When working with clients, it’s not uncommon to cover the topic of delegation. Many who are in entry level or support positions don’t feel that they have an avenue for passing tasks to others. In some situations, they are right but not always. They often don’t see all of their options.
Take Hester for example. She’s in her mid-40s, has an advanced degree and a profession of more than 20 years. Hester and her husband have been married for about 20 years and have two teenagers in High School. Her husband is also a professional and he’s the primary breadwinner. Hester is very active in her children’s lives. She still maintains a consulting practice part-time, networks professionally and volunteers in several organizations but her family comes first.
Hester’s challenges were with time. She had commitments in many different areas of her life and sometimes didn’t know how to handle the ones outside of her family. After some discussion, we realized that what she needed was more assistance at home to meet her responsibilities outside of her family. In Hester’s kitchen, a calendar was displayed. It had all the appointments and scheduled meetings posted for all four of them to see. It also delineated some household chores that needed to be done.
With a master schedule in plain view, Hester realized where and how she could get help with certain tasks from her husband and her children. Their greater awareness of these domestic chores allowed them the opportunity to help her out. By reducing some of what she had on her plate, she was able to accomplish other things without sacrifice. Recently, she told me that the calendar and the system are still in effect in her kitchen, almost three years later.