Ar you putting off delegating?

Firstly, congratulations on your new hire! I regularly talk about the fact that having a new person can make you feel like your workload is about to go down- but you should remember, in most cases the opposite is true! I’m super pleased to see you are worried about being a micromanager, because if you are worried it shows you’re ready to work at being this person’s manager. Here's what I'd suggest:

1) Work out what it takes for you to be assured of the quality of this person’s work. Will you be satisfied by the 'watch one, do one, teach one' method- will you trust them after they've watched you execute the task, then completed the task themselves, then shared what they've done? Or do you need more than that to know things are going okay? Once you know the threshold at which you will be happy, it's going to be easier for you to know you can let go.

2) Think about how you can ensure that things are done in a way that works for both of you. Are they a Slack user? Do your prefer email? Is a face-to-face update sufficient? Once you’ve got into a habit that works, stick to it.

3) They are new! A bit of micro management can be great for both of you for the start. You just need to be clear on the timelines for it, and there’s a big benefit to both of you in establishing ground rules. For example, in the first week or two I’d be expecting a minimum of two check-ins a day, graduating to one, and so on. These check-ins are your chance to ask “Hey, did you manage to send that meeting invite? Do you need any help with it?”.

4) Give them a fair shot. Those fears about the job not being done perfectly might never disappear, and they may never be as good as you. But they also might end up doing it even better- if you don’t give them a chance, though, you’ll never know…

Let me first just say, I really understand what its like to feel like you are on the treadmill and no one is coming with you- it's hard and it can really breed resentment towards those that you feel like you are carrying.

However- I can tell you now, for free, that you are not briefing them well enough. It takes time to set out a task, to lay out the ins and outs of your expectations, and to work out when you need it done by. That speed you are feeling is haste- and haste leads to everyone feeling stressed and miserable. Here are a few things you can do to change this:

1) Take a breath.

2) Talk to your team members about their task list- if they can’t give you a clear list of priorities they are working on, then you can start there. If they can tell you the priorities- ask them what the success measures are for each of those are. Spend an hour making sure everyone is speaking the same language and knows what good looks like. 3) When moving forward with new tasks, ask your team members to play them back to you, to check their understanding.

4) Remember to use the rest of your team. If you aren’t the best person to teach them something- ask someone else.

Good luck, and be kind- no one comes to work to do a bad job…