You could be a better delegator
If you’re constantly finding yourself disappointed in people on your team, the problem may be less about them and more about your ability to delegate effectively. Better delegation could be the route to your success.
Here’s why delegation is a critical skill for any business owner. Being able to delegate well means your company can thrive without you personally overseeing the details. This freedom allows your company to grow without you as a bottleneck while the quality of your work life improves as you no longer have to spend your time fighting fires and answering mundane questions. Best of all, your company is worth more.
Do any of these delegation styles sound familiar?
🥔 THE HOT POTATO DELEGATOR
The Hot Potato Delegator tires of a project or task and quickly tosses the activity to an employee to handle. Like a hot potato, you touch the problem briefly and pass it on to someone else quickly without much thought. The problem is, the person you are giving the project to may not be clear on what you want them to do, which means the potato often falls back into your lap.
❤️ THE DELEGATION HIPPIE
The Delegation Hippie is inspired by the free-loving spirits of the 1960s that believed in communal living, where there were no rules and everybody was treated equally. The Delegation Hippie asks a subordinate to handle a task but fails to provide clear lines of authority and control. The employee is left wondering if they need to check in with their boss before deciding on a course of action and are unclear about the budget they have been given to work with.
👥 THE FALSE DELEGATOR
The False Delegator is the person who asks an employee to help with a project. The employee is left with the impression they are being given broad decision-making authority to complete the project, while the manager actually wants to be kept abreast of the possible solutions her employee is considering and wants to retain the final decision-making authority. The employee decides on a course of action without the consent of their manager, and problems arise.
Why delegation is important to your success
As you can see in the chart below, those companies that can sustain a three-month absence of their owner are more than twice as likely to receive a premium acquisition offer1 compared to companies unlikely to survive the loss of the owner:
Delegation is clearly important, so why do so many small business owners fail to delegate tasks effectively? The problem comes down to thinking of delegation in a black and white
fashion. Instead of thinking of delegation as binary, think of delegation as having four degrees. Each degree offers your employee more decision-making autonomy and authority.
Get the full ‘how to’ guide
If you think you can improve your delegation abilities then get the full eBook on the 4 degrees of delegation. Click here.