As owners and leaders of growing organizations, you may begin to feel like a juggler in the circus who has to keep a bowling pin, a machete, and a melon in the air. Dropping any one of the items would be ugly and could even prove disastrous.

Are you feeling like the CDO (Chief Doings Officer)? It can be very easy for us to get caught up in the doing. Frequent comments we hear are: “It’s just easier for me to do it” and “No one else can do it.” While those statements may be true, believing them is holding you and your organization back from the potential success you could have.

As a organization grows, it becomes critical for you to make the determination of what do you absolutely need to do (that no one else can do) and what do you need to hire other people to do for you.

The next time you’re about to perform a task that caps your organizations potential, say to yourself: “Every time I say ‘yes’ to something, I say ‘no’ to something else. By saying ‘yes’ to performing this task, what am I saying ‘no’ to?”

In the book, Now Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton share evidence demonstrating how people naturally excel at things that use their innate skills and talents. Our creator gave us a skill set that’s unique to each one of us. By investing time and effort to do tasks that call for talents that are not natural strengths, you frustrate yourself, limit your effectiveness, and add to your stress level.

This week, make it a point to really consider what part of your organization you truly love and what tasks you are best at. Investigate ways to delegate the rest. Training you provide to staff members is an investment in them and in your business. You get the payoff down the road with increased retention (development opportunities are typically among the top three reasons people stay with an employer), improved morale, lower stress, and improved business performance.

Stuff our lawyer makes us say:
If you share this (and please do), provide complete attribution including a live link to our site at http://www.abiah.com. Please notify us when and where the material will appear.

Here’s the attribution language for you:
“Reprinted with permission of Abiah. Visit www.abiah.com www.abiah.com for additional articles and information on brand positioning and development."