The following article is adapted from Leisure Lines the newsletter for Alberta Recreation Parks Association. If so, you are not alone. According to a recent Statistics Canada report, less than 30% of workers deal with stress and work overload by delegating. The same report also notes that most people rarely turn to work colleagues or family and friends for help.

Developing effective delegating skills is critical for managers and supervisors in the workplace—and an invaluable skill for all people as they seek to find work-life balance. You can start to improve your delegating skills by identifying why you are not comfortable delegating. Time—management experts identify several reasons.

They include:

• Fear of losing control of a project or task
  
• Believing it is more efficient to do the job yourself
  
• Believing your staff will resent you if you give them more work
  
• Being afraid other will do a better job and you will become less valued

Here are some tips for delegating in the workplace:

• When approaching a task that will take longer than a few minutes, ask if you are the best person to be doing it. If not consider handing it off to some more appropriate
  
• Remember than delegating works both up and down and across an organization
• Consult with supervisors, colleagues or staff to determine the best person for the job
  
• Be clear about roles and expectations
  
• Keep in mind that the downside of trying to do it all can be to use what is often referred to as reactive coping strategies. These can be negative in nature - increased stress - may lean on alcohol, isolation, feelings of low self-esteem. Positive coping strategies look at how to solve the problem