Why Delegate?

For the long-term success of your club, it is crucial to delegate a substantial amount of the work to club officers, and to begin early.

Many club leaders—owing to drive, enthusiasm, and intense dedication—resist or postpone delegating.  You may enjoy taking on most or all of the work yourself.  Moreover, it often feels like as much work to get someone else started helping as it does to just do the task yourself.  And once you start to depend on people, you have to motivate them, hold them to their commitments, pick up the slack if they slip on a deadline, and replace them if they quit.

Why is all this worth it?

First, it strengthens your club in two important ways:

• You get to focus on club strategy and growth.  The less time you spend putting up posters, sending announcement emails, and scheduling rooms, the more time you can spend thinking about meeting format and topics, how to recruit members, or how to raise money.  (Or, if you prefer: concentrating on your studies, spending time with friends, and getting adequate sleep!)
• Others become more involved and invested.  When people help with an effort, they become more committed and actually get more out of their involvement.  Having a handful of officers will give your club a strong core membership, which in turn will help meeting attendance, recruiting, and fundraising.  And it gives you ready manpower for occasional large efforts, such as publicizing events.

Second, it provides a backup plan or insurance policy for your club in three important situations:

• Emergencies.  What happens if you get sick?  If you have to concentrate on a major assignment?  If a grandparent dies?  You will at times be taken away from the club for days or even weeks.  Will your club screech to a halt without you?  Or will you have people to cover for you?
• Burnout.  The more enthusiasm you have for your club, the greater the risk that you will accidentally overcommit yourself, and wake up one day to realize that your involvement has crossed the line to personal sacrifice.  Every driven, ambitious person experiences this at least once in their life (and many experience it for the first time in college).  You can postpone or even avoid burnout by delegating the work of running the club.  And if you do find yourself burned out one day, you'll have people to step up or take over for you.
• Succession.  Remember that you will graduate someday!  Will your club wither and die after you leave?  Or will you leave a legacy, a club that survives and thrives after you're gone?  The best way to ensure the long-term survival of your club is to delegate to club officers while you're still running it.  Only then will you get others involved and committed, learn who is capable of the job, and learn who follows through on their commitments.

Finally, and most importantly for your selfish values:

• It helps you grow as a leader.  Look beyond your college years to the rest of your life.  You will continue to lead, organize, and manage.  Delegation is one of the most important skills to learn—and one of the most common failings of a leader.  Practice now!  Learning delegation and management is more work in the short run, but in the long run it will enable you to multiply your efforts for all your future endeavors. It's an investment that will reap rewards for the rest of your life.

Two other OCN articles address how to delegate: "Three Tips to Turn Club Members into Club Organizers" and "Three Secrets for Getting Other People to Deliver on Their Promises".

Jason Crawford founded the Carnegie Mellon University Objectivist Club and ran it as president 1997–2000.