It’s a war out there and you are not alone. You have a team of people on your side who will help you win the battle of mounting workloads and pressing deadlines – if, you ask them.

If you do it alone, you will eventually lose the war. You might win a few battles by working late and long hours, but eventually you will run out of steam and the workload will overwhelm you.

Three signs that you are fighting the battle alone are:

• You don’t go home on time and everyone else does.
• You don’t have enough time to meet with your team members and help them overcome their obstacles.
• You have thought more than once, “Why do I have to do everything around here?”

Your team members are ready and in position to help you fight the war on workload and deadlines – engage them through effective delegation. The 2-Way Delegation app has tips for winning through delegation. Download it, interact with it, and engage your team.

The brick is the truth and the hard place is the ability to get the truth.

It hits you like a ton of bricks: What people tell you might not be what you need to hear to get better at something, to be successful in your career, to fix a mistake, to make a better decision, or to effectively solve a problem.

The more we are in a position to influence someone else’s career, status, or reputation, the less likely we are to be given constructive feedback.

A group of 30 new leaders were given the task of asking their direct reports for feedback. They were astonished at how difficult it was to obtain constructive feedback. It perplexed and worried them.  Most direct reports they asked were not willing to give constructive feedback; instead, they responded with positive feedback. It is a hard reality to realize that people don’t always feel safe telling us what’s not working.

However, there are ways to increase the chances of obtaining feedback that is constructive.

• Make it anonymous.
• Give the person time to think about it.
• Ask for specific amounts of feedback.

Example: Would you tell me one thing I could do in meetings to get more participation?

• Be specific about the topic and type of feedback you are asking for.
• Tell the person how you will use the feedback.
• After the feedback, let the person know how you used his/her feedback and say thank you.

If you want feedback about how you are delegating work to others, the 2-Way Delegation app is an excellent tool. It has an in-app feedback system that sends an email requesting feedback about what to stop, start, and continue when delegating work or completing delegated work. You will find this app in the App Store or Google Play.