Don’t Discount this Leadership Diet
Don’t Discount this Leadership Diet https://csuiteold.c-suitenetwork.com/advisors/wp-content/themes/csadvisore/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 Dr. Gary McGrath https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4c89c1fb9484e35b88be24a269f39fb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g
Recently I decided to detox with a liquid diet to flush all the nasty toxins to the curb. I hate to admit it but my mind seemed sharper, my joints ached less and I could watch an entire episode of the House of Cards when I sat on my couch at 8pm. The best part of this total change of my diet? My tennis game stepped up a notch during my abstinence from unhealthy food and beverages.
What does this have to do with leadership? Statarius is still in growth mode and for those entrepreneurs reading this, you understand the physical demands when you share your passion continually during the start-up phase. My team and I aspire for our clients to be more than just satisfied, we want them to be delighted. That takes an enormous amount of time, energy and relationship-building.
As the company flourishes, the tasks and details exponentially grow like weeds in the yard. Like you I attempt to kill those pesky weeds with the prescribed killer recommended at the local home store. But what is prescribed for completing the myriad of tasks and details, other than possibly cloning myself? Delegation was the answer for me.
Trust me, at first I wasn’t keen on delegating those important tasks and details to my team. My prescription was the delegation diet to lose some of those details that would bog down my day. Do you remember the best seller from 1985 entitled The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey? Indulge me a moment, and visualize yourself, with monkeys hanging onto your every limb, weighing you down. My delegation diet included letting my team own and feed the monkeys that kept me from growing the company. As you focus on your team’s individual strengths, high performers will develop and hone personal strengths, while learning how to handle their monkeys.
The adrenaline you enjoy from crossing off an item on your to-do list is a nice rush of endorphins that keep you coming back for more. Yes, it can be addictive. But, as you delegate your monkeys, the rush of pride and endorphins is doubled. Actually, watch out for this twice as intense addiction! The proud team smiles after successful completion of a difficult task plus my realization that 4x the amount could be accomplished during the day blew me away! To our client’s delight, I tried the delegation diet and relinquished my monkeys to my team.
Another possible reason for those achy joints, tired mind and exhausted body, I was just carrying around too many monkeys! No more liquid detox diets for me, I’ll advocate for the delegation diet. So what monkey will you put up for adoption today?