In my business, I consult with lots of business owners and executives who are very talented people. They are highly intelligent and have found incredible success. Some are fantastic sales people, marketing geniuses, financial gurus, and some have the skill of working their tail off until the job is done.
But without a doubt, the strongest skill I’ve seen is the ability to get out of one’s own way. The strongest performers are undoubtedly those who are able to look themselves in the mirror and say, “this is what I’m good at and this is what I’m not that good at”. They can then focus their efforts on 10X’ing their strengths and delegating their weaknesses to someone more suited for the job.
I once heard delegation defined as giving a task over to its rightful owner. Are you the rightful owner of everything on your plate? How about your social media success?
Are you stealing social media from its rightful owner? Share on XIf you’re not sure you should delegate your social media success over to another person, ask these questions:
- Do I have the time to respond to at least the majority of communications?
- Am I committed to staying at the cutting edge of the ever-changing social media landscape?
- Can I reasonably stick to a consistent schedule of posting, sharing, and writing original content?
- Would I be “stealing” time from other, higher value tasks?
These questions are not a matter of skill or ability. Frankly, anyone can eventually find social media success, given the right amount of focus. But, I wouldn’t recommend that everyone become an expert at social media any more than I would recommend everyone become an expert in accounting or sales. There is a right and a wrong job for everyone.
Invest the time to decide upon and then focus on only those tasks and responsibilities over which you are the rightful owner. Trust in your team and in your people enough to find out which one of them should be at the wheel of your social media success.
Great post, Reade. “The strongest skill I’ve seen is the ability to get out of one’s own way.” – such true advice here. The highest form of productivity comes from sticking to this idea.
Thanks, Adam!
Solid, Reade. And this applies to more of life than just business. As a mentor myself, I talk constantly with young people and parents who walk around feeling bad because of one area that isn’t a relative strength for them. It’s tough to see a teen who struggles with math revolve their whole life around that “negative” (or have their parents do so). Life is more than math. I try to help individuals and families see context and to list STRENGTHS: “Is he a nice kid? Good character? Kind? Respectful of others? Which subjects does he excel in? What talents does he have?”
I just had a mom here this week who was in tears because she was “failing her daughter.” She read every single thing to her high-school-aged daughter and explained it all, line by line, in order for her daughter to get by, due to the daughter’s processing disorder. The school was not offering the education plan this girl needed. But I said to this mom, “If your daughter shattered a bone, would you lay her out on the kitchen table and try to operate on her?” Of course, she wouldn’t. I encouraged her that her JOB and her STRENGTHS as mom were to instill hope, character and support – not to take on every other facet of her daughter’s life.
Kids always “wish they were me,” because they perceive me as very smart. And I might reply: “I can’t play basketball at all, though, and you’re awesome. I’m terrible! Would you give up your love of basketball and how good you are in order to be short and smart?” We all have a continuum of relative strengths. To expect or try to be a 10 at everything … is just unrealistic (and frustrating).
Where business is concerned, for start-ups and individuals, the ability to focus on strengths is sometimes a luxury at first, dictated by available funds. It may be difficult to find someone who cares as much about what you care about, or can do a better job than you can do based on that passion, when you’re trying to find that help for free. For people in these shoes, it will still help to make a list of the tasks / responsibilities you currently take on, and to rank them in order of relative strength. As income increases and things move forward, you will already know which tasks to hand off first.
Wow, Erik, that’s great advice. The people you work with are lucky to have you.
I couldn’t agree more. Its funny that you use basketball as an example, because as a ball player, I had no choice but to learn really quickly that I was never going to be a 6’6 leaper, so certain positions were out for me. Once I accepted that, I stayed away from the basket and worked on my jump shot and ball handling. Guess that made it easy to carry over into the business world.
Keep up the good work, Erik!
The mental model of delegation as a gift — giving a task to its rightful owner — is powerful and useful. Thanks, Reade!
Thanks for reading, Glenn!
Reade,
As a time management guru of sorts I find that the most difficult question to answer is “Can I reasonably stick to a consistent schedule of posting, sharing, and writing original content?”
I’ve hear this same word from all kinds of experts. It seems that this is the one thing that prevents anyone from any success. Its the key word for blogging, productivity and everything else in life “Consistency.” If thats a No, then it is time to hand it off. Consistency wins the race.
High Five!
Totally agree. I like to refer to what James Clear (http://jamesclear.com/) calls “average speed”. You can do big bursts of productive activity, but if you fall off for several days or weeks, then your progression towards a goal will actually be slower than if you commit to doing a small “bite” of productivity that you can repeat and sustain over long periods. Thus, increasing your “average speed” of progress.
Thanks again, Kirby!