The Art of Delegation: You Don’t Have to Do Everything Yourself

The American Dream for Entrepreneurs is to own and run their own business. However, for too many business owners, the dream becomes a nightmare.

Why? A common reason is a failure to effectively delegate.

The first key word is “delegate”. The second key word is “effectively”.

SPECIAL NOTE: No employee will have as much interest and drive about the success of your business as you do! Not one!

Causes:

Emotions: Too many business owners are too emotionally attached to their business. While that tendency is not surprising, it must be stopped, NOW!

Lack of leadership skills: Business ownership does not immediately equate to being a leader – although way too many owners feel that it does.

One insidious and house-of-cards leadership flaw is expecting all team members (a/k/a employees) will complete all assigned to the perceived-level-of-perfection standard the owner expects. (See Special Note above.)

Failure to train: Ironically, there are business owners who expect/want their employees to train themselves. Astounding, but true!

Lack of clear communications: This situation often starts in the interview room. The owner tells the prospective employee the title of role to be filled but then fails to provide a written description of the requirements and expectations for that role.

Peter Principle: A business owner might be a genius regarding the proprietary product or service he or she created. But the owner is in over his/her head regarding everything else about running a business.

Benefits:

Overall, proper delegation yields improved trust and loyalty – which, in turn, has a positive ripple effect in such areas as:

Burnout prevention: Always a business owner’s favorite benefit. Burnout is caused by trying to do everything yourself. Let others help you so that you can stay in business and they can keep their jobs.

Employee morale: The show of belief in their abilities to get the job done – correctly – will have an immediate (and beneficial) impact on morale.

Sustainability: Proper delegation is like well-place, properly cemented cinderblocks in a building’s foundation – the chances of lasting longer greatly improve.

Proper delegation steps:

Attitude change: It is necessary to accept the fact that, if you want you and your business to stay healthy, then delegating is a must.

Someone once said “That which you share, expands. That which you withhold, diminishes.” Without proper delegation, a business will not grow – PERIOD!

Delegation hot points: It is extremely important to choose the right employees to whom various responsibilities will be delegated.

Give them what they need: One of the first activities is to provide the proper training for the role.

Next is to provide the equipment and supplies needed for their respective roles.

You have made many good business decisions thus far in your business. Make proper delegation the next good one.