• When you reach a point in your business where you are juggling too many balls and you begin to drop them.
• When you want to free yourself of work in areas that do not align with your strengths or which you do not enjoy.
• When you want to free up your time to do money-making tasks [i.e., business development].
• When you need to create free time to work on your business [i.e., strategic work]. 
• When you want to reduce the amount of time you work [i.e., more free time].
• When you want to leverage talents and create growth in your company.
• When you want to ensure task back-up [for example, to protect the company and cover illness, etc.].
• When you want to prepare your business for your exit strategy [i.e., succession planning].
• When you want to reduce your stress level.

• With the overall corporate best interest in mind - who is best skilled at doing the task?
• Considering “bang for buck”: particularly, the impact on your key corporate goals - who is best skilled at doing the task?
• Considering past practice involving similar tasks - who is best skilled at doing the task?
• Considering your track record of delegating tasks - have you illustrated good practice? Good Habits? Bad Habits?

NOTE: in delegation of business tasks, one man’s trash isn’t generally another man’s treasure.

Rule of Thumb: good leaders do not assign tasks they have not performed or would not perform themselves.

Rule of Thumb [corollary]: leaders rarely assign unique tasks…so…Is this task unique? [If it is - step back and measure twice before you cut the wood.]

Consider employee’s [business savvy] growth and development…are you training the person for the future? [Or, are you simply downloading stress?]

Consider fairness: what amount of workload is already on the recipient employee’s plate, other staffs’ plates, and your plate?

Consider job-content satisfaction: are you providing your people the opportunity to perform diverse, interesting tasks? [Or, are you piling up repetitive, tedious, non-challenging tasks?]

Delegation; you have much to think about if you want to do it right!

Thought Tweet #784.5 Two differences between Coaches and Mentors: Mentors have done it & Mentors introduce you to the right people.

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Coaches are to Managers what Mentors are to Leaders.

Leaders lead because they have proven their ability to know, do, and inspire ... and the best Leaders add mentoring to their roles. 

Managers manage because they have proven their ability to know, instruct, and monitor ... and the best Managers add coaching to their roles.

When should business leaders seek "outside help"?

When I use the words "outside help" I mean help from mentors, coaches, consultants, etc.

Business leaders should seek "outside help" when 3 conditions are met:

1. The leader identifies a situation that must change.
2. The leaders is ready to accept "outside" opinions, which will expand options for future action and, perhaps, test the thickness of the leader's skin, &
3. The leader is ready to embrace changes...including some small personal adjustments.