Let’s be real—the goal of running your own company is to create more freedom in your life, not less. No one wants to be chained to a desk day in and day out.
Unfortunately, if you’re the type that struggles to let go of the reins, you’ll probably find yourself struggling to delegate in your business, too. After all, who can do it—whatever “it” is—better than you?
Unfortunately, this mindset will only serve to hinder your success. Smart leaders and entrepreneurs have learned that the art of delegating is the only way to truly grow. If only you could clone yourself! Sorry, friends, but science hasn’t quite reached that pinnacle yet.
We get it—handing responsibilities for your “baby” over to someone else can be nerve-wracking. If you’re the control freak type, you may even have a battle on your hands to overcome your reluctance. But it’s a battle well worth fighting because the reality is that you can’t clone yourself. But you can do the next best thing and delegate tasks to people you trust.
Here are our top tips for delegating successfully.
Face Your Fears
Most people in leadership that feel the need to micromanage everything do so from a feeling of fear. They fear there’s no one else that can do the job fast enough, or fear it won’t be done right, or fear no one can do it as well as they can themselves.
While those things can all be true, most of the time, if you learn to delegate to the right people, you’ll find the opposite is true.
Even better, once you realize the power of delegating successfully, you’ll feel exhilarated because now you can fully focus your attention on all the things about your business that truly bring you joy. Usually, these things are the reason you started your business in the first place.
Face Down Overwhelm
Some people hesitate on delegating because they honestly don’t even know where to start or know what can be delegated. There’s no easy way around this hill other than climbing over it directly.
Spending some time now to save time later is well worth it in the end. Sit down and start mapping out the different tasks in your business that could theoretically be delegated to someone else, and then start narrowing down the list and handing those tasks out.
If you need to train someone to handle certain tasks, spend the time now and do it. Your future self will thank you profusely.
Decide What’s Worth Doing
The golden rule of delegating successfully is devoting your time and attention to a) the things that make you the most green and b) the things that you truly are thrilled to do.
What’s the point of owning your own biz if you dread doing the work each day? But that’s what happens when you refuse to delegate. You get stuck in the minutiae of running your business, doing tasks you hate, and wasting energy that could be better spent elsewhere.
Decide what tasks are worthwhile for you yourself to do and then divvy up the rest between people you trust to get it done.
The beauty of this is that you can weed out those tasks that you really aren’t that good at anyway and bring in people that excel at them. Before you know it, you’ll have a team of people that are awesome sauce at what they do, while you’re free to be—well, you.
Create Systems
Every business operates using systems of some kind. Some may be more complex than others, but systems can help propel your business forward. You can literally create systems for nearly everything, which makes handing off tasks to new people or trainees much simpler.
For instance, you could create a system for handling your calls so that your assistant knows exactly how to respond to them.
It’s as simple as creating a written document with every step mapped out. Print it and hand it off, and voila! You’re not answering all your junk calls anymore. That’s at least 10 minutes saved from your day to focus on the important stuff.
Always keep in mind the real goal of delegating. It’s to work smarter, not harder. You started your business to be successful, but success requires growth, and growth requires the right mindset.
The right mindset understands that you are one person, and you need to surround yourself with a team of creative, fabulous people to drive your company’s growth forward. Learn how to delegate successfully and watch your business begin to bloom faster than you dreamed was possible.
Looking to improve your business management strategies? Tell your people to call our people.
See Also:
CEO Insight: Building Employee Accountability
7 Ways to Stop Micromanaging and Supercharge Your Team Today
COO Insight: Finding Operating Inefficiencies in Your Business
