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MenuHow do I manage how munch work I am giving to myself and how much I'm delegating?
I'm a President/CEO of a small company that's growing like a weed. I've delegated effectively and often find myself coming up with a new idea and delegating it. At times I run out of important things to do in my workday. Yes, the free time gives me time to think strategically - but I feel guilty.
I don't want to feel guilty, but truly understand that I'm still getting things done, just through others.
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Congratulations on delegating so effectively! That is most likely one of the KEY factors in your growth. Too many of us fall into thinking "how can I do that" when we come up with new ideas. A billionaire mentor told me that the better question (and how she grew her businesses to well over a billion) was "who can do that"! Let your ideas flow, and keep giving them away. You are creating work for others, which is a huge contribution to society. Start looking at what is actually being accomplished as a result of all your ideas, and all your delegation, vs what you are actually "doing".
All of my clients experience huge leaps in growth when they start delegating, and the growth is not incremental - it is usually exponential. And each struggles a bit with the guilt you mention - at least initially. But you quickly recognize that, as you said, it frees you to up think more strategically and creatively.
Feel free to reach out if you have follow up questions.
Best of luck in your continued success.
Congraluations! If you are able to delegate and find time to be strategic, you ARE doing your jobs. Most startups have trouble getting past their initial success because the founder feels they need to do all the work and make every decision. If you trust your team and can delegate effectively, then you've got a great team and you should focus on vision and strategy.
If you delegate and trust your team to do things, then not only are you happy you get to think strategically, but your team will be more motivated.
I'll add two caveats. I'm assuming that you are developing strategic ideas for your team to implement, and giving them some freedom on how to accomplish your strategy or objective. If you are simply handing out tasks, then micromanaging to make sure they are done your way, then that's not really delegation. That's direction.
Second, if you are constantly coming up with new ideas and asking the team to implement--which pulls them away from the core strategy--then you are in danger of not fulfilling your overall mission no matter how cool each of the new ideas is.
But, if you are focused on the long-term strategy, and working on ideas to get there--and then delegating the work of getting there to your team--awesome.
Bear in mind that you can delegate tasks, but not responsibility. As CEO your time is best spent making sure that all these different projects are all heading toward the common mission. Keep the information flowing to from and between the people you have delegated to. All of which is "important" just not the day to day "nuts and bolts" that you may be used to.
You also need to remember you are the face of your company. What are you doing to make sure your community, industry etc. know about these exciting new things coming down the pipeline ?
Your role as CEO is just as important as that of those you trust to implement your vision, just different.
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