{"id":2260,"date":"2022-07-05T18:31:08","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T18:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmjstrategies.com\/website_9e304ce3\/?p=2260"},"modified":"2024-12-04T16:58:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T16:58:55","slug":"time-to-let-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmjstrategies.com\/es\/time-to-let-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to let go"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou just need to let go.\u201d My knuckles are white as I hold on tighter than ever. The instinct is natural. Why on earth would I let go? I might fall. I might die. At least if I hold on I have some control over my fate. Actually, I really do need to let go. Because I can\u2019t hang on here at the top of the tree while the queue for the zip-line backs up behind me. I\u2019m holding everyone else back. I can\u2019t climb down again \u2013 the only option is to step out into mid-air and trust that the harness, the safety net and the people who built this thing won\u2019t let me down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delegation can often feel like this – especially when you\u2019ve started a bigger leadership role and simply can\u2019t be all over the detail like you used to be. There aren\u2019t enough hours in the day. But that expertise is what got you here. You knew your stuff. You were in control. Things were done in the way that you judged was best. Isn\u2019t that why you got promoted? No, it\u2019s not. Well, at least not entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all know the standard tips for \u2018good delegation\u2019. Build the team. Set clear goals and deadlines. Check-up on things regularly. Judge the level of risk you\u2019re prepared to take \u2013 is this something that you can afford to give a bit of time and iteration to? Or is it so high-stakes or urgent that you need to hold it more tightly? At least that\u2019s what I was taught. But the problem with this is that it still assumes that you ultimately know what the \u2018right\u2019 answer is. Delegation becomes an awkward dance in which you let go just a little bit to give someone else the chance to have a go but are always standing there, poised to give \u2018feedback\u2019 until it gets to where you think it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach is probably OK if the piece of work you\u2019re delegating is fairly straight forward and the process is designed to build capacity in a specific area. But what if you don\u2019t yet know what the \u2018right\u2019 answer is? What if you don\u2019t have time to think it through before you have to delegate it (because after all your job just got five times larger)? Then you end up handing over the task with a few steers on what you think the output might look like (cooked up in the 3 minutes before the call while you were waiting for zoom to re-boot). What follows is a painful process where you receive and comment on what emerges against a vague sense of an outcome in your head that you\u2019ve never had time to define. You might still get a good enough result but how frustrating has it been and what opportunity have you missed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What might a more nuanced approach to \u2018letting go\u2019 look like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udca1Change how you think about the process. This is not about letting go of what you want to do, it\u2019s about setting up others to achieve great things with your help. If growth and development of your team is a true part of your purpose \u2013 and evidence suggests that in successful organisations it should be \u2013 then your goal is not just to get to a \u2018right\u2019 answer, it\u2019s to create the conditions in which your team generates a whole range of amazing answers that might never have even occurred to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83e\uddf1Ensure that you have the foundations in place for this to work. Even if you don\u2019t buy the Netflix fairytale of empowerment and autonomy, the four Cs of their approach are still a handy checklist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n