When you get overwhelmed...Delegate!

As a child, I fantasized being an intrepid traveler, visiting out of way places and having exciting adventures.  As I grew older, I realized I was neither intrepid nor much of a traveler.  Don’t get me wrong, I love being in new and different places but I hate planning an itinerary, making reservations for getting there and back, figuring out where to stay, what to see, what to eat.  And I hate hate hate having to go to an airport.

For many years, my travel was of two kinds: One for business—mainly my husband’s—where we were supplied a destination and an apartment, and then I could take it from there.  The other was the two of us hopping into the car and taking off perhaps with a final destination in mind.  Hotel Tonight, the Wyndham App, Expedia, all allowed us to make reservations minutes before we checked in.  So what was I thinking when I told my daughter that summer 2023 we—her family, my husband and I—would take a family vacation that I would plan???????

My daughter is a lot like a many boards I work with.  When we talk about fundraising they are off and running:  We can do this; we can do that; we can do this other thing; oh wait, another organization does…..  The minute I mentioned vacation, she came up with a new idea every 5 minutes.  And to be honest, I do not work well this way.

First, I tried to put the planning on her.  “You decide,” I said, giving her my budget.  Alas, she was still into looking at every shiny new vacation idea and wanting my opinion.  My opinion, however, is that I really don’t like vacations where there is a beach, a pool, lots of water sports, planned activities….but with 9-year-old twins, a vacation place was probably the best idea.

My second idea was to find a travel agent and toss the whole thing on them.

I love that idea.  Indeed, I’ve always loved the idea of delegating work to others who could do it better than I could.  But there was often the rub.

From a distance of 15 years (the number of years I have been consulting), I have to wonder if the issue was not having competent staff or my inability to let them be competent.

What I’ve learned as a consultant is the importance of being a coach.  It’s not enough to say, “go and do this.”  Often, yes, they need knowledge, but training goes just so far.  Once you learn what it is you need to do, you need help in learning how to do it in the best way possible.  This where coaching really helps.  And yet, it is the one thing that few boards are willing to pay for.

In coaching you get to capitalize on your client’s strengths.  You help them be accountable, responsible, and own their tasks.  When I coach, after i ask what they need right now, I try very hard to mainly listen and guide them to find their own answers.  This is why coaching along with training is so powerful—especially for managers.  If you just tell the person to whom you have delegated work to do something, there is a huge chance you will be annoyed, frustrated, disappointed in the outcome.  But if you use a coaching methodology--how would you handle this? what help would you need to accomplish what I am asking you to do? is there anything that will get in your way right now?—you will be able to avoid problems before they raise their ugly head.

Delegating the work you don’t want or have time to do and coaching the person you’ve delegated to in order that you get what you need are two truly important ways to put you on the road to a successful outcome.  Use them wisely—and use them often.

Clients I coach are quick to see the benefits to them increase when they take charge of leading the conversation.  When I was a manager, the staff I worked best with (and, frankly, for, being a real champion for their needs) were the ones who came to me asking for the help and/or support they needed to get the important work done.