Do you find it hard to delegate?

This week on the podcast, we’re chatting about a real challenge of becoming a leader: how stepping back is actually really hard. 

Sharing personal insights and lessons from her growth coach Melody, Denzil opens up about the fears and resistance that can come with delegation and letting go. She explores how reframing resistance can help make the leap into leadership a little easier. 

Whether you’re leading a team or preparing to take that next step, this episode has something to take away. 

Have your own leadership story? We’d love to hear it! Send us an email and join the conversation.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Oh hi, it's me, denzel.
You've heard that businessadvice before If you want to
grow, just automate or outsourceyour tasks.
And sure, this advice isn'twrong, but it glazes over
something that many of usexperience Taking things off
your plate is actually really,really hard.
I know this because I've alwaysbeen a doer.

(00:27):
I'm the kind of person whodouble checks everything, keeps
an eye on all the details andgets a little dopamine hit from
checking tasks off the list.
And for a long time it wasstaying hands-on.
That made me feel valuable andproductive.
But when I stepped into aleadership role, something
shifted.
I had to trade my to-do listfor delegation and trust other

(00:51):
people to do the work that I hadowned myself, and that really
wasn't easy for me.
I'll be the first to say I wasresistant to change.
I was even resistant to beingtold I was resistant to change.
But when I talked to my growthcoach, melody, about this in our
early conversations, she askedme a question that has really

(01:11):
stuck with me.
She said how is showing up likethat working for you?
And then it hit me.
I wasn't just holding on, I wasafraid of letting go.
I was afraid that the systems Ihad worked so hard to build
would break or that the workjust wouldn't be the same.
Honestly, I was afraid Iwouldn't feel well needed.

(01:33):
Trust me, stepping back doesn'thappen overnight.
But over my time with Melody Ilearned a few things that helped
me feel a little morecomfortable with leadership, and
if you're going throughsomething similar, they might
help you too.
The first thing I'd suggest isto know when to hold on and when
to step back.
One of the strategies thathelped me the most was learning

(01:57):
how to hold on to what and whyor I guess you could say the
mission and the outcomes butthen stepping back from the how.
Everyone has their own creativeway of approaching problems, so
as long as you can ensure thepurpose stays intact, it's
better for everyone if you cancreate space for your team to
have autonomy.

(02:18):
Next, try shifting fromprotection to preparation.
I originally viewed leadershipas protecting the work my team
and I had built, but I realizedthat mindset was actually
limiting us.
So instead I started to focusmy energy on preparing my team
to adapt to the challenges andfind their own solutions, and

(02:40):
this ended up helping us quite abit during times of change and
uncertainty, and this ended uphelping us quite a bit during
times of change and uncertainty.
And finally, try reframing anyresistance you have.
When you're resisting somethingnew, start by asking yourself
why am I resisting?
Often, the resistance is rootedin fear Fear of losing control,

(03:01):
fear of failure.
You know the classics, but thefear won't magically disappear
unless it's addressed head on.
To do this, melody got me toreflect on myself and try to
identify the real reason I wasresistant to change.
For me, this was way moreeffective than just being told
to change, because it allowed meto understand why I was feeling

(03:23):
the resistance in the firstplace.
Moving from being a doer to aleader is a big shift, so if you
have done this, I'd love toknow your experience and what it
was like.
I'm all ears, so go ahead andshoot me a reply at frontdesk at
janeapp.
Well, that's all for me.
Thanks for listening, and ifyou're taking the leap into

(03:44):
leadership, you got this.