Like most people, I started my career in a junior individual contributor role. Initially, everything was new and hard. I struggled through tasks as I built my competency. But over time, like all things new and uncomfortable, I learned and improved. Eventually, I began to master those tasks and skills, which lead me to receive new assignments and to restart the learning cycle.
One of the unexpected challenges of taking on a new role or responsibility set is it means you often must (and should) give up many of those same tasks you’ve become an expert at. I’ve always found this to be initially uncomfortable. If it’s a mundane task or something you dislike doing, it can be a great feeling. But when it’s something you enjoy and are excellent at, it can become surprisingly difficult to hand off. Particularly the first time, when you’re handing it off to someone who is going to do a much worse job at it. Of course, this is part of the process and as you were at the start, this new individual must struggle through so they can learn.
What I’ve described is a very common pattern people experience as they progress in their career. It’s a commonly referenced topic. But there’s one aspect of this pattern that I haven’t seen referenced often, and that is how much easier it is to hand off an accountability to someone you believe can not only own the task as well as you, but eventually do it better than you. I believe finding those individuals and filtering for that criteria is key to: a) identifying a potential successor, and b) finding leaders who will ultimately give you more leverage.
I know now if after a reasonable amount of coaching and training, I’m still uncomfortable handing a task off, it’s usually a concern worth taking note of. And when I can quickly establish complete trust with handing something off, it’s also a sign I’ve found someone worth investing heavily in.