What Happens When You Start Delegating More

If your to-do list is a long one (and getting longer), you’re not alone. The fact is that many of us think that doing everything ourselves is crucial, and we wear the idea like a badge of honour, but the problem is it can quickly turn into burnout before you even realise what’s happening. 

In theory, delegating sounds like the perfect solution, and it seems like a really easy thing to do – hand off a few tasks, free up some time, and suddenly everything’s easier. But in practice, it can feel really uncomfortable. There’s always the worry that someone won’t do it quite right or that it’ll take longer to explain what you want than it would to just do it yourself in the first place.

But the thing is, once you get past that initial worry and resistance and start delegating more regularly, the results can be fantastic. With that in mind, keep reading to find out more about what happens when you start delegating because it might inspire you to get started.

You Regain Time 

One of the first things you’ll notice when you start delegating more is that you’ll have more space not just in your calendar, but also in your head – you’ll be able to think so much more clearly because you’re not trying to do everything by yourself all at once, and that means you’ll stop feeling as though you’re never getting anywhere. Delegating just a few small tasks (to begin with) can be enough to create a bit of breathing room, and when you’ve been going full speed ahead for ages (probably too long), that extra bit of space really will make a big difference. 

Suddenly you’re able to think more clearly, make better decisions, and actually get through the things on your to-do list that you haven’t delegated, and you’ll feel great about it all. 

You’re Not Holding Things Up

When everything has to go through you, it’s definitely going to slow progress down, and that’s not a criticism of how you do things; it’s just the reality of the situation. So of course, delegating means you get to take the pressure off and it helps keep things moving, even when you’re tied up somewhere else and wouldn’t normally be able to get to things in good time. 

It might be as simple as handing your scheduling over to someone else, or perhaps you give the job of following leads up away or maybe it’s the recurring admin. But whatever it is, those little shifts mean everything stops piling up on your desk, and it gives your team a good way to keep projects on track themselves without you needing to agree to every little step. 

Things Feel More Manageable

Even if you’re not in a leadership role, delegation can make all those usual daily tasks feel a lot less overwhelming – and it means you don’t have to learn new skills if they’re not necessary – after all, you’ve got plenty of other things on your plate. 

If you’ve got a kitchen at work, for example, then it makes much more sense to get expert kitchen exhaust filter cleaners in to deal with what needs to be done because you don’t have to learn what to do, you don’t have to take time out of your day, and your team will have a clean, usable kitchen to relax in. It’s a win-win for everyone. And that’s just one example. The thing to think about is that these aren’t big tasks on their own, but when they’re added up it’s a lot of time and effort that you could spend elsewhere. 

You Get Better At Letting Go

Delegating well does take a bit of practice, and it’s not a case of just dumping unwanted or difficult tasks on people and then walking away – it’s about giving the right information to the right people and trusting them to do the job the way it needs to be done (and not necessarily the way you’d do it either). In other words, you’ve got to let go and stop micromanaging everything. 

Sometimes people will do things differently to how you’d do it, and that’s okay. What really matters is the result, and not the process (as long as they’re being legal and safe, of course). Once you realise that and understand that it’s best just to leave people to do things, delegation is going to stop being stressful and start being a smart, sustainable way to work.

This is a contributed post.