NikithaI was at the lowest level in my team at office. But I was the only one who used to take the entire responsibility for the work team needed to do. By now, you must have guessed what the consequences were.
1.My manager had peaceful sleep at night because he knows work will be taken care of.
2.My teammates never feared their job because they know work was being taken care of.
Who was at loss? Only me.
Did I do it because I wanted fame, attention or promotion? No. I didn’t do it for any of those. I had to do it for one simple reason. I was afraid of going against people. I didn’t know how to delegate work. I didn’t even know that I had a right to delegate.
I learnt two things then.
1.Delegation is not tough.
2.No one thrusts responsibility down your throat. You take it.
Let’s take a case of a family. The parents are irresponsible. They don’t take any care of the maintenance of the house. Of the two sons they have, only the elder one takes the entire burden of the house.
Over a period of time, he breaks down. He finds life burden-some and overwhelming. He is not able to take care of things like before due to over stress.
Who is at loss now?
Not just him. The entire family is.
Why?
1.The family doesn’t know what the responsibilities are.
2.Now they don’t have even the one who takes care of it.
What happens next?
There is chaos everytime a new problem comes. Blame game is the only thing they do. If one person takes responsibility due to lack of choice, the other one finds fault with it. At the end, entire family gets divided because of the constant hurts.
These are just a few examples. You must be a part of a group or a team where the situation might be something of this sort. What can you do about this?
1.Never take the entire responsibility
Identify who is good at what. Allocate each of them the responsibility accordingly. Hold them accountable if the work is not done. Ask them what is the fine they are going to pay if the work is not done by agreed time. At the same time, be flexible. Be cordial and understanding if they are not able to do it due to unforeseen circumstances.
2.Don’t give up the responsibility all of a sudden
If you abandon all of a sudden like the elder brother of the family, the entire system will break down. If none of them have any capabilities, train them slowly.
How do you handle such situations? Share with us your tips to handle the situation better.
Happy sharing responsibilities!