Delegation

Delegation: Is it Time?
Let's start with an image: imagine that your business is a boat. When you started, it was probably like a canoe. You were the only one in it, and you had to do the paddling, the navigating, and the fishing. But now your business has grown. It's more of a large-scale fishing operation. And if you're still running from the control room to the deck to the galley trying to do everything yourself (or directly oversee everything your crew does), you're going to wear yourself out and cost your business money.
My clients typically know they need to delegate long before they actually take the plunge. But the longer you wait to delegate (and train your team to take on more responsibility), the harder the handoff of power will be.
Here are some strategies for implementing delegation when you see that it's time.
• Choose what to delegate. The goal of delegation is to free up your time for what you do best--and what nobody else can replicate. Choose which tasks to delegate based on considerations of cost (how much money it will cost to hire someone for a task, how much time it will take to train that person) and benefit (how much time will you save by not doing that task). Remember that some tasks can be delegated to automated systems, too.
• Choose the right team member and communicate expectations. The right person will have the necessary skill-set to complete a task and the drive to complete it well. You can improve the odds of successful delegation by communicating what you need and want clearly, from the beginning.
• Provide training and check-ins. Rather than assigning a task and then hoping it gets done (and using failure as an excuse to take control of it yourself), schedule regular check-in periods before a project's due date. This will allow you to provide any support your team member needs while giving him or her the freedom necessary to work independently.
• Let go. Once you've established that your team member can handle the tasks you expect, let go. Really. When given incentives and the freedom to innovate, people tend to be more invested in their work and produce better results than when they're simply following rigid orders from a boss.
Could a lack of delegation be holding you back from business growth? Find out about the outdated myths that prevent business owners from growing during my upcoming 5-part training series, LEVERAGE! 7-Figure Strategies to Rapidly Grow Your Business FOR Yourself but not BY Yourself. Details here: http://www.rapidlygrowyourbusiness.com/

Don't fall into the anti-delegation trap: failing to delegate work can cost your company thousands of dollars per year. Every hour of work you do that a lower-paid employee could handle costs you the difference of your salaries. For a $40-per-hour worker doing the work of a $20-per-hour worker just seven hours per week, failure to delegate amounts to a loss of $7,280 per year! Eek!
*Source: The ROI Of Delegation: Why Control Freaks Cost Organizations Big Bucks