Darrell L. Browning is a principal founder of BrowningLaFrankie LLC, a Philadelphia-area based company specializing in helping companies manage crises, train leaders in media and presentation skills and facilitate strategic change through leadership development and organizational development training, workshops and individual coaching. Browning is the trainer-of-choice at The Wharton School MBA Program at the University of Pennsylvania in crisis communications, media training and business writing. A journalist by profession, Browning has more than 20 years of media experience with CBS-Radio, daily newspapers and national magazines. He holds degrees in Journalism and Social Sciences from The Ohio State University. For more information see http://www.browninglafrankie.com.
By Darrell L. Browning
Managers often get in the way of their own success. Call it what you will, but sometimes a manager can be his or her own worst enemy. The problem usually lies in an inability to delegate work to others. If this is you, the first corrective step should be to identify specific ways you resist delegating to others. The following list may help you with that task.
- Don't Do Everything Yourself. You may tell yourself you have to do this, but it isn't true. Others may work differently, but they can still get the job done. This fear often comes from a concern about the quality of work--and that is an altogether different problem. Doing things yourself takes away from time to manage and does not allow your staff to learn by doing. That's the best way. And you know it.
- It's Not Easier to Do Yourself. Actually, it is much easier to teach staff how to do something than to do it yourself. You save time this way and your staff gains new competencies.
- If They Don't Have Time: Neither Do You. Let's face it; everyone is working harder with fewer resources. If this is the case, stepping in an doing the work for your over-burdened subordinates only adds to your burnout possibilities and directly harms your ability to strategically manage the situation.
- You Are Going to Have to Do It Anyway. Well, if you are doing this, you obviously don't trust your subordinates to complete the tasks before them. Good managers allow subordinates to make mistakes. Another reason may be that priorities need to be revamped. Try looking at that first.
- You May Want to Do It, But Don't. Yes, it may be satisfying to do work you know will bring halos raining down upon you. Your job is to manage, however, not fulfill personal desires of success. Leave the delegated work to those with responsibility for it. Look for other ways to achieve job satisfaction by increasing your leadership skills.
Once you have identified the problem you can begin eliminating it. And manage better in the process.
For more information see http://www.browninglafrankie.com.
© BrowningLaFrankie 2008
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