“How much time do you want to save?” I asked.

“I want to delegate this project because my manager told me that I needed to delegate more to my team,” Roger explained.

“Why does your manager want you to delegate more?”

“He thinks, and I agree, that I have too much on my plate. I work too many hours and many things don’t get finished. My manager thinks if I delegate some of my projects, that more things will get finished.”

“So, what’s stopping you from delegating more often?” I wanted to know.

“The things I have to do are complicated. I can’t just dump them on someone, they won’t know what to do. They will do it wrong and I will have to come back and fix it anyway.”

“Really?” I looked surprised. “Here are some other reasons you don’t delegate –

• Your mother told you if you wanted it done right, you had to do it yourself.
• You don’t trust your team.
• No one on your team is competent enough to complete the task.
• Your team members are already overworked.
• You don’t have time to train someone to complete the task.
• Your team will resent you dumping more work on them.
• You will lose control.
• You will have to actively manage other people, when you have difficulty managing yourself.