Bringing in new ideas and propelling your business to new heights requires a vital management tool: delegation.
As a business owner, you likely have a strong will and a forceful personality. Your sense of ownership about your business naturally leads you to take on many roles and do much of the initial work needed to start a company. These qualities have helped you meet the challenges of starting your company and build it to its current success level.
But bringing in new ideas and propelling your business to new heights requires a vital management tool: delegation.
What is Delegation?
Delegation is the transfer of authority to managers, giving them the responsibility for carrying out specific activities. But for delegation to be most beneficial, hiring the right team is important.
Ideally, you want to have managers who:
- understand your vision
- take ownership of your vision by developing strategies to achieve it
- commit to delivering results by executing the tactics supporting their strategies
- possess the skills to add value to your vision
Delegation doesn’t mean you’re going to step back from your business. Your leadership setting the vision or direction for your team remains vital to the company’s future success.
And for delegation to be effective, you’ll be responsible for inspection:
- assessing your team’s talents and putting them in the right role to contribute
- communicating your expectations of managers
- monitoring the team’s performance and counseling them when adjustments are
needed
One clarifying note: verifying that commitments to the business are upheld doesn’t mean micro-managing. For delegation to work well, you must trust your teams. A clear hiring plan will help you bring the right people to your organization to maximize collaboration, expand your vision and exceed expected results.
How Delegation Leads to Success
If you’re micro-managing your company, you can easily clock 80 hours weekly. Long-term, that energy drain will limit your ability to think creatively, assess current trends, and chart a path for future success.
With delegation to your team of managers, you quickly expand your capabilities and capacity.
- If you hire a team of five managers and each works 45 hours, you have 225
hours put into your business. - Add your 45-hour contribution, and you have almost 300 hours of ideas, analysis,
planning and review occurring each week – almost four times your current 80 hours.
For some, delegation can feel like giving up control of your company. In reality, delegation leads to success by providing:
- more operational efficiency
- deeper and more balanced organizational talent
- a source of new and varied ideas
- freedom for you, as the business owner, to maintain the entrepreneurial curiosity
and drive that led you to start your company
And when you create an environment where delegation flourishes, your personal contribution to your business and your industry expands.
Your company will become known as a good place to work, one focused on:
- developing future leaders
- creating trusting, relationship-based teams
- expanding skills and expertise in your organization
- providing opportunities for others to grow and advance
“Delegation creates far better results, far more varied and successful input and a better overall plan.”
If you’re interested in learning more about increasing your current business momentum, or want to discuss turnaround ideas, contact the Second Wind team. We’re committed to helping small businesses thrive.