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Delegate Your Way to
Success - Part 1 of 3
Ronald Reagan said it
best:
“The greatest leader isn’t necessarily
the one who does the greatest things. The greatest leader is the one who
gets the people to do the greatest things.”
Here is my version,
tweaked for entrepreneurs:
“If you don’t delegate, your business
will never realize its potential. And, you won’t have a life outside
your company.”
Having the right
people and then delegating to them ... these are the “one-two punch” of
business success and having a life.
Why delegate? Simply
put, you can’t do it all, so don’t even try.
If you don’t
delegate, you will quickly become a servant to the business. You’ll
become embroiled in every aspect of the company. The demands on your
time will exceed your availability, will tax your ability to juggle
responsibilities and will stunt your company’s growth.
I fell into this trap
early in my career as an entrepreneur. Before I learned to delegate, I
was the single biggest obstacle to my company’s success. I should have
been thinking about strategy and focusing on the big picture. Instead I
was doing simple tasks better handled by others. In the words of my
favorite motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, I was “majoring in minor
things.”
When you delegate:
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You show trust in others. This is good
for morale.
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You develop others’ skills. This is good
for the business.
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You free up your time so you can do “CEO
stuff” and have a life. This is good for the business and good for
you.
What do I mean by
“CEO stuff”? Goal setting, planning, and executing. And taking care of
your people: You’re there to oversee, guide, train, educate, motivate,
inspire and lead.
You may be one of
those business owners who believes “nobody can do it as well as I can.”
You may be right. But the key to business success does not lie in you
doing everything. In fact, “you doing everything” stands smack dab in
the way of business success. We’re right back to hiring the right
people. Put the right folks on your team, train them and trust them.
Maybe they won’t do it as well as you. Then again, maybe they’ll
surprise you.
Here’s some food for
thought about “nobody can do it as well as I can.” Let’s say your
company does some sort of repair service, and you’re the best technician
in the place. You can personally generate $10,000 service revenue per
month. Your employees are good and meet your customers’ expectations,
but can only bring in $7,500 each. You can do it yourself and have your
time monopolized. Or, you can multiply your effectiveness and have
several (or even dozens) of others doing it while you oversee the
operation and enjoy the results. Two people at $7,500 each equals
$15,000. Five people can generate $37,500.
In this example, not
a single person to whom you delegate is as good as you. So what?
One other argument
that some small-company CEOs make goes something like this: “I’m not too
good to do the work around here. I don’t want my people to think I’m
acting like a big-shot. I feel that I should be rolling up my sleeves
and working right alongside my staff.”
Delegating is not
about being a big-shot or lording over people. Everyone in every
organization has a job. If you’re the CEO, your job is providing
direction and strategy for the company. The smaller the company, the
more hats you and everyone else must wear. But as you grow – in fact, if
you want to grow – get used to wearing fewer “doing” hats and more
“thinking” hats.
Before you start -or continue – to perform
a task, ask yourself,
“Is this the best use of my time and talents?”
and
Continually ask yourself,
“Am I spending so much time doing that I’m not spending enough
time goal-setting, planning, strategizing, leading, learning, and
training?”
In
part 2 of this 3 part series, we’ll
continue to explore why - and most importantly how - to effectively
delegate.
Part 2 >
Bill Collier is the author of “How to
Succeed as a Small Business Owner … and Still Have a Life” and is
the St. Louis area coach for The Great Game of Business. He helps
businesses teach their employees to think and act like owners. He can be
reached at 314-221-8558 or bill@collierbiz.com.
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