4 Reasons Managers Must Delegate To Get Ahead

4 Reasons Managers Must Delegate To Get Ahead I had a client who kept a Super Man doll that welches still in its original packaging in a straight line of sight from his desk. When I asked him about it, he said that a client of his had given it to him after hed made some heroic efforts to get a project finished for them. He kept it there to remind himself that he shouldnt play Super Man. What a brilliant reminder that solo efforts are almost never successful ones. What you will consistently hear from top performing women is that their growth really took off when they stopped trying to be Wonder Woman. After coaching hundreds of leaders, I can confidently say that the ability to delegate is one of the key skills that separate those women whocrush their careers and those whodont. I find it a bit ironic that theres a perception that men are bad at asking for help and delegating and women are great at it. Ive observed just the opposite to be true in the professional world. Women will get it done on their own or die trying. Better to gut it out than have anyone think we dont know it all or cant do it all. We have unrealistic expectations about what we should be able to do on ur own, and notlage delegating hurts our careers in 4 big ways1. Trying to do it all leads to burnout, mistakes and slow delivery. Theres a limit to how much you can do, and how much you can do well. While youre trying to do it all, youre killing your productivity, your speed to results and the quality of the works youre delivering.2. You set yourself up for reverse delegation. Right now, the people around you have you well trained. I know that sounds harsh, but I didnt write this to make you feel warm and fuzzy. I wrote this to help you get out of your own way and succeed at higher levels. Your team and your family know they can come to you and you will have the answer or will respond with something like, Just give it to me and Ill take care of it. Youre a superhero in your own mind, when in fac t they have the power to make you jump.3. You are limiting your teams growth. If you always take things on when asked, your team will assume youll always come in and save the day or do the work theyre just a little bit scared of because its a stretch for them. We know that learning and development opportunities drive engagement and lower turnover. If youre not delegating, youre not giving your team the opportunity to take on tasks and projects that are routine for you, but stretch assignments and learning opportunities for them. Youre also sending them the message that you dont trust them to take on new, challenging assignments.4. You are limiting your own promotion potential. Higher-ups are watching you, and I guarantee that they are assessing how well you delegate. Ive been in my fair share of succession planning meetings where a persons ability to delegate was the make or break factor in determining whether they were slated for promotion or not. Its a BIG deal. Your ability to ge t things done through others becomes mora and more important as your rise through the ranks. Youve got to show that youve got what it takes to do that through delegation.Its time to ditch the lasso, Wonder Woman. You have to let go to grow. I hereby ask each one of the over-achieving-thanks-I-can-get-it-I-should-be-smart-enough-talented-enough-faster-better-stronger women reading this to delegate. If you want to be a rock star manager - a Fairygodboss - build a brilliant understanding of how to tap the energies and efforts of the people around you to enable high performance. Know your own unique strengths and spend your time focused on those things and become a master delegator of the rest. If you dont, those super human efforts will eventually come back to harm you, whether it be in compromised health or relationships or in limited opportunities. Dont try to be Wonder Woman build your own Justice League.--Mo is the Founder of The Moxie Exchange, a training and peer mentoring organi zation for companies who want to recruit, develop, promote and retain women and create inclusive workplaces. Shes an advisor to CEOs of the nations fastest growing companies and is the founder 5 successful businesses. She also been known to sing loudly, dance badly and curse like a sailor.Fairygodboss is committed to improving the workplace and lives of women.Join us by reviewing your employer