Delegation + Leveling Up Your Normal

I’m Melissa Shanahan, and this is The Law Firm Owner Podcast, Episode #172.

Welcome to The Law Firm Owner Podcast powered by Velocity Work for owners who want to grow a firm that gives them the life they want. Get crystal clear on where you're going. Take planning seriously and honor your plan like a pro. This is the work that creates Velocity.

Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm so glad you're here. Today, we are talking about delegation specifically, but I'm gonna teach you a tool that can be used for anything you want to improve for yourself. Anything that you want to create a new normal around in terms of how you operate, how you think, how you're showing up, etc., this tool can be helpful.

But I'm going to use the example looking at some issues people are having around delegation, and creating new normals around delegation. I've had some conversations with clients lately about delegation, and about how they want to improve certain aspects of delegating and how they delegate.

One of the things that we do towards the end of certain private client retreats is have them complete a leadership survey. There are certain questions on the survey, and they answer yes or no. And the things that they feel like they need to improve upon, we stop and we ask some questions, clarifying questions, that help them identify exactly what they can do to improve that specific topic.

Now, on this leadership survey, there is a section about delegation. When it comes to this, a lot of the time people do want to be better in this arena. And there was a private client recently, who rated themselves a five with delegation. And we talked more about it, and this person felt like they used to be really good at delegation, and they got themselves to this place of more space, more freedom.

But you know, things have shifted recently, and they don't feel like they're as great at it. The focus hasn't been there, so that they are as good with delegation as they used to be. And I said, this is the first question I want all of you to ask yourself; if there's an area that you want to be better, you want to create a new normal in terms of just how you roll, how you operate?

This is the first question to ask yourself: How would you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10? Ten being no room for improvement, it is perfection. How would you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10, within this area? So, in this example, within delegation. The answer from the client was a 5.

Okay, next question to ask yourself, once you have determined your current score: What would it take, so that you could rate yourself a 6 or a 7? What would you need to do, so that a 6 or 7 is what you would score yourself? And with that question, what came back was; well, I need to sit down and just look at everything that's on my plate, and pass off the things that don't need to be me.

And that is, for sure, a worthy exercise, especially when you feel like there's a backlog and you need to push the reset button. But when we're talking about creating new normals in terms of behavior, one and done doesn't do it. Creating new normals in terms of behavior and how you operate and how you show up and how you roll, that is active work, day after day after day after day.

And so then, I asked the question again: Okay, so if you do that, which I think you should sit down and do that work to get a bunch of stuff off your plate, moving forward, what can you do so that you don't end up here again? What can you do, so that next time you ask yourself, how you would rate yourself, the answer is a 6 or a 7 instead of a 5.

So, with a minute or two of thinking, what came back was; I need to have a filter every time something comes in, my natural state of thought is I need to do this, I need to do this, I need to do this. Like, there's an undercurrent of me just piling on what comes through.

And instead of I need to do this, if that's what I'm assuming, if I'm trying to shift that, then I have to ask myself; why do I need to do this? And see what the answer is. And so, as we kept talking, what was very clear was that is the filter question that he needs to ask all day, every day. Every time something comes towards him; why do I need to be the one to do this?

Now, sometimes there'll be a valid answer why he's the one that needs to do it. There are some things that only he can do. But that's not always true. And in order to get out of default mode, where you're just accepting what's coming your way. And he doesn't do that entirely, right. But there are certain things that come his way, and he isn't using that filter. He's just accepting it.

And so, in order for him to… He has to remember to ask himself, as a new normal; why do I need to be the one to do this? If I am not the only one that can do this, if it doesn't require my brain only, like there's someone else that could handle this or a big part of it, then it needs to go to them.

So, right here, is where I want, and this is where I talked about with the client, I want to remind all of you that the podcast I did on reminders, the daily reminders, this is where this fits in. If this client wants to get better with delegation, and that's going to require that he has a different approach every time something rolls into him, he's going to have to remember to ask a new question.

Or, to have that filter present, that these things have to pass through. And if you don't remember it, then you will get yourself back into the same spot. You will, in three months from now, still write yourself a five because nothing really changed about how you operate, about how you are thinking, and about how you are showing up.

So, this is an example of something that goes on his daily reminders. There's going to be some version of a statement on his daily reminders; I don't just accept everything that comes my way. I always ask, ‘why am I the one that needs to do this?’

Think about that, if you were posed that question every single morning, you would act differently, at least a lot of the time throughout every day. And you create a new normal for yourself, you create a new result for yourself, because you have less crap on your plate that you don't need. But you also create a new normal in terms of how you operate.

And, it's a practice. What are you practicing? That's what daily reminders are for, is so that you're practicing the right things that will help you move the needle. So, that's one example with delegation, the questions you can ask yourself. How would you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10, currently?

And then the second question becomes: What can I do that would help me go from that current number, up a notch or two on the scale? Not go to a 10, just up a notch or two. And then, it gives you something very doable, that you can start to implement, that makes a big difference in the long run.

Another one from that same retreat, was someone else in the retreat that also felt similarly. They feel like they need to improve with delegation, but theirs was a little bit different. They delegate a lot, but they don't verify the way that they want to. And so, when it comes to verification, that things got done and got done correctly, they rated themselves a 5.

And so, when I asked the question; what would you need to do in order to be able to rate yourself a 6 or a 7, when it comes to verification, there's a minute or two of thought. And then the response that came back for this person was I think, if I had a checklist for verifying… Meaning, I have a checklist of all the things I've delegated throughout the week. And at the end of the week, I follow up. I poke the people I delegated to see the status of those things.

And you know, as I thought about this further, and I made a recommendation, she could totally do that. But the recommendation was what if you, when you're delegating, tell them when to get back to you. So, you're not the one following up with them.

And so, you put verification on them. And you can still maybe have your checklist, but it saves you time at the end of the week. You don't have to go poke as many people, hopefully nobody, because they were supposed to already have let you know.

So, that's another thing. And all that would mean, was the expectations were set, there's an extra sentence when delegating; that I would like follow up on the status of this, this Thursday by 4pm, right, something like that. Giving a deadline, so that you can make sure that verification is happening without chasing people down.

So, that's the tool I wanted to share with you was, anytime you want to make an improvement, so that you are focused on progress and not perfection, one way to do it is to ask yourself: What would you rate yourself right now, in that area? And what would it take to be able to rate yourself up a notch or 2?

And whatever comes to mind, you'll probably have a few ideas, write them down, distill them down, and then take one thing and run with it. Because that really is your ticket to being able to create a new foundation, a new normal. To be able to rate yourself a little bit higher, the next time you were to ask yourself about how you would rate yourself in this area.

And then from there, you can ask yourself again: Okay, now I can write myself a 7. What would it take ,in order for me to rate myself an 8, or 9? And just keep bumping yourself up. Now, you will never rate yourself a 10, but this is still a useful exercise to be able to find where you are right now, and how can you inch it up. Find where you are right now, and inch it up.

And inching it up is making progress, and you can build on the progress, and you create new foundations, new normals, that way. Instead of taking one big swing trying to go for a 10. That's where people flame up and flame out. And then, they don't really make any progress. So, this is a useful tool.

Okay, so I've given you the tool, gave you a couple of examples using delegation. But I want to share a couple of other things that have been really insightful, that came from a client about this topic of delegation, and realizations they had for themselves. That just the realization alone, allows them to extract lessons that they're going to carry forward and handle it differently.

So, I'm going to share those here with you today, because I think you will appreciate it and find it useful. Okay, so one of the lessons was don't shy away from your initial leap required to relieve yourself from the hard work that's not in your lane.

So, then we talked about that more, because she shies away from the initial leap. I’m like, what is the initial leap? What do you mean by that? And the initial leap, she describes more here, because another lesson learned was the amazing feeling of relief greatly outweighs the perceived pain or angst of thinking through how to communicate correctly, adequately and clearly.

So, the initial leap, the hard part of delegating for this person, which I identify with, and I know many of you can, too. The initial leap, the hard part, is thinking through how to communicate correctly, adequately, and clearly. You got to put your thinking cap on to do that well, and to pass tasks along well. The idea is, once you do it once, and you do it well, you set yourself up for greater efficiency in the long game.

And a couple other lessons, in regards to delegation; be creative in thinking of things to offload as a reflex, rather than being reactive. There is a difference there. And it's subtle, but I think this is a really good distinction to share with all of you. Be creative in thinking of things to offload as a reflex, rather than being reactive.

This is kind of going back to the example that I gave you at the beginning of this podcast, it was there needs to be a filter. And it's more of a reflex when something gets past, for example, the reflex that I shared with you earlier, which is like a filter question for this person.

The reflex is: Why am I the one that needs to do this? Just asking that question ensures that you're being intentional with what you're keeping on your plate. So, be creative in thinking of things to offload as a reflex rather than being reactive. Where you feel like you're overloaded, and you have to scoot a bunch of stuff off your plate. So, I thought that was really great.

And then, another lesson around delegation: There is more than one way to do it, and it doesn't have to be my way. Don't sacrifice long term efficiency. So, the reason, you know, thinking, you might not pass something off because you feel like it has to be passed off so perfectly that they do it in your way. And maybe, be open to the idea that there is more than one way to do it.

And you do care about the result, more than anything else, with the majority of things, not everything. And if you don't pass it off because you're waiting to pass it off perfectly, it might feel more efficient in the moment just to do the thing yourself. But the truth is, in the long game, if you're playing long game, it's not more efficient, it is inefficient. It's mucking up your path as you move forward.

Now, in the short term, it's more efficient, because you're just doing it and knocking it out, and you're saving a little time. But in the long term, you're not saving time, it's not as efficient. So, I thought this was a great lesson to share, as well.

So, take a second, and I want you to think about it for yourself: Where's an area that you want to get better? And you can use the tool I shared at the beginning. I gave the example of delegation, but you ask yourself: Where would you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10? Find that number.

And then, the next question becomes: How can I bump that up, to rate myself a 6 or 7? What would I have to do differently, where I would rate myself a 6 or a 7 instead of a 5? Or, whatever it is that you landed on. And those two questions can provide a lot of clarity around your next steps.

From there, you create a new normal, and then you can build on that. And you can ask yourself that again. At the turn of the quarter is when we typically ask these questions for our clients and our members. Now, so that's a tool you can learn, and then also, on top of that, just with the topic delegation, I thought you all would enjoy.

I encourage you to sit down and think about, for yourself, whether you feel like you're struggling with it or not, optimize. Sit down for yourself, rate yourself within delegation specifically. Now that you've heard this podcast, you have ideas, you probably see potential that maybe you didn't see before, because of the examples I shared.

So, raise yourself now and ask yourself, specifically within delegation: How can you get yourself to the place where you're rating yourself a notch or 2 higher? What would that look like? What is one thing you could do that would change your answer? Do that thing.

And the reason I'm pushing you to do it around delegation, whether you feel like you're doing well with delegation or not, is because there's always more you can do with delegation. There's always a better job you can do with delegation. And, delegation is freedom.

So, this is something that should be given attention. You should evaluate, for yourself, where you are, where you want to be. It'll reveal your next steps.

All right, everybody, that's all I have for you this week. I'll see you here next Tuesday.

Hey, you may not know this, but there's a free guide for a process I teach called, Monday Map/ Friday Wrap. If you go to velocitywork.com it's all yours. It's about how to plan your time and honor your plans. So that, week over week, more work that moves the needle is getting done in less time. Go to velocitywork.com to get your free copy.

Thank you for listening to The Law Firm Owner Podcast. If you're ready to get clearer on your vision, data, and mindset, then head over to velocitywork.com where you can plug in to Quarterly Strategic Planning, with accountability and coaching in between. This is the work that creates Velocity.