I watched Vincent drop everything on his desk and excuse himself. From the corner window, he spotted the postal carrier bringing a bag of mail from her truck. Vincent was a senior partner in the firm and he was on his way to the reception desk to perform his daily ritual, sorting the mail. Twenty minutes later, he would return, announcing that eight clients had sent in payments that day. Sure enough, he had neatly stacked the eight envelopes for the receptionist to deliver to accounting.
Think about something you do that meets the following characteristics, make a quick list –
- A task that you perform repetitively.
- A task that you enjoy doing.
- A task that is important to the organization.
I often hear the refrain, “I’m not really sure what I can delegate to someone else.” Now, take a look at your list. Any task that you perform on a repetitive basis is a candidate. You may have overlooked this task because it is something that you enjoy. You may have even justified this task as important to the organization. Look at your list again. What can you delegate?
Great comment Tom. I know very few executives that are great at delegation. It’s a shame no business schools teach delegation.