The influential Andrew Carnegie said, "No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit."
We just cannot seem to help ourselves. We feel like we have to do it all.
Whether it is a function of a lack of support around us (which is usually our fault for not recruiting well) or an unhealthy sized superhero ego (which is always our fault)...delegation has been a challenge literally since the beginning of time.
Great news though about delegation, when it is done right, it will change the game for you.
John Maxwell said it clearly, “If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.”
Let’s start with what delegation is, and what it is not.
Delegation is…
A Transfer of authority
Craig Groeschel said “When you delegate tasks, you create followers. When you delegate authority, you create leaders.”
You’ve heard it before, everything rises and falls on leadership. The height of your leadership determines the height of your team’s leadership. When you transfer authority, you empower someone else to execute and achieve the results.
Delegation is…
A powerful method of growth and margin
I recently read about some of the world’s remarkable leaders like Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and some of the habits they carry. Many of them read books for hours at a time. HOW? They have delegated. They realize that the growth of their team and organization are dependent on their own growth so they delegate to build margin for more growth. It is a growth snowball!
Delegation…
Creates a more stable product and process
When you try to do all things every time, they are going to be done with varying levels of commitment and quality.
When you delegate one thing to someone, it will have a greater level of integrity and quality because they focus on that thing while you can turn your entire attention to the highest and best use of your time.
Delegation is not…
Transferring your responsibility
Jocko Wilink’s powerful book “Extreme Ownership” is a punch-you-in-the-mouth reminder that even though delegation pushes down; leadership, authority, and ownership pushes up. This is why training is so crucial and why it cannot be the first thing to go when times get tough. Training empowers delegation which empowers quality and efficiency which then empowers serious competitive advantage and growth.
A lack of training empowers frustration and spirals in a decline to the wheels falling off an organization
Delegation is not…
An Abdication of tasks
Healthy delegation lays out a clear role, step-by-step training, and ongoing accountability and coaching
Unhealthy abdication simply says, “Here go do this” and then moves on without repetitive, predictable, and meaningful training
Abdication is evidence of our own self-centeredness whereas delegation serves others
Delegation is not…
Micro-Managing
It’s easy to micro-manage; simply ask the wrong questions at wrong times
Delegation embraces repetitive, predictable, and meaningful questions at predictable times to the right people who have been repetitiously equipped with the predictable tools
But how?
First thing to do is to write down EVERY SINGLE TASK THAT YOU DO IN YOUR BUSINESS on a spreadsheet. I mean everything!
If you answer phones, write it down. If you respond to social media messages, write it down. If you take out the trash, clean the windows, go on sales calls, sit through industry meetings, bid, estimate, job cost, or order materials...whatever you do, write it down.
Small tasks, big tasks, write it down.
Once you’ve exhausted everything you can think about, then it is time to prioritize those tasks and understand exactly what they are worth and how “delegatable” they are.
The first column after the task could potentially be the most telling.
Your time.
Time is the most valuable commodity that you have. You cannot create more. You cannot buy more. You can not recapture what is lost.
Next to each task write down the average amount of minutes it takes you to complete this task each week.
Next is to rank your “energy” with these tasks.
There are one of three possibilities to indicate when filling out this column that can be done by answering a simple question.
Does this task give me energy, suck me dry, or it is so-so?”
If that task gives you energy when you have completed it, type in the word UP
If the task sucks the life out of you and you leave more drained than when you started, then type in the word DOWN.
If the tasks leaves you thinking, “That’s ok...it’s no big deal” then mark it with a NEUTRAL.
There you go...UP, DOWN, or NEUTRAL
Does it give you energy or does it not?
The third column is to rank the type of task this is. If this is something that ONLY YOU CAN DO, and nobody else could ever possibly do this, then you write a “1”. There should not be many of those by the way.
If this is a task that you did not think could be delegated, but the more you think about it, you think, “Well, maybe so”, then write a “2”.
If this is a task that you know you can delegate, you should have done it a while ago, but you just haven’t, then write a “3”.
You should have WAY more 2’s and 3’s than you do 1’s. If you have a lot of 1s, you need to re-evaluate how important you see yourself in the business...that is not healthy long term. Remember, great leaders cannot go to higher levels without great people.
A list of 1’s may reveal the desire to meddle.
Time for the big reveal. Once ranked, go pick all of your tasks with a “2” or “3” and “Down” written next to it… especially those that take a lot of time. Once identified, ask these four questions…
Who will you delegate it to? (separate slide)
How will you train that person? (separate slide)
How will you track regular progress? (separate slide)
When will you get started? (separate slide)
The final missing piece to a simple and powerful training process for you and your team is IMPLEMENTATION.
I will take a half-baked plan with full implementation versus a perfect plan with half-baked implementation.
I quote Joe Calloway all of the time because it is so powerful, “Vision without IMPLEMENTATION is hallucination”.
If you meet with your team on a regular basis to review what you have delegated, while also delegating new tasks, it will work. If you do not share meet, it will not work.
Start delegating and stop belly-aching.