Thursday Bullets

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This is my brain. On drugs caffeine bullets:

  • I am a terrible at delegating tasks and projects. TERRIBLE. And it’s not for lack of wanting to delegate, I just can’t seem to do it effectively. Even when I try, it is a big fat fail — or so I realized as I was still working at 8pm last night. I need a Delegation for Dummies book. Do they make those? I could ask Google, but you guys are smarter than Google. HOW DO YOU DO IT? No strategy is too small. Share, please!

 

  • You know what I’ve been enjoying lately? The Skimm.  It’s fresh, funny and informative. Me Likey.

 

  • I was catching up on the Balanced Bites Podcasts the other day (we talked about this already, I know) and I ended up “Buy with One Click”-ing my way to 2 new books by JJ Virgin after listening to the episode where she was a guest. It’s ironic because for a long time I had intentionally skipped that episode because she sells some gimmicky book called “The Virgin Diet” which is basically a Paleo protocol (which is ALREADY gimmicky sounding and I have low tolerances for gimmicky diet names and this was TWO MARKETING GIMMICKS IN ONE!)  BUT! I found her so irreverant and fun and her story was charming and so I bought 2 of her books (WHILE SITTING AT A STOPLIGHT!) I guess I am not immune to Marketing Gimmicks. HA! Anyway, her new book is basically about her dietary recommendations for people who seem to be immune to weight loss and I loved her absolute hatred for Jillian Michaels and the calories in/calories out mentality. (She had me at “Your body is NOT a bank account, Jillian, it’s a chemistry lab!”) (Sidebar: I still love this.) Anyway, it got me curious, so I bought it even though I’ve already eliminated all the foods she recommends.

 

  • But! You know how Amazon is with their persuasive “Customers who bought this also bought…” suggestions. So while I was buying her new book it recommended her old book which is obnoxiously titled “Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy” (GAG) and OHMYGOD seriously? My personal kryptonite is people offering solutions to fixing my Bingo Arms. SO I BOUGHT THAT TOO! At another stoplight. So. 6 weeks from now I hope to be rocking some Angela Basset arms. Is that reference outdated? Probably. But seriously? Who has had more bad ass arms than her in the last decade? Hmmmm. Obviously I will report back on both! I am on an impulse buying roll. (Which includes this potentially awesome/awful shirt from LOFT. Will I hate it? Only time will tell.) This is what I do when I am stressed.

 

  • How do I know I’m stressed? Because while impulse buying crap from the Gap I came across a maternity dress that was adorable and on sale and I thought “Ooooh, I should buy that for when I actually get pregnant. That seems like a smart idea.”

 

  • THAT IS THE DUMBEST IDEA EVER. I didn’t buy it. But the fact that I even thought about it is an indicator that things are SORELY out of balance. Also an indicator of that? ALL THE CAPS LOCK.

 

  • Garrett and I are going to Lake Tahoe with friends (and our dog!) (and our friends’ dog) this weekend and I plan to completely decompress so that I stop shopping at stoplights and thinking about buying maternity clothes when I’m not actually pregnant, trying to get pregnant or planning on getting pregnant in the season where I would actually wear said maternity clothes. I need this little getaway SO BAD.

 

  • Don’t forget about the crazy good deal going on with The Primal Kit! (OH WAIT, HOW COULD YOU? It is up on every single freaking site that one could possible read about Paleo stuff. HA! :)) In all seriousness though, if you are on the fence: GET IT. It is full of so much freaking good stuff and I would keep it real with you guys if it sucked. You won’t regret it like you might regret a turquoise peplum sweater from LOFT. The sale is only on until tomorrow!

 

  • Lemons and limes that are going bad smell like nail polish remover. Says the girl sitting beside a bowl of citrus.

 

Any bullets you’d like to share? (Or delegations strategies! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE with the delegation help!)

 

xo

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22 Responses to Thursday Bullets

  1. angela says:

    This is the best blog post I’ve read all week! Thanks for sharing! My week has been pretty similar!

  2. MC says:

    OMG, this post makes me laugh. I can SO see myself doing the same things — and then lecturing myself out loud to get it together! 🙂

    Thanks for making it all seem so normal. 🙂

    Enjoy your much needed downtime!

    • Holly says:

      The out loud lecturing that I am doing is getting out of control over here! I’m resolving not to talk to myself AT ALL this weekend and only talk to good friends with a glass of champagne in my hand. 🙂

  3. Delegation is often challenging for perfectionists – but very rewarding once you learn how to do it (comes from experience).

    I’ve found the following steps helpful:
    1. Set clear expectations of what you want/ how you want it.
    2. FOLLOW UP. Did they do it well? Tell them. Did you want them to tweak something? Tell them. Do it again? TELL THEM. Your staff won’t learn without it.

    Once you delegate successfully (they do the task well! Yay!), then it will make you feel better to trust that person. =)

    Good luck!

  4. Kristabella says:

    I am the WORST delegator. I hate doing it. Because it is easier to do it myself, most times. But sometimes it is not easier and I have yet to learn this.

    • Holly says:

      Story of my life, lady. STORY OF MY LIFE. Just doing it myself totally works….um, until it totally doesn’t. 🙂

  5. Rosa says:

    I’m a clinical professor and my job is to delegate all the work to the students because that is the only way they would learn to be attorneys. One way to start is to look at your To Do List–always have a running To Do List for yourself and others. What is a task that can be given to someone else? Ask yourself questions about that task: “does this belong with Smith’s project?” “would Smith be better suited for this task?” “which team member has done this before and would do this well again?” “I think Johnson has never done this task and would benefit from my assigning this (just as long as you don’t have to take time out to explain/teach/review specifics of a task–or direct them to someone who has done it before). It takes a village to accomplish business objectives.

    I love delegating because I know that my students are learning and feeling productive by my giving tasks. Don’t think of it as an imposition, but as a team experience that benefits all members. Chances are that your colleagues want more work to keep them feeling like there is a purpose to their presence. Good luck.

  6. Rockermocking says:

    I delegate poorly as well. I run reunions/events at a Catholic high school and this past reunion showed me how poor I was at delegation as I ended up doing WAY too much work. I’m a micromanager to the Nth degree so I know that’s part of the problem. I’m trying to work on that so I don’t end up being swamped with work while my co workers are getting their drink on at the next event, lol.

    also, speaking of citrus smells going bad, I know exactly when oranges are turning as I can smell that mold from a mile away. Don’t know if it’s the same smell as lemons/limes, but it is terrible and gives me horrible sinus headaches (severe mold allergy).

  7. Tamara says:

    Ok, so I have to delegate at work a fair amount and I learned the best way to do it was to tell the person I’m delegating to what needs to be done. Then they usually ask if there’s a specific way I like to do it, and if my way is simple to explain and execute, I tell them, if it’s one of my crazy absurd persnickety ways I tell them that however they do it is fine as long as a,b,c (which will allow me to later apply my persnickety absurd method easily). I’ve found letting people do it their way VERY difficult, but in the interest of time and my sanity, I’ve learned to let a few things go. Is that what you’re asking? Micromanaging is the death of delegating is basically what I’m saying. You can’t have both.

    • Holly says:

      I think I need to get better at communicating the a, b and c parts. I’m good at being all, “This is what I need you to get done.” But then when it comes back I’m like, “Hey wait, they didn’t do it my crazy absurd persnickity way and so therefore it’s not right.” Hmmm…also maybe I should just let go of my craziness. Easier said than done. ha! But yes, thank you for the input.

  8. Allison B says:

    I think I might have a different perspective on delagating than typical office jobs-I’m a physician, so usually when I’m delagating, I’m having my nurse or tech do something. But there a few things I think about that-mostly, “Is this what I trained to do?” ie I didn’t spend 10 years of med school/residency/fellowship to fax letters and order office supplies. That may sound snotty but it’s true. If I’m running around doing my secretary’s (administrative assistant?) job, then who is seeing patients? Everyone’s part is important, but you can’t do EVERYONES job.
    Also, if I have my nurse call a patient about something, I make sure it’s something that can cleary be relayed without needing a lot of explanation. For example, my nurse is more than capable of calling patients back with normal lab results that need no follow up. It would obviously be inappropriate to have her call back with abnormal labs or things that need more detailed explanation. I don’t know if any of that is helpful, just throwing out some things to think about 🙂

    On a different note, where do you go to in Tahoe? Im moving to northern California this summer and I’m super excited to be so close to there (about 2 hours away)

  9. Claire says:

    I manage delegation by breaking big projects down. I find it easier once everything is written down to see what I can manage and what needs to go to others. I set deadlines for them and then… I don’t know, it’s like I have to just make myself let go. I know that they’ll succeed or fail under their own merits, and once we come back together we’ll be able to review what’s working and what’s not and go from there.

    Hope that helps a bit! It’s a bit difficult to describe the mental quirk that lets me let go…

    x Claire

  10. Lisa says:

    MICHELLE OBAMA ARMS, OF COURSE. 😉

    I want to know about that book because my Bingo Wings are my most hated body part. I’m so self-conscious about my arms and I don’t know what to do. Most things I read say things like “Cardio! You have to burn the fat and then you’ll have sculpted arms!” Except that doesn’t seem to work.

  11. Sunny says:

    As someone who is the receiver of delegations in my team, it can seem condescending when the boss or other team members won’t delegate tasks to me, because it looks like I’m incapable of handling the task. I too am a perfectionist, and delegating tasks gives me anxiety, but I know how it feels to not feel like a part of the team, so I do it anyway. Laying out expectations or sharing ideas (or dictating, if you’re the boss) helps. My boss will sometimes call me and tell me exactly what she wants me to say in an email to someone, but I’m the one who types and sends it. She encourages me and the team to take two seconds to call her if we have a question on wording, or anything, and this way we learn her expectations and can better handle what she delegates, she gets control over the quality without sacrificing her time away from important things, AND she doesn’t seem like a micro-manager.

    I also want to mention that sometimes the person who gets the delegated task thinks THEIR way of handling it was the best way – even better than the boss’. Constantly going back and telling someone that their way isn’t as good as yours is really discouraging. Then I put less effort into the next task, because I feel like it won’t matter what I put, since it’ll just be redone anyway. Sometime a dialogue about why they handled it the way they did is enlightening.

  12. Scot Herrick says:

    Once you make the decision something can be delegated, do the following:

    1. Delegate the task to the person who can best do the task. Give to people’s strengths, not their weaknesses. Don’t give a planning task delegation to a person who hates to plan.

    2. Completely describe the end result of the task being delegated. If you can’t describe the end state, you are only confusing the communication. “We need a competitive analysis of our product compared to these three competitors, X, Y, and Z. We need to compare features, price, market share, and advertising methods. We need this by Friday.”

    3. Tell the person the format of the end deliverable. For the above, do you want it in text (e.g., Word) or a spreadsheet? PowerPoint? Verbal presentation? Nothing sucks bigger than creating a 20-page Word document, going to the person giving you the task and then that person saying, “Oh. I wanted it in a spreadsheet.” Yeah, sucks.

    4. Prototype, prototype, prototype. Here’s the deal: No matter how clear you think you are in the delegation, you’re not clear. Don’t care who you are, what you have in your head is not the picture in the other person’s head. It won’t match no matter how good you think you communicate. Thus, tell the person to do ONE thing with what was just delegated.

    For example, if you want your information back in a spreadsheet, have that person create the spreadsheet with all the row and column labels and fill in two lines with real information. Then review it with that person to insure everyone is on the same track.

    Most likely, you will catch different interpretations of what you just delegated. And, most likely, the person taking on the task will have great ideas on how your task could be done better — format, information, or method of delivery. It makes the entire deliverable that much better. So prototype. You’ll be happy you did. And so will the person completing the task.

    That’s my $1.50’s worth!

  13. KellyBrown says:

    The biggest and hardest part about delegating? Having to let go. To quote Sheryl Sandberg from her book “Lean In” “you just got to let him do it. He may not do it your way, but he will get it done. And sometimes (wait for it…) DONE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PERFECT!”

    Words I need to try to live by myself.

  14. Laura says:

    Ah, delegating…it is really tough to get started at first!! I’m a new delagator and I’m slowly getting better at it. It takes practice like everything else. Lots of good tips from other comments, so I won’t say too much more.

    Hopefully there are some co-workers you can trust with some smaller tasks to help you get started. Also, taking the time to teach someone might be worth the up-front time. Letting someone else do a task their way is sometimes worth it if it means freeing up your time to do higher-priority tasks. Fun times! 😉

  15. Romanesque says:

    I loved JJ Virgin’s commentary on Jillian Michaels, too. I know Jillian is supposed to be the superstar of that dumb show, but I really want to grab her by the (beautifully toned) shoulders and rattle her back and forth sometimes. I don’t think meanness and screaming ever helps anybody lose weight…