4: The art of letting go

Topics

• What does it mean to let go?
  Letting go means stopping doing something you used to do a simple enough to say but pretty hard thing to do.

  • Learn how to lead without being in control
  • Learn how to delegate
  • Be clear and transparent, so others can make the same or better choices than you would.
  • Train your replacement but don't clone yourself
  • Mistakes are fine but show confidence. There is nothing you can break that I can't help you fix.

• Why is it important to let go?

  • You are not needed everywhere every time.
  • Not everything you did is great and can be changed.
  • Your team doesn't need a hero. Don't create a dependency. Don't fall into the trap of "I'm surrounded by idiots".
  • Your ego is sometimes the problem.
  • You are a different contributor now. You impact more people than before. Different responsibilities allow other people to grow.
  • You create time but letting go things that can be taken over by others.
  • There are only so many things you can handle. Even the most-efficient person has limits. Do you need to reach them?

• How to let go

  • Learn how to lead without being in control
    • Provide context and autonomy
    • Be clear and transparent, so others can make the same or better choices than you would.
    • Train your replacement but don’t clone yourself
    • Mistakes are fine but show confidence. There is nothing you can break that I can’t help you fix.
  • Learn how to delegate
    • Delegating a task without delegating any of the decision-making is micromanagement. Be somewhere in the middle.
    • Delegation does not absolve responsibility.
    • Delegation can mean different things for different profiles:
      • Good growth opportunities for juniors or intermediates. This gives them visibility.
      • Better for someone else. Experienced people that are better than you at something.

Resources

• Recommended Books

  • The New One Minute Manager - Spencer Johnson