The CEO of a small company was sharing with me during one of our coaching sessions that she was really struggling to find time for space to create and put together a new strategy, and really step out of her day-to-day business in order to uplevel. I hear this often, not just from business owners but from corporate executives, that they find themselves still kind of inundated with a bit of the minutia and the day-to-day.
Whether that day-to-day is task-oriented or people-oriented, whatever it is, they have a hard time finding time in order to step out and see more of the big picture, see the vision, take their energy and their creativity into that next level – and not only the next level for the team or the business, but even just the next level for themselves, in order for them to grow and to be more of that up-leveled executive or business owner. So, as we continue talking, one of the things that she shared is that she was having a hard time letting go; letting go, in this case, of one specific deliverable that was client-facing.
It was something that she created from the ground up, and what we identified was that part of it was a bit of a comfort zone for her. It was something that she had created, it was part of her daily routine. And so there was this feeling of loss, by thinking about taking it and giving it to someone else. Regardless of if we use the word delegation, I hear this often, “Colleen, I know I need to delegate, I have a hard time or I don’t have time.”
Regardless, one of the key pieces is that many times the thing that is keeping you or other leaders so in the day-to-day is this fear or the feeling of, if I move it I’m literally losing something; I have this loss, I’m getting rid of something that is so comfortable to me. Even though it may be the thing that is kind of irritating because it’s a time suck, or it’s taking too much of your energy, there is this emotional attachment that you may not even be aware of, because you’re thinking about this removal or delegation, the passing of the baton, as a loss – that you are getting rid of something.
So if you’re finding yourself in this space where after true assessment and true reflection you’re thinking, why am I having a hard time passing this off? If there is something that it is like, wow, I never thought about it this way, I never realized that I’m feeling this attachment because it’s just part of me, it’s part of what I’ve been doing maybe for two, three plus years in my role, in my day-to-day, and now I’m feeling this loss.
It’s less of a loss of something and more of an opening or a clearing, to allow for greater things to happen.
For you to uplevel as a leader, you will need to shift, delegate, move things to others, not only to free up space for you to be in more of that next-level thinking, but also to expand the capabilities of the team that’s around you. If you’re the one that is still working in that thing, whatever that thing is, day-to-day, it is limited to what you’ve brought to it. I don’t care how kick-ass that thing is that you’ve created, it is now limited to what you’ve done with it. It now should be moved over to the next individual, to bring their own ideas, innovation, and creativity to it, so that you not only have the space to create other new things, but this is now expanding under your guidance, under your leadership – creating an even greater impact than just thinking about the one thing you wanted to move over and do.
So I encourage you, that if you’re really looking for, how do I have more time, I know I need to delegate, if you’re feeling this fear of loss, think of it more as I’m moving this here to empower this individual, but to also create greater opportunity, something new while I’m also freeing space for me to create new. It’s double, if not 10 times the impact that could be had, versus you hanging on to that one thing.
What will you be doing next? I want to hear, and if you are interested in talking more about this shift and this change and how do we create new, how do we have confidence in that person that we are shifting to, how do we communicate that, how do we move to the next level? Message me, I would love to continue this conversation!