Reframing ‘Doing Dopamine’ When Delegating.
You won’t feel as busy at first.
What stops you from delegating?
Most say a version of: “I’m too busy”, or “it’s easier if I do it.”
It is easier to do it yourself. If you want to do the same thing for the rest of your life.
Behind the thought ‘I’m too busy to delegate’ is a fear of value.
For example:
If you delegate, what will you be good for?
What value will you add if you give your ‘work away’?
If you delegate, will you be seen as less valuable?
Will everyone think you can’t handle it?
Do any of these sound like you?
When you think about delegating, do you worry that:
You’ll have nothing to do?
Your role will be up for redundancy?
People will think you’re lazy and taking advantage?
You’ll have to do work you hate?
The gateway to delegation.
If you’re delegation-shy, you already probably know the benefits: saving time, etc.
What you’re probably missing is probably either:
A framework to delegate, which you can read about here.
A mental reframe of what you’ll lose, by working differently (outlined below).
What’s the true value of your leadership?
As a boss, your value has changed.
Your value is no longer daily, or even hourly, delivery.
Your value is now results (irrespective of how the work gets done).
Technically anyone can do the work.
You’re the one who needs to make sure there are quality, consistent results.
Who does the work is irrelevant. Being stressed out and overworked just gets in the way.
What to expect when delegating?
The biggest hurdle for delegation-shy leaders is missing their ‘doing dopamine’.
‘Doing dopamine’ is the feeling of instant gratification.
The satisfying ‘swish’ of an email sent. Posting a comment. Ticking something off your to list. It feels like an accomplishment, right?
When you delegate … doing dopamine rates plunge.
Replacing it is a more discrete, but more powerful, feeling.
Satisfaction.
All from trying a different way of working: delegating to others.
This is why delegation is less appealing for many leaders.
When you delegate, you experience ‘doing dopamine’ less.
You don’t immediately see results.
Instead, you see results over a longer period of time.
Withdrawing from ‘doing dopamine’ means you’re ready to think long term about what kind of work experience you want to have.
Dealing with dopamine withdrawal.
The trick to rewiring the way you work is to train your brain to get a kick out of a different type of high.
The high of satisfaction over instant gratification.
This means, creating small moments of time to zoom out from the minute.
By doing so, you train your brain to get out of reactive mode to focus on the bigger picture.
You zoom out from how ‘much work’ you produce in a day to feel ‘productive’.
Replacing it is thinking about what value your team is providing over a longer period of time.
It’s also natural to ‘miss’ the tools.
If you’re used to the dopamine of sending off a quick email or replying to a DM, it will feel as though you are not doing anything at all.
What you’ll discover, once you get used to the space, is that you’ll have capacity to focus on your two other criteria, in addition to results: quality control and team engagement.
That means you’ll actually have time to coach your team, give them feedback, and make them better at their jobs.
So you can excel at your new job (being a leader).
No one is going to think you’re lazy if you delegate.
They won’t think you’re lazy because no one is thinking about you.
They’re thinking: ‘what do your results mean for me?’
Remember, leaders are rewarded for thinking big. Individual contributors are rewarded for focussing on the important minutiae.
If you’re delegation shy.
What’s the biggest thing that could go wrong in your mind if you did delegate?
Is it true?
What is the smallest thing you could delegate, with the lowest risk?
If you challenged yourself to delegate 3% of your workload next week, what would you instantly delegate?
If you found the 3% idea compelling, you’re ready to go through the four steps of delegation.
Did you know we run a workshop on delegation for leaders?
Fun fact: it’s very popular with established leaders who get back into the habit of overworking. Leaders tell us that learning about the four steps to delegation and our G.I.V.E Framework is so useful.