“I’ll just do it myself.” Have you let that sentence pass your lips before? I know I have. Delegation can be a serious challenge for leaders. Often those in a leadership role got there by doing all things themselves and doing them with excellence. It can be hard to ease off the reins. However, for teams and businesses to grow, leaders must overcome their internal barriers and delegate.

The Struggle to Delegate

While conversing with a friend of mine who holds a prominent leadership position, I heard those familiar words, “I’ll just do it myself.” He explained that he has high standards. The people around him weren’t capable of managing this task with the level of detail he believed was necessary. In his frustration, he was willing to toss another ball into his juggling act.

You see, he’s a perfectionist. That’s part of what makes him great at his job. Sadly, he has probably been told, “If you want something done right, do it yourself,” a few too many times throughout his career.

I urged him to try to step back from the emotion of the moment. He shot out several excuses as to why he couldn’t delegate this task. I aimed to alter his perspective and help him see a bigger picture. As leaders, we need to do just that.

When it comes to delegation, leaders must reframe 3 prominent, yet limiting beliefs that are inhibiting the growth of themselves and their teams.

1.  Short-Sighted Belief: “This will get done faster if I just to do it myself.”

The temptation of this belief is that it is true. It is true in the moment. However, in the long-run, you’re only hurting yourself and your team. It is worth it to make time to properly delegate any tasks that don’t require your specific input. Once trained, your team members can continue to handle these tasks. This frees you up, as a leader, to have more time for casting vision, developing strategy, mentoring, innovating, etc.

By doing things yourself, you are also stunting the growth, initiative and independence of your team.

Reframe Short-Sightedness with: “While this may save me time now, properly delegating this task will buy me more time in the future.”

2. Perfection Belief: “If I want something done right, I have to do it myself.”

Many leaders trust themselves more than their teams. When you deem something important, you have a harder time letting it go. Your team doesn’t think like you think. They don’t make decisions like you do. They don’t have your instincts. If this is your fear, then I challenge you to consider that this fear is your fault. As a leader, developing your team is your responsibility.

If you coach someone through the process, he can learn to think more like you. As you explain why you would make certain decisions, you teach him to process information the way you do. Over time, you cultivate skills in your team that you can trust.

Author John Maxwell wrote, “If someone can do a task at least 80% as well as I can, I give it to them.”

Reframe Perfection with: “The time it takes to train someone to do this right is an investment. They may not do it the way I would, but an 80% solution done by someone else is better than a 100% solution I had to do myself.”

3. Fear Belief: “This is important, so I have to do it myself.”

At times, leaders assume there is an expectation that if a task or project is deemed important, they must do it themselves. This belief stunts the growth of a team or organization. If you are the only one that can do “important” things, then you significantly limit how many important things your organization can handle at once.

Can your team not handle important tasks? I’d imagine the they can. Indeed they may be more capable than you realize. By allowing team members to do more, you expand the growth of your business rather than stifle it.

Reframe Fear with: “By trusting my team with important tasks, I’m expanding the capabilities of our organization.”

Honestly, these 3 limiting beliefs are the ones I battle most when it comes to delegation. Just like many of you, I get caught up in getting things done. At times, I need to remind myself to rely on the team around me. I need to make the long-term investments that will pay long-term dividends.

Take the First Step

Delegation can be a hard skill for leaders to learn. In order to learn to delegate, we must first overcome the limiting beliefs that hold us back from cultivating excellence in ourselves and our teams. Avoid a quick fix mentality. Practice the art of leadership. Reframe for long-term solutions. Reframe for 80% solutions. Reframe for expanding capabilities.

Question: What is your greatest hurdle when it comes to delegation? Share your comment below this post.