3 great questions you can use to Delegate Better.

You never know what you can learn by watching Oprah.

Two days ago I went on a cleaning binge and flipped on the TV for some background noise. Great timing: there was Oprah, with two closet organization/fashion gurus, helping her clean the clutter by addressing the emotional connections she had to her stuff.

Well, I didn’t get all my cleaning done. As she so easily can do, Oprah hooked me in and I watched the whole show. But what a great take-away:

The closet gurus turned out to be Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo from a company they call Visual Therapy. They propose you ask yourself three questions when sorting stuff in yes and no piles:

Do I love this?

Does this look flattering on me?

Does this project the image I want to portray?

Since then, in less than two short days, I’ve used the same three questions in helping two different managers with delegating job tasks: tasks that deep down they know they should not be doing.  These are job tasks they can teach and empower someone else to do, but don’t, because they have some kind of emotional attachment to them.

You’ve got to try this: it works wonders. Think of something you do a lot of every day, and could probably delegate to someone else, and ask yourself:

Do I love this?          

Rosa-speak: Is this a part of my Ho‘ohana, the work I do with passion, or am I really doing it for another reason?

Does this look flattering on me, or will it look more flattering on someone else?

Rosa-speak:  If I could step outside myself, and watch the job I’m doing, am I managing with aloha? If you are a manager, it doesn’t get more flattering than that.

Does this project the image I want to portray?

Rosa-speak: Is this a task I am keeping when I ‘Imi ola, seek my best-possible life at work? Or will it continue to bog me down, and keep me from being a great manager who empowers others, helping them ‘Imi ola too?

When you manage with aloha, delegation is the gift of empowerment. Delegate well, and you allow others into your circle of influence. In doing so, you achieve two things:

1. First, you offer your faith, trust, and confidence to someone else, letting them know you feel they are capable of greater things with both your words and your actions.

2. Second, you open up your own capacity to embrace newness or additional growth yourself.

That’s actually two gifts, isn’t it.