Welcome to the new year – the land of promotion and advancement in title, skillsets, and responsibilities. I hope you are excited for what is ahead, and with your goals already in motion, I wonder if you have set one for your delegation? Fortunately, most elevations happen as a result of solid technical skills, meaning the person with new responsibilities has the skills for the old responsibilities, too. This makes it very easy to jump back into that old role, at a new price point. I don’t know of an organization that wants to pay more for the previous job to someone they have elevated to do more strategy and facilitation of work.

The difference is in your delegation and facilitation skills. Delegating work is scary at first, because it requires you to let go of control, to trust others, and to accept that your standard of the technical work may not be matched by anyone else……yet the work will get done. Think about something else in your life that you have done even though it was scary – like a haunted house with your friends, or a horror movie with your lovelies (okay, those are mine, you have your own). How did you “survive” it? You shifted your mindset. And while the stakes on those things may not feel as high as work product in your organization, the mindset shift is still applicable.

To begin delegating in a way you haven’t previously approached it, find bite-sized pieces. What can you hand off that is small enough to not feel terrifying, and large enough to offer relief to your day? Debrief that with the person to understand how they went about doing the project, and begin to understand how their standard can effectively achieve the goal of completing the project.

Now, think about the people you trust in your sphere of influence. What are their qualities and characteristics that you know guide you to trust them? Maybe it’s a process you trust and not a person. That’s okay. Look for places of success (that’s your mindset) that you can build on. If you find your internal dialogue chanting “no time….for teaching, training, delegating, supervision, etc.”, understand that is going to put you in a defensive posture with anything you hand off, and anyone who wants your time. Think about time as priorities and measure what your priorities are, rather than the clock.

These are a few different approaches to weave into your world as you seek to elevate your role, title, responsibilities, and influence.

As we launch this new year together, my hope is we all share our Goodness with the world, and inch toward being more of who we are.