Learning to be a delegator
- I’m not the best at delegating. I live by the motto “don’t ask others to do what you can do yourself”. Not that I think I’m perfect at everything I do, but I trust myself to get the work done and I have little faith in others ability to do anything. This way the shit doesn’t hit the fan when it comes to crunch time and I have no one to blame but myself for things not working out.
However, part of my new job is to oversee the organization of a conference.
First off, organization is my OCD. I see it, I want to organize it. Imagine me in a room full of colored blocks. I want to put them all in groups based on color. Its a little overwhelming cause I can’t help myself sometimes and I figure, one day, a psychologist will get a hold of me and put me on some drugs.
Nevertheless, I must delegate the organization of this conference to my underling.
Imagine my anxiety.
But anyway - I have set out a task list for us with his tasks and my tasks. Hes doing all the leg work and I’m doing the things that I just can’t let go of: getting presentations together, ordering the printed materials, doing the agenda. But hes doing the really important stuff. The stuff that needs to get done if this conference is to be more than me holding some papers.
His first few tasks went miserably. He was, by yesterday, to pick out a meeting location. I went with him to visit all three finalists (picked by me). On Monday afternoon, he came into my office and asked if I wanted to see the emails and attachments the three finalists sent him.
“No, I do not want to see the attachments. This is your baby and I will support you in your decision”.
On Wed he came into my office telling me that the Westin quoted him a $1700 audio visual fee. Firstly, while I think the Westin is insane, I also think this underlining over estimated the audio visual stuff we would need. But sigh, this is his baby.
“Would you like to see the quote the Westin gave us?”
“No, I don’t want to see the Westin quote. This is your baby, and I will support you in your decision”.
Yesterday was our bi-weekly (bi-monthly?) meeting. He came into my office and I asked him”
“So have you choosen a location?”
“Well, the Westin want to charge us $1700 for audio visual….”
“Ok, I think we need to just hash this out and make a decision. I think we both know the answer, lets just go with the Chateau Louis”. (this is me)
“I agree, good choice”. (this is him)
It wasn’t my choice to make. On numberous occasions over the past week I told him this was his baby and I would suppor him. I went with him to see the venues and I gave him my opinions while we visited the venues. He had the info. Make the decision.
But he didn’t.
I could understand some stage fright if he was the one to make the decision and write the cheque. But hes not. He had to tell me and when I ok’d the decision, he had to write the BN to get approval from the Deputy. So if he made the wrong choice, there were at least 3 people who would be able to tell him he made the wrong decision.
So next up for him is to write the BN for approval. I told him flat out whats needed in the BN and when he should write it. Do I trust he will get:
- the quote from the Chateau Louis
- estimate printing costs
- actually write the damn thing
No. I dont.
Did I mention he was to help me draft a invite list? Has he? No. Not really.
New development: He just wandered into my office and asked me about the lunch quote.
Maybe he will surprise me.
But I doubt it.
Did I mention I have little faith in humanity?
