Delegation: A Recipe for Success (A Work- and Home-Related Post)

I had a lot of stuff to yesterday. Looking at everything, I realized that I couldn't do it all. I mean, that's the case every day, but I realized that if I delegated, I could become even more productive.

So I assigned the task to my daughter. We started with a clear understanding of success - in this case, banana bread. We both understood what it took to get there and I knew that I couldn't just send her on her merry way and think it would be done. But, by working together, I knew we could get there.

So we started with all the necessary ingredients and our tray of utensils. (We added a few more as we went, but the tray certainly helped keep things cleaner.)

I monitored her progress, had her talk through what she was doing - explain what she was doing and why - and I made sure that she never felt overwhelmed or confused.

There were two points where things went wrong, but because I was staying apprised of the progress, I was able to help her course-correct and so we never derailed. When I knew she was approaching certain points that I knew would be more challenging, I came back in to be more hands-on to help her feel confident.

For the final step, my boss wife stepped in and took over. It was a timing thing. We could have done it, but it worked out better for her to handle.

In the end, more got done, my daughter gained more confidence and tasty banana bread was had by all. Here's Rachel with one of the loaves:

Post-script: We used the wrong bananas. (My fault.) So later in the evening Lori made banana muffins with a crunchy brown sugar topping with the ones I should have used.