However, it can also reveal a worrying company culture that could be restricting your business’s growth. Rather than embracing the culture of “if you want something done properly, do it yourself”, perhaps you should be looking at how you can unlock hidden potential in your business through the art of delegation.
Concentrate on strategy not detail
Keep in mind that your time is precious and that you’re the one responsible for keeping the bigger picture in mind. You may have experience at every level of your business, but that doesn’t mean you should be wasting time on every last detail.
Delegation starts with telling your employees what overriding objective you want them to achieve. It’s up to them to decide how they achieve it. You can give pointers on how things should be done, but keep in mind that everyone works in different ways and that there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to business.
Provide the tools your staff need
If you’re just delegating work to shift the worst jobs onto someone else’s desk, you’re doing it wrong. Your employees will probably be just as unenthused as you are and this approach fails to resolve the root cause of the issue, whether it is poor planning or lack of funding.
You need to give your employees every chance of success. Make sure they’ve got the staff and budget they need to do the job properly and the objectives of the project are in line with a wider business strategy. Also, assure them that you or another senior member of staff will be there to help out if needed.
Measure progress without pressure
Whilst you shouldn’t focus on the detail, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take a keen interest in progress. Regular updates allow you to stay connected with what could be a significant part of your business. As long as you let your employees know how to update you and make sure these reports aren’t too frequent or long-winded, they shouldn’t be too much of a distraction.
Celebrate your success
The art of delegation takes time to develop and needs some positive communication to become part of your company’s culture. Once it is established though, employees will see this extra responsibility as a benefit rather than a chore. To help this culture grow, make sure that employees hear about when their colleagues have excelled in doing what you’ve asked them to.
Make sure you emphasise what they did particularly well so others know what will be required in future. This will help your employees to feel valued and to achieve that extra 10% you’ve been looking for.
Do you find it easy to let go and delegate or are you a bit of a control freak? Any tips or experiences you can share?
