“The true goal of  leadership is to make yourself unnecessary.” -Geoffrey James

Think about it – how else will you ever ascend to a higher leadership position (i.e. out of your current role) if you don’t figure out ways to train your team (or anyone) to eventually takeover your existing responsibilities?

Yes, it’s fantastic to feel needed.

However, if you are too needed then your boss will never want to let you go – like ever.

• You’ll always be that guy who knows how to pull a report.
• You’ll always be that person who has that vendor relationship.
• You’ll always be that girl who knows where to get that data quickly.

Albeit, being that only person to know something gives you a sense of job security.

However, it’s a false sense of security because one day…

• That report you pull will become irrelevant due to seismic market changes
• That relationship may become fruitless because the vendor has new leaders
• That data you can capture quickly could become stale because it’s now available real-time due to a newly implemented high-tech solution

So, here’s the thing…rather than wait for that information, relationship, or skill that you have to become irrelevant…why don’t you take this downtime (i.e. the holidays, slow seasons) to make yourself less and less relevant as it relates to the tasks that you can (and want to) delegate?

You have to create space for the new challenges you want to take on in 2015.

The way to make room for new challenges is to delegate.

Here are some ideas on how to start delegating this week or whenever you are experiencing downtime.

• Identify a peer or direct report who has expressed an interest in your current role
• Write a how-to manual related to the skills that you can take off of your plate
• Ask this person if they’d like to shadow you during the next few weeks or during your mutual downtimes
• Capture this exercise because it’s a potential resume bullet point (ex.: Endorsed successfully and coached a direct report for the firm’s overseas program resulting in his assignment in the firm’s Dubai office and promotion from Manager to Director)

What tasks do you want to take off of your plates in 2015? Leave your comments below. Let’s make some r-o-o-m for our bigger aspirations.

Happy Sunday,

Melissa