Delegating is harder than it looks and smarter than the alternative.

I recently had the privilege of presenting a seminar to the Synergy Networking group in the Greater Conejo Chamber, ( great group), on the role of the CEO.  One of the key areas we discussed was delegation.  That seems to be the hardest job for many people which is why I wrote the following.

You own a business or are leading a project or are a parent, and you need help so you decide to delegate some of the jobs.  Which ones?  Will they do it as well as you do it?  Forget it; it’s easier to do it yourself.  But is it?  What is the cost of doing it all yourself?

Sound familiar?  We start businesses or lead projects because we have a passion for them but that doesn’t mean we can or should do it all. A mentor of mine always said he made $250/hour (in the 80s) working with clients why should he spend time doing errands for which he could pay an assistant $10-15/hour.  How much is your time worth?

How do we eliminate the one big fear of delegation, that they can’t do it like we would?  Get over it!  They may do it better.

It’s not laziness that keeps small businesses from breakthrough success. A small business owner’s days are full with answering email, managing social media, working with clients, sales calls, and lead generation. The day to day to do list is long. So long, realistically you can’t even get to most of it.

Working on the day to day business simply maintains your current business numbers.

Business growth does not come from managing the day to day operations of your business.

It’s time to Delegate!!!

Here are the basic steps:

1. Define the project in terms of what needs to be done specifically and how you would like it to be done.
2. Use the key steps of teaching; tell them, show them, have them do it, give feedback, review, and have them do it again, with more feedback.
3. Don’t expect perfection
4. Create a reporting and feedback system
5. Be very clear on what is expected

The more low priority items you can let go of the more you can focus on what is really important; the project or the business.

Play to your strengths and let others play to theirs and you are all winners.