Whilst living in the dry, blue sunny climes of Perth, Western Australia I received a card in my letterbox from a very good friend of mine who was working on a music relations project in Shanghai. We were both working flat-out in our respective careers and far away from our creative playgrounds of our slightly less sunny England. It was late 2007 and the card, a rare treat, presented a picture, an aerial shot, of a labourer stacking tiles. The card featured a quote whose author reminded me quickly of my home town, Oxford.
“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is. ”
– C.S.Lewis
Drawing my attention to the ‘busy-ness’ of our world and the sensation of never achieving “enough” despite a lot of activity, I could not help but sense an undercurrent of advice which riffs along the lines of:
“If only we could manage our time better we could get more done”
Perhaps it is a heavily embedded cultural myth that by simply restructuring an already unproductive schedule or by pushing harder at one’s work, one can machete a path towards both a sense of achievement and freedom.
So what can we do?
We can begin by studying and embracing behaviours from fruitful artists and productive entrepreneurs.
This 7-part series introduces a few recognised behaviours beginning with delegation.
Part 1 – Delegation
A large part of the art of delegation is first being crystal clear about the outcome you desire.
What
- What does it look like?
- What does it feel like?
- What does it sound like?
- What will it do?
- What resources do I need to complete the task?
..and When
- When does this task, activity or piece of work need to be complete?
- Does it have a deadline? If not, can it be given one?
..and How
- How much time will be involved in carrying out the task?
- How will I manage any critical ‘show-stoppers’?
and Who
- Who will it benefit? – Where can they be found and how will my work reach them?
- Who can help me? – Are they available? Where can I find them?
Secondly, one could also consider whether this task will require the services of a professional company perhaps enhancing the quality and efficiency of the result. Who do you know out there? Is it worth some research?
Thirdly, you may wish to employ an open mind and a strong degree of trust in the talents and abilities of other people to let the magic have an opportunity to happen. Then simply ask.
Recommended action
- Start a journal
- In your journal, note 3 bite-size tasks that could be delegated today
- Identify an appropriate delegate, someone you know well to begin with
- Ask them for their help
- Journal the conversation and how it went – can your approach be improved upon?
- Repeat daily for five days initially
- Review your journal notes and consider if you are yet seeing any benefit
- What else can be improved? What do you need help with?
You might choose to ask someone to:
- do your quarterly tax accounts for you
- research and write a letter on your behalf
- make the changes to your website
or maybe ask them to:
- pick up a new b-string and tune the broken acoustic guitar for you
- pick up that overdue 8Gb memory card on their way home tonight
- see if they can deliver the prints for you
- burn the CDs whilst you focus on other, more important, creative tasks
The freedom of delegating to someone who specialises in a particular talent, be it accountancy, bass-playing, web design or b-string-sourcing, can often harvest results far superior to that of our own well-intentioned outputs. The route through to delivery is often much quicker with more than one soul in action and of elevated quality when you involve the right people with a wealth of specialised experience.
Stuck
There’s a chance you may find yourself stuck when it comes to attempting to delegate.
Plagued with perfectionism, I often found myself immobilised in the trap of not asking someone for help, riddled with the fear that they couldn’t do a job for me well enough. The result was often months, if not years, of indecision and stagnation on certain personal projects. Now I get help and trust the process.
I once saw a phrase that read:
“focus on your strengths and delegate your weaknesses”
I would go further than this and say that delegating tasks to others who will gladly go out of their way to help you is an act of respect and responsibility to your own time, enabling you to focus on what is important. Additionally, it involves them and most people like to make a contribution no matter how small. It can be fun to help someone with their project and it doesn’t hurt to ask.
In Part 2 we’ll take a look at Automation. To keep up-to-date, subscribe here.
How good are you at delegating?
Leave a comment below or connect and share with me on twitter.
Photo credit: ToniVC
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