I was talking with someone that works for me the other day and they asked me how to handle a particular situation with a client of ours. I knew how we should handle the situation but I wanted them to take the reins so in the event this happened again, they didn’t have to come to me. So when I told them that they could handle the situation they responded with, “Nice job of delegating, Brad.” and what surprised me was my feeling was actually of guilt as if I did something wrong. Now I don’t think that was their intent of making me guilt but why did I feel that?
Were they right? Should I have just handled it?
Delegation, in this sense, is defined by Dictionary.com as: “authorizing subordinates to make certain decisions.”
Delegating responsibilities is something that we are working on as a company. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we just returned from a company retreat and during the retreat we discussed how there were a lot of ‘Ask Brad‘ questions that occur in our day to day operations. This was actually slowing down productivity and process since they had to make an extra step to get to me before proceeding forward. I totally agreed for this need to change because I want our people to make decisions with confidence and not fear what ‘the boss’ might say.
Delegation is about empowerment. To be a successful entrepreneur and to grow a business you have to know when to take control and when to delegate. There are many times I’d like to do more of the fun things but know that if I did, I wouldn’t get any of the other things I need to complete. Also, the statement that Michael Gerber mentions in the ‘E-Myth‘ book is always looping in my head. “Your goal is not to be working IN the business, its working ON the business.” I couldn’t agree more. If you spend most of your time handling the small things your time will fill up with that and you can’t focus on more of the big things.
So I definitely don’t think delegation is laziness and as your business grows you need to do more and more of it. The benefits are in multiples. You not only remove responsibility on you but you empower your people to do the job for you. And you know what, they probably do a better job of it than you do anyway!
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