As a perfectionist, I used to fail miserably at delegating tasks. From group projects in school to work earlier in my career. I tried to take on everything and manage every task I felt I could handle.
While this made lazier teammates happy, it took its toll. Capable people were left without enough work to do, and I became the bottleneck for many tasks. I didn’t see it as an issue in school, but it became apparent in the work world quickly.
I had to learn how to properly delegate tasks, whether in a leadership role or in a team situation. Everyone has things they’re better or worse at, and I was no exception. The true inefficiency of being unable to delegate won’t show itself in small projects or with over-the-top timelines. Sometimes that thing you’re worse at is being available for the task.
Why Bother Delegating?
If I can do it better, why should I bother delegating?
This is the question I’ve asked, and I’ve heard asked by almost every other perfectionist. It’s an easy trap to fall into. I can, or at least think I can, do better than most people at most tasks related to my job. I pay more attention and I invest more time in it than many of my coworkers will or would. It’s necessarily that I’m better, I just care more about every piece of work with my name on it.
You run into several problems with this type of thought process. Even if you are substantially better at it, some tasks just don’t need the attention to detail a perfectionist might think they do. Other tasks are bottlenecks, so having something done, even if it’s only 70% as good can keep the whole process moving smoothly.
Even if I can do better 100% of the time, I’m only one person. There’s a limit to what I can do, especially with tasks which are prerequisites for other tasks. You have to deal with exhaustion and fatigue as well. Figure out your limits before you get in over your head.
Accepting Imperfection
To even begin to delegate tasks, you have to learn to accept imperfections. Not every single task matters as long as it’s done well enough. Just because your microwave works best cooking something for 57 seconds doesn’t mean that a full minute is going to hurt anything.
Accepting the imperfections for the sake of the greater goal at hand can help move the whole thing forward faster and more efficiently. Internal documentation doesn’t need to the absolutely perfect if everyone using it is on the same page. A rushed, mediocre document today can be better than a perfect document next week. A debugging module with a minor bug which is going to be tossed out before launch doesn’t necessarily need the finishing touches done to it.
What is the worst that’s going to happen? If the work isn’t up to scratch, you were going to do it anyway. As long as it’s not too bad, fixing an imperfection is easier than starting from scratch.
Dividing Labor and Building Trust
Delegation is important to ensure a proper division of labor. It’s easy to horde tasks if you’re worried about how they’ll be done and if they’ll be done at all. You have to trust your team to get things done.
The act of delegation is by nature an act of trust. By delegating, you’re telling your team you trust them to get things done, and to do them right. By not delegating, you tell them you don’t expect things to get done right, which can quickly turn into resentment. There needs to be some level of trust present on both ends.
I tended to not trust team members because historically in school, I ended up doing all of the work or failing group projects. I got used to this and just kept doing it throughout school (even if my team was good). This sort of attitude doesn’t work in the real world though. In school, the exercise is about working in the context of a group, but in real teams, the goal is to complete a task leading to a common goal. School expects there to be a lot of slack due to team conflict resolution, most real world projects don’t.
There are going to be people who care more and who care less, but by refusing to trust your team to be on at least roughly the same page, you’re telling them you doubt their motives, ability, or both. There are obviously still going to be people who don’t contribute, but you won’t know until you ask them to help. I’d rather know than assume. Start with small tasks at first. Inessential tasks can be a great test if you really struggle with this.
Greater Things
By being able to delegate, you can focus on greater things. This can be either a reduced workload or greater throughput depending on your preferences. I delegate tasks I’m less efficient at for both.
By focusing on things I’m better at, I get more done with less work. I used to want to reinvent the wheel, but by accepting the fact that some things are good enough, I waste less time. I’ll still look for perfection in my own work, but I don’t need it in other’s work. Their okay at something they’re good at might be better than my best at something I’m not.
Featured image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay