The challenge of new leaders...delegation

[klone, MSN, RN]

How do you get over feeling guilty about delegating something you can easily do yourself?

Or, alternately, someone give me permission to occasionally do a nursing task myself because I'm not doing something at that moment and it needs to be done. Part of me feels like I'm failing at being a manager if I sometimes say "I can do this" rather than "Nurse Betty, can you do this for me?" like I'm not making the transition from nurse to manager appropriately. It's OKAY to be a hands-on leader who does the nurse (or MA/CNA) grunt work sometimes, right?

[Libby1987]

I recently transitioned into mgmt and I've found that I like to delegate in a way that demonstrates trust that I don't have to do everything myself. Coming from working side by side with my staff and being one of those high producing perfectionist types that often unintentionally intimidated, it carries weight for me to delegate.

As far as hands on, I do that in a supportive role. Everyone in my company can and should be able to carry a hammer and jump in and help whenever it's needed, not because we can but because we should. And there's ample opportunity to do that.

[jrt4]

Transitioning to management can be difficult. We often feel as though we are doing something wrong if we are not taking care of patients. I agree with the above poster...we should jump in when we need to to help in a supportive role. HOWEVER, you shouldn't be the first line of defense when things get busy. Staff need to learn how to handle difficult situations on their own without being dependent on the manager to jump in and fix it. That is done by giving them permission to make decisions. I tell my staff I would rather they just make a decision...if they made the wrong decision we will look at it and discuss it. I am no where near as skilled as my staff at taking care of patients. I do not do it every day. I am not going to pretend that I can just jump in and do the same level of work that they do day in and day out. The first step to being successful is being honest with yourself!

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

I think it's a balance. On the one hand, you don't want to be the type of leader who won't get their hands dirty. But on the other hand, you don't want to give the message that you don't have confidence in your staff.

If my staff is drowning, I will jump in and help out however I can. If I see my staff struggling with something, but their thinking is correct and they're doing the right thing, I'll sit back and let them work through it, then talk it out later in a way that supports them.