Yes, You Have To Delegate!
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One of the biggest factors that limit growth within a company is the owner’s unwillingness to truly delegate. After all it’s your baby. You conceived it, nurtured it, stayed up nights and worried on weekends. No one will care for the business as much as you do, which is true.
However, no one can do it all alone.
Let’s face it; there are only 24 hours in a day. You may be very efficient and accomplish much more than others during your work day, but the bottom line is the same. There are only so many working hours available in a day. To grow the company requires the delegation of some of your workload to others.
“But they won’t do it as well as I do!” That may very well be correct, but in most cases, they will do an acceptable job freeing your time for projects of higher importance.
Most of us are actually unaware of our inability to delegate. To help clarify that point you will find 10 quick quiz questions below. I am asking to you read them and record a “Yes” if it fits you and a “No” it if doesn’t. If you have four (4) or more “Yes’s” you might just have a problem delegating:
- Are unexpected emergencies constantly occurring in your department? (Y/N)
- Do you find you are so pressed for time to get daily work done that you have no time to plan? (Y/N)
- Have you noticed a great deal of friction or dissatisfaction among those that work for you? (Y/N)
- Are you always bogged down in detail? (Y/N)
- Do simple jobs take a long time to get done? (Y/N)
- Does work slowdown, or halt, when you are gone? (Y/N)
- Do you complain or criticize others when the work of your group does not go as you had planned? (Y/N)
- Do those who work for you always wait for you to give the sign before they start anything? (Y/N)
- Have your employees stopped coming to you to get your reaction to their ideas? (Y/N)
- Do your employees display little or no humor or spontaneity in their work?
Again, if you answered “Yes” to four or more of the above questions you just might have a bit of trouble delegating.
Delegation is tough. The really tough part is actually hiring people who are better, or more skilled, at the job then you are. Ouch, that hurt!
“They might make me look dumb.”
Well you have a choice. You can eat a bit of crow…therefore allowing the company to grow and prosper or you can do it all yourself and stifle the profitable growth on the company.
Dave Ramsey has a great way of phrasing it, “We need to not only have the right people on the bus (right people on the payroll), but just as importantly we need those people in the right seats (positions) on the bus.”
I want to encourage you to ask yourself a serious question. “Where do you, personally, want to be 5, 10 or 15 years from now?” That question needs to be asked today for one very good reason. The reason it needs to be answered today is because it will set your personal objectives for the coming years. Do you want to retire in 15 years? Do you want to have turned the business over to one of your children within 10 years? Do you want to double sales and/or profits within five years? The answer to these questions, and others, will determine who you hire and how you invest your time, energy, and resources over the coming years. If you can answer these questions it will set the tone of your company and in most cases will force you to delegate some of your responsibilities to others while hiring additional people to fill yet uncreated positions.
An Ostrich may feel really comfortable with its head in the ground, but the reality is that it’s not going anywhere…and everyone knows it. Don’t be an Ostrich!
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Posted In: ACCA Now, Management
