4 Rules for effective delegation

Management

4 Apr

Are you the bottleneck to your own business growth? Get unstuck and grow through delegation.

When a small business hits a growth ceiling and starts to plateau, it's usually because the business owner has reached their own capacity.

When growth is relying on one person, the business is limited. It begs the question; are your the bottleneck to your own business growth?

If so, the best way to break out and keep growing beyond YOU is by getting good at delegating.

For business owners, that means getting hyper focused on what we do best (our high-leverage activities) and delegate the rest. The better we get a delegating work, the more the business can grow and reach its full potential.

I've heard it said that micromanagers are leaders who never delegate. It’s true we want to have control in business, but in order to grow, we have to let go of what we've grown accustom with. e.g being at the centre of every decisions. That's what makes delegation difficult for most.

To help with that process, here are four simple rules to consider for effective delegation:

1. Be explicit

Communicate explicitly. Give clear instructions, express your expectations and define the end outcome. The opposite of explicit communication is to be implicit, meaning, you expect others to read your mind. Even our spouses struggle to read our mind! So why would we expect our employees to do so?

2. Give context

Don't just tell people what to do, explain why it matters. Communicating the why gives needed context to employees to push through any difficulties or resistance they will face. Everyone wants to do meaningful work, but too often leaders only communicate the what and the how. We forget that the why is the most powerful motivator to accomplishing anything.

3. Assign authority

There are different levels of responsibility. Some tasks you delegate require approval, others don’t. Clarify the level of authority and responsibility you're assigning to someone to accomplish a certain task or project. We can't expect others to be responsible without giving them authority to do their work in the first place.

4. Allow for mistakes

It's a great thing to pursue excellence, but don't expect perfection. Mistakes are going to happen, it's part of life. As leaders we love to swoop in when there's a problem and be the hero that saves the day. But when we do that, we miss the whole point of delegation and our team doesn't learn how to navigate challenges on their own.

Instead, coach your team on how to respond to and grow from mistakes and set backs. This will build confidence in your team and show that you trust them. Remember that 80% done right by someone else is always better than 100% done by you. Because you are limited!

Final tip: Follow up and give feedback. The biggest mistake people make when delegating work is they don’t follow up, they dump the task on someone without space for questions and feedback. Take the time to follow up and give feedback on a delegated task, so that it doesn’t turn into a headache later on.

If you've been hesitating to delegate, make a decision to start today. You don't have to relinquish everything all at once - take it one step at a time and be patient with the process.

Activation Questions:

To help you apply what you’ve just read, ask yourself:

How much more could you accomplish if you delegated half of what you’re currently doing right now?
Could you double your revenue in the next 12 months?
Are you assigning responsibility to others when delegating?
What's one thing you could delegate today?

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