Entrepreneurs and small business owners might need to wear many hats, but they should never attempt to manage an entire business on their own. It simply isn’t possible. Sure, you might be able to handle your own accounting when you first start out, but setting up a website, doing your taxes, expanding your operations, improving your supply chain? These can easily become far too complex for one person to handle.
Relying on others and building a system that your business relies on to thrive and grow is standard practice. It requires you to hire the best people for the job, to outsource if necessary, and above all, to learn how to delegate and see the results you are looking for.
Understand Yourself
The first step to improve delegation in business is to understand yourself. If you are someone who has a hard time trusting or relying on others, then delegation is going to be difficult until you overcome these issues. Be realistic and know your leadership style. Delegation is key to getting more done and building up the confidence of your employees. You all need to work together to grow your business, but if you only delegate small, admin-related tasks, you are setting yourself up for failure. Acknowledging issues with sharing responsibility is your first step because you need to trust others to successfully delegate.
Improve Your Own Time Management Skills
If you want to better delegate, you need to first improve your time management skills. Maximising your efficiency can help you tackle your projects better and make it more apparent where delegation would come into use. You will also learn how to delegate better so that the right person is working on the right task and at the right time. The best part is that you don’t need to learn these skills on your own. You can instead get a crash course in everything you need to know from corporatecoachgroup.com.
Know When a Task Should Be Delegated and When It Should Not
One of the most important skills you will learn from that course is delegation. Before delegating (or not delegating) ask yourself these questions:
- Is there someone better for the job than you?
- Is the task a good learning opportunity for one of your employees?
- Is it a recurring task you would greatly benefit from delegating?
- Is it appropriate to delegate or should you handle it personally?
Know Your Employees
In order to delegate effectively, you need to know your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Only then can you assign tasks that suit the individual best and can better divvy up tasks that require little skill.
Set Out the Desired Outcome for the Task
In order to delegate successfully, you need to be clear about what your employee needs to do and what you expect from their work. By being clear and concise, you can see more directed, targeted results.
Let Them Know When and How to Get Help
Set up a chain of command so that help can be found if they need it. Small businesses may only have one manager plus you to turn to, but larger businesses will have multiple managers and middle-men to help out.
Bring Them in on the Delegation Process
Don’t forget to ask. Employees will know themselves more than you will and some might want to prove themselves and take on a new task. Bring your team in on the delegation process so you can divide tasks together.
