the job done withing time frame and with the highest quality and productivity. I find out sometimes that my original idea was not the best and I am happy to discover this, because it allow me to get to know the talents I have working with me, and where they function at the best. I would add up Build mutual trust to the five benefits of letting go you mentioned above. two and three building morale and team spirit are very important, because happy employees produces good results. I am a firm believer that to achieve great things we must work in collaborative environments. One person do not posses all the skills and aptitudes to accomplish great things, Like you stated it’s a win-win situation. It gives leaders more time to reflect
Thank you so much for this wonderful post, I will share this with my friends and colleagues!
very appreciated
Maria Garcia
Beautifull post Lora.
It is indeed sometimes hard for a leader to let things go and to delegate. Trust is key but sometimes a leader can delegate in an unhandy way. What helped me a lot on a personal level and i am using it now for coaching are ‘The five levels of delegation’. I found those in a blogpost of Michael Hyatt and it makes delegation much easier to practise: http://michaelhyatt.com/the-five-levels-of-delegation.html
Kind regards and thank you to put this issue on the agenda of the Blogathon,
Joan
One thing you touched on was time, letting go requires training, mentoring and monitoring (in the beginning). That requires time, often more time than doing the task yourself, but only in the short run. Leaders must have long-term vision to realize the importance of taking the time to train and mentor others. By doing so the team can rise to the challenge and free up time for the leader to work on other aspects of the business. Admittedly this is especially difficult when placing trust in newer employees, since even though you’ve entrusted them with the task, you as the leader are being held to the results.
Great post, Lora! We have so much room to 'let go' in education. We do our part at my school by actively engaging teachers and students in identifying and addressing problems and opportunities. Today, for example, a boy in grade 5 came to my office and requested to meet with me tomorrow to discuss how he and his friend can lead a Lego club next year. I also learned of a new mentor-mentee relationship between a girl in grade 5 and a girl in grade three who has been having some difficulties. How wonderful is that? It happens a lot at our school. I wish it happened at every school. You just have to share the leadership with everyone.
Thanks Lora! Many business owners and leaders like to "control" and many want to think they can "do everything" they need themselves. Allow your workers to provide input, Let Go, and Outsource is what I'll say to these leaders. Thanks Again!
This is awesome Bobbi, thanks for sharing this link!
SteadyLove
Chuck
Well said Lora. I have known too many so called leaders that think leadership is about controlling and micro-managing. I think this is a fundamental principle that all leaders should adhere to.
Hi Lora
Great thoughts … and the biggest one is about TRUST – we need more leaders who can generate this and enable others to follow that leadership. The key for me is showing real authenticity and powerful emotional intelligence – it is a winner every time!
Kind regards
John
Good article and a very interesting point, I completely agree with Amy’s comment about ‘trust.
You must know your people, their capabilities, who you can trust and what you can trust them with. By letting things go you can motivate your people and achieve far more, and the best bit is you get better people at the end of it.
Very true! I think that the skill I have developed most during the past four years is to delegate. And your team members WANT you to delegate tasks to them! They want to feel ownership, and will also practice to delegate themselves, which will make them better future leaders.
Dear Lora,
Letting go is difficult for many leaders; I too see it in my work. I remain Grateful to a couple of wonderful role model managers that mentored me by their example when I was new leader at IBM. They gave great freedom to solve the problem at hand, but also set the stage for success by articulating a clear vision and expectation for “results achieved.”
Thanks for validating the significance of letting go and what makes it work.
Debbe
Letting go shows that you trust your team and that you are confident in how well you have done in hiring and training people.
Thanks for the blog. I totally agree. But for the most of us it is difficult to let go, but the time you will win (for yourself) in the end is priceless..