If you really want to grow as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to learn to delegate.
Richard Branson
Why Delegate?
As a business owner, it’s common and normal to be passionate and protective of our businesses. Our business is our baby and we’ve worked hard to build it from the ground up and we know exactly what our own work ethic looks like. But at some point, you’re not going to be able to do it all on your own, nor should you do it all.
Chances are high that you started your business because it’s based on something that you’re passionate about, that you love and it’s naturally something that you’re good at or you’ve worked hard to be good at. Trying to run every aspect of your business will take you away from the work you’re excited about. You may be an amazing artist, but keeping track of receipts and the financial books might not be the part of your business that you’re passionate about. You can identify these areas pretty easily because they’re most likely the tasks you procrastinate on.
When you delegate the areas of your business that you’re not good at or not excited about, it allows you to focus on what you love and it allows someone else to focus efficiently on those other areas. You don’t like bookkeeping? Well, there’s a bookkeeper out there for you that does! That bookkeeper should be excited and fulfilled by their work and can get the work done more efficiently and faster than you will.
Delegation Math
What if you have to train someone to help you run your business? Maybe you need to delegate some tasks to an assistant. It can feel like a waste of time and energy to train someone because you can just do it faster yourself, right? Well, let’s look at an example to prove why it’s important to train and delegate.
A specific task takes you 27 minutes once a week.
Training someone will take 3 hours.
27 minutes once per week @ 52 weeks = 1,404 minutes/year
Divide 1,404 by 60 and you get 23 hours and 24 minutes/year
You spend 3 hours training someone to delegate the task and free up 20 hours and 24 minutes in the first year.
Delegation Math in “Being Productive” by Chris Crouch
Who to Delegate To
Look for someone who can do the job as well as you or better than you. If you can train them to do the work sufficiently or they are already proficient at the task, they can take it off your plate.
Look for someone you can trust and count on. You may have to reach out to your local friends or business community to ask for recommendations.
When you’re delegating tasks, follow the 6 C’s of delegation to delegate effectively.
The 6 C’s of Delegation
- Choose the right person.
- Clarify what you want done: be clear in your instructions.
- Confirm that the other person understands your request: don’t assume that you’re on the same page.
- Completion date: make sure they understand when the task or project has to be completed.
- Checkpoint date(s): if the completion date is out a ways, you may have to have some check-ins along the way. This ensures things are moving forward and provides an opportunity for corrections.
- Consequences. Share what will happen if the deadline isn’t meant. That doesn’t necessarily mean disciplinary action, it can mean the consquences to the company, to the bottom line, etc.
Delegation is a valuable productivity tool and you should utilize it as a way to work more efficiently in your business and to focus more on what you love. Delegation is not a failure, it’s a way to focus on your passion and to work smarter. I hope that you will embrace it!
“No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.”
Andrew Carnegie
