Use your resources
So how does a leader avoid getting burned out with the responsibility of managing so many tasks and trying to keep employees moving cohesively to accomplish a given task?
“First of all, don’t look at it as a burden,” Smith says. “You look at it as an opportunity to provide the ability for so many people to succeed at what they do. In doing that, you have to be very intentional as far as how you set up departments or divisions and then within those departments and divisions, the processes and procedures and how they all act so that the machine does work smooth.”
There is a difference between being a driving force who micromanages every detail and a driving force who delegates and uses your resources to effectively and efficiently complete tasks.
“If you take it all on yourself and you don’t delegate, then it will be a burden,” Smith says. “Proper delegation is the absolute key because then it empowers everybody to grow and succeed at what they do.”
How do you deal with all of the responsibility? You handle what you can and accept that you are the leader, but you also accept that you can’t do it all alone. You understand that it’s not a sign of weakness to delegate important tasks to other people. It’s a sign of strength to know when you need a little help and being willing to ask for it.
“Put the shoe on the other foot and say regardless of what’s going on, wouldn’t you make the time if that person called you?” Smith says. “I think you know the answer is yes, you would. You can seek opinion. You can seek counsel, but you are still the decision-maker. Receiving feedback is a great thing.”
It really comes down to being able to look at a situation and admit there are some areas in which you need help.
“You have to be able to look deep inside at how you’re working, how you’re sharing and not be afraid to face those bad situations,” Smith says. “You have to be able to recognize when you’re not hitting the mark. The key is putting them on the board and dealing with them and not saying, ‘Well, we’ll take care of that later.’
“Procrastination on those types of things is the absolute worst thing you can do. When you do that, it gets worse. … If you’re going to expect different results as you grow and go forward, you can’t just keep doing the same things over and over. If you’re doing the same things over and over, your results are either going to stay the same or get worse.”
