The Real Reason You Aren’t Delegating
Davina Frederick: Hi, everyone,
and welcome back to the wealthy
woman lawyer podcast. I'm your
host, Athena Frederick. And
today I want to talk with you
about delegating. Of course, by
now I am sure you've heard a lot
about the importance of
delegating. There isn't a
business coach out there, who
won't bring up delegation and
tell you that you should be
doing more of it. And why
because it's great advice.
Still, despite it being great
advice, I find that many women
law firm owners really still
struggle with delegating. So I
thought today, we could get to
the heart of the matter. And
find out why that is that even
though you know, it's good for
you, you still don't do it
enough. And I know that this is,
you know, it's the same effect
in a lot of other areas of our
lives. But today, we're really
going to just focus on
delegating. First, I want to
talk to you, though, about the
signs of someone who is not
delegating enough. And we're
going to call them red flags.
Since red flags are so popular
right now on Instagram, we're
going to talk about red flags,
right flag number one, you are
working a 12 hour day, only to
go home and start a second shift
at home. And then maybe even a
third shift after you put the
kids to bed. So if that's you,
here's your sign your red flag
that you're probably not
delegating enough. Red flag
number two, you say things like
it's just faster. If I do it
myself, then take the time to
teach someone else. Red flag
number three, you don't have
time to work on strategy,
management, growth, if you're a
law firm business, because
you're too busy working in your
business, answering the phones
doing all the consultations,
being the attorney on all the
cases go into court answering
client calls, day and night
always being available to your
clients. Red flag number four,
is you're still doing your
bookkeeping, your payroll, your
social media marketing, your
mean making your video editing,
which I know you don't really
do, because who's got the time
to do that, but you fool
yourself into thinking you will
do it. Maybe you're drafting all
your court appearances and so
on, there is no backup for you
if you get sick. If you need a
mental health day, if you need
to deal with a family emergency,
or you want to go on vacation
and not worry about everything
while you're gone. Red flag
number five, you're making
money. But you can never leave
your business without worrying.
There won't be anyone there if a
client wants to hire the firm.
Or if there's an emergency
situation with an existing
client or team member. So
basically, new money coming in
stops when you're on vacation.
Red flag number six, you never
have time on your calendar for
any big picture thinking about
your business or for you time,
you don't have time to meet with
a coach, you don't have time to
sit and work on a strategy, you
don't have time to take the
afternoon off and go to the spa.
There's never any time on your
calendar because it is your
filling, filling yet with all
this working in your business.
So any of these sound familiar?
I can really sit here and do
this all day because I have
heard it all there are a lot
more red flags I could talk with
you about. And quite frankly, I
used to that used to be me some
of these red flags for sure. So
the reasons why we do this to
ourselves when we know better
right can see really complex, we
might think it's a really
complex reason why like we have
some something wrong with us
that we do this. But it usually
boils down to some very simple
concepts. So the reason we don't
delegate when we know that we
should is comes down to things
like number one, we don't like
we like to control all the
details. So at our heart, we're
just little happy control
freaks, and we want to control
all the detail. I want to have a
coach say to me, Divina, you can
control all the details or you
can grow, you certainly have a
right to control all the
details. If that's what you
choose, you could do that or you
can grow. And that really stuck
with me. I was like, oh, while
I'm really holding myself back
from growing by trying to manage
all the details. Number two, we
don't trust others to not screw
up. And this is a big one. We we
are worried that if somebody who
works for us screws up, it's
going to come back on us. And
there is a fix for that. But
that at the heart of it is we
don't trust number three, we are
perfectionist, and things take
us a lot longer than they should
and longer than they think they
we think they will. So
perfectionist take a lot longer
to do things because we have to
get it perfect, right? And we
know Nothing's ever perfect, but
we're trying to get as close as
we can. So oftentimes we take
way longer to get certain things
done. That we don't need to and
that really messes up our
calendar, right? We think we're
the best person for every job in
our firm. Um, that no one else
can do it better. We don't have
a plan for delegating. This
is a big one, we don't have a
plan. So we think, yeah, I like
to delegate, but we don't take
the time to create a plan for
doing it. We take never take the
time to sit down and think
strategically about what we can
easily delegate, right? We don't
have systems set up to help us
delegate. That is a huge one, we
often think like a delegate, and
then we start thinking about,
well, how would I do this? And
what do I do first, and then we
go, Oh, screw it, I'm busy, I
don't have time. We don't have
enough people, or the right
people to delegate to. This is a
huge problem for a lot of
people. And I do have a brand
new training that I have just
put out on this subject. I'll
include the link in the show
notes, if you want to access
that training. Number nine, we
are just functioning on
automatic, day after day, week
after week, until things get
better. And we don't have more
time. And, and we'll have more
time. And that never happens.
Because every week is like
Groundhog Day. So we just
continue to react the same way
over and over week after week,
thinking that next week is going
to be better. And it never is.
And we're expecting a different
result. That doesn't happen,
right? The very definition of
insanity. Number 10. It doesn't
become it hasn't yet become
painful enough for you to take
action. As soon as you miss a
critical deadline, you drop the
ball, you have an upset client,
you get grieved, you get sued
for malpractice, or, you know,
any of these kinds of things
happen, you will begin to
rethink trying to do everything
yourself and even most things
yourself. So which of these
reasons that I named resonate
the most with you? Is there one
more than another jumped out? Or
did all of them sound like you,
I know there was a time in my
life that I was in that place.
And it can be very painful to
realize that. If I'm speaking to
your pain, I want you to know
right now, I want you to go
right now and get a copy of my
report. It's called delegation
secrets for women law firm
owners who do too much, and I've
got a link for it in the show
notes for you. I created this
with you in mind if you are
having trouble delegating,
because I've spoken with so many
high achieving women who are
going through this or who have
gone through this, the report
that I've prepared for you is
super short read. I think it can
have a big impact on you on you
personally and on your blog for
our business if you take a few
minutes to read it and absorb
it. In this episode. If this
episode has got you thinking
delegating is now at the top of
your priority list, which I hope
it has, then there's a very
simple exercise I want you to do
right now, if you're someplace
where you can write. If you're
listening while you're driving,
or you're running or you're
walking, then do this when you
get home, it should only take
you less than an hour, maybe
even 30 minutes and all you need
is a legal pad and a pen. Or you
know your computer if that's
what you like to do. On your
legal pad, I want you to draw
three columns, I want you to
label column A, the highest and
best use of my time, I want you
to label column B, things I'm
good at but probably should not
be doing because I'm not the
best person for the job, or
because I don't really care to
be doing it anymore. And label
column see things I would not
pay someone my hourly rate to do
things I hate doing or things I
suck at, but I'm doing it still.
Once you've labeled these
columns that I want you to fill
them in accordingly with
everything on your to do list.
And then tomorrow morning, I
want you to delegate everything
in your C column. Over the next
month. I want you to work on
delegating everything in your B
column. Lastly, just a reminder
to grab a copy of my delegation
secrets. The link is in the show
notes. And I really hope you've
enjoyed today's episode of the
wealthy woman lawyer podcast. I
hope you have a wonderful week.
And thanks again for being here
and being part of the wealthy
woman lawyer community. I so
apprec
