I have been the senior leader within our organization and have overseen our marketing efforts since our inception. In conversations with others, I’ve learned that it’s not an area all leaders delve into or hold up as important enough to merit much of their attention. As such, marketing often becomes an oversight that is delegated to other employees.

I, however, have always enjoyed my role in our marketing efforts. I’ve come to firmly believe that branding and marketing are critical for organizational success – especially for businesses. But after close to 15 years, I’m letting it go.

I’ve already entrusted some of my other tasks to people over the years, but I haven’t been as passionate about them, and sometimes I’ve even disliked them. In other words, letting go was easy. Usually the person I was delegating the task to was excited about the opportunity and ended up doing a much better job with it than I had been. However, marketing is different – for one, I really like doing it, and two, I’m really good at it. As a result, letting go, although it’s been a slow process, has been a new experience for me.

Be sure the person you are delegating the task to knows not just what you are doing, but why you are doing it in the way you are.

I’m learning a few things along the way that may be helpful as you consider letting go of tasks that you are both good at and enjoy:

• Educate: Be sure the person you are delegating the task to knows not just what you are doing, but why you are doing it in the way you are. Share the history of why certain decisions regarding how the task functions were made.
• Go Slowly: Instead of handing over everything all at once, take small steps – make sure the person you are delegating to becomes fully comfortable with one area of the overall task before adding another one.
• Be Open-Minded: Recognize that the person you are delegating the task to may have some new ideas that are actually good and should be implemented. When they are implemented and if they work, celebrate that success.

This process of letting go is still in progress, so I’m sure there is more I will learn. But for now, focusing on these three areas is helping me feel good about letting go.
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