Avoid the 3 Tragic Mistakes of Delegating Disaster
Imagine, you are frazzled, stressed out and scurrying around your business trying to do everything yourself. You’re working like a fiend and putting in endless hours in an attempt to get it all done. There just never seems to be enough time (or money) to go around. You listen to one more tele-seminar while you're multi-tasking at your desk. Finally, this time it sinks in: even if you don't think you have the money to get help, you can't afford not to....rnSo you go out and hire two people and....
You have twice as much work?!?!?!!!!
Well, that's what happened to me. After taking the time to craft job descriptions, send out ads for applications and spend time interviewing and checking references, all I did was double my work load. What went wrong? Client deadlines got missed, the new phone line got set up in a circle where people couldn't actually leave a message and customers got wrong answers for their problems. I immediately decided "I can do this better myself..." and so I did; which just meant I was paying to have double the work.
So let me share what I learned. There are three keys to effective delegating for the entrepreneur:
1. Delegation not Abdication
The vision in my mind was I would just hand things off to people and walk away and everything would magically take care of itself. I expected this handing off of tasks to create lots of free time for me to make more money. Wrong. Or at least, misguided. The truth is you can't just walk away from delegated tasks. You need to stay involved with your people... and yes, this will take up more of your time. Initially even, it will take up a lot more of your time than just doing it yourself.
One of the reasons you need to stay involved, so you can follow up with your people and be sure you didn't overload them. Another reason is that you need to keep their priorities straight. We juggle hundreds of things every day and have our own internal system of prioritizing. New team members won't know which of the nine things you gave them in the last three hours is most important unless you tell them. A third reason to stay involved is to be sure you are on target and receive the excellent results you need right on schedule.
As you can guess, one of the effective ways of delegating without abdicating is communication. All that communicating and managing people, frankly takes a system to run effectively. But before we get to that, there's something else you need to know:
2. Only Delegate What You’ve Mastered
What?!?!? You thought you were supposed to be finding people who can do those things you aren't good at right? Well that's true too. So let me explain what I mean by mastered. You've only mastered something when you fully understand its place in your business, why it needs to be done and what the results look like when they are done right. You need to be able to tell that you are getting what you need for the money you are paying your team to produce it.
While that may sound logical, we as entrepreneurs don't always take that thought to its logical conclusion. For example, let's take a look at your financial situation. Often one of the first additions to your team is a bookkeeper. That seems easy enough. You want to spend your time with your clients and finding new ones not worry about receipts and taxes. You know you need to look at your financial statements (even if it's not quite as often as it could be) so you're all set right? Well...
Do you know how to tell if your bookkeeper is giving you accurate numbers? (We're working on an e-book right now for that one, so stay tuned... stop by MoneyCourage.com and join our newsletter, you'll get that for Free as a subscriber) Do you know how the accounting signs of fraud in your business? Do you know which numbers, unique to your business and critical to your success, your bookkeeper isn't giving you?
I realize this sounds like you have to be a great bookkeeper before you should hire one. However, all that is really required is that you know enough to be sure you are getting what you really need. This may require some education however the payoff is enormous. Once your virtual assistant, your social networking expert, your bookkeeper, your customer service manager and your office manager are all operating at maximum efficiency because you have truly mastered what you need done, the sky is the limit.
And now you're prepared for...
3. Another System?
Yes. Another system - because systems work! They eliminate wasted time and they simplify the learning curve for your staff. Systems get things done without you having to do them. Honestly, implementing them can be a pain - especially if you aren't a systems minded person, haven't established any systems before or are already overwhelmed (when of course, you most need a system).
On one hand, systematizing is great because you can learn from other people's systems. Marketing gurus abound with great systems and we can help with financial systems. However, the system of how you run your business is something you have to be crucially involved in because only you know it. Your team needs to know the when, where, why and how of each process you delegate to them. Without this information they will not be able to deliver the quality of results both you and your customers deserve.
rnAnd, it's what works. Systems grow businesses.
That's why we focus on business and financial system building. Our goal is to help you Make More and Work Less so you can have the business and the life of Your Dreams.rnSo sit down today and take a review of your team (or your vision of the team you need to build). What changes do you need to make to have your team running like a well-oiled machine? Need help? Drop me a line at
wealth@moneycourage.com
Here's to Your Success!
Atim Kavi
MoneyCourage.com
Helping Entrepreneurs get their Financial & Business Systems set up to Make More & Work Less.