Delegation is a superpower. As an entrepreneur, business leader or senior manager, it’s critical and important that you master this skill, and this is to be able to delegate effectively. Effective delegation is critical to your success as an individual and also to the success of your organisation and company.
You cannot do everything. Everything cannot be left on your shoulders.
There’ll be a time where you get tired, you are going to be fatigued, you are not going to have enough time in the day to be able to get everything done, and it’s going to be critical for you to delegate the non-essential tasks of your role. Today, I want to cover a few major mistakes that most business leaders do when they try to delegate activities and tasks.
1. Not Delegating the Right Things
The first mistake is to not delegate the right things. You delegate things that you tend to usually not like or dislike, but some of those things are critical and important to your role, so you can’t just say, “Well, I don’t like doing that and I’m going to get someone else to do it.” It’s important to really zero in on what it is exactly that you need to delegate.
2. Training Instead of Delegating
The second thing that business leaders tend to make mistakes with is the difference between delegating and actually training someone. So, you pass on something, an activity or a task to one of your staff members, and then, at the same time, you’re constantly training them. You’re actually going through the whole motions with them, not giving them the autonomy and responsibility to try and work through it themselves. You are actually helping them do that job. That’s actually unproductive, not only for yourself, but then also for your staff member because it’s both of you at the same time working on the particular activity and task, so it’s unproductive for both of you.
3. Giving Vague Instructions
The third one, this is a big one that most people, most business leaders, make mistakes with, is giving vague instructions. So, you basically just say, “Hey, go and do this,” without actually giving details or sharing critical information with the staff member to ensure that they get that right. A couple of problems with that is the results that your staff member is going to come back with when they complete that task might not be at the standard or at the level that you are after. They might go away and do it wrong, use the wrong resources, so it’s important to ensure that you give really clear, concise, and where necessary, detailed instructions on how to actually complete an activity or task that you share with them or you delegate out to them.
4. Delegating to the Wrong People
Another one that’s also just as critical and important is delegating to the wrong people. You might think that this person is skilled in a particular area and share and delegate an activity with them, but it turns out that they are the wrong person for it. Either they’ve got too much already on their plate, or they may not have the expertise, skill set or knowledge to complete the activity and task.
So, as you can see here already, delegation is a skill and it’s an art, and you need to know the skills and the strengths of your team members. You also need to be very specific about the items and the tasks that you are delegating, and also give clear instructions on how to do it.
5. Not Checking In on Employees
A few more mistakes that business leaders make when delegating out is not monitoring or checking in with the staff member that they’ve delegated the activity to. Sometimes, like I said at the beginning, you don’t need to hold their hand through completing the activity, but sometimes you need to monitor and just check in with them.
– How are they going?
– Are they doing it correctly?
– Are they having any challenges or any problems?
– Do they need any assistance?
And, sometimes by checking in with them you might realise that in future, they are the right person to do this activity. Sometimes, they might surprise you, and they might be able to do it more effectively and efficiently than you were doing it. So, it’s important to regularly just check in and monitor how they are doing with that as well.
6. Expecting Perfection
Lastly, I want to share with you one of the last mistakes that people make; they expect perfection. So, you go away and you delegate something out, and you feel good and you know that if you had done it, you would have done a good job. But, if you’re not choosing the right person, you’re not monitoring them and you’re not providing the right descriptions and details of what needs to be done, and then you expect them to come back and deliver this perfect, great project or expect the execution of the task to be perfect, you’re setting yourself up for failure, and you’re setting up the staff member to fail as well. So, don’t expect perfection, especially if you are not providing the right support and resources to be able to complete that activity effectively and efficiently.
Ultimately, delegation is a superpower for you as a business leader and entrepreneur to be able to delegate your tasks and free your time up. Your time is better used on high-level activities than on doing smaller, menial, less important tasks. Sharing those tasks and delegating those tasks with your team members, but ensuring that you have a process and are sharing the right details and specifics about it, you have the right resources, you are constantly checking in with them to ensure that they are following your instructions and also that they’re not having any challenges and problems, will ensure that the task gets done in an effective manner, and you can focus on what’s important; you can focus on working on your business. And, I shared that in a previous blog video, so go out and watch that one on “How to work on your business and stop working in the business.” Delegation is a big part of being able to do so, and then, ensuring that your team is working effectively as well.
Lastly, I want to share with you and introduce you again to the EOS process or the EOS system. EOS stands for the Entrepreneurial Operating System. All it is is a set of simple, practical real-world concepts and tools that allow you to transform your business into an unstoppable one. So, hit the button below to schedule a call, and I look forward to speaking with you soon.
