This article was provided by our friend, Kristen David. Her company, Upleveling Your Business, empowers business owners to build thriving, profitable businesses run with systems. Learn more at www.uplevelingyourbusiness.com.
Delegation can be a difficult skill for small business owners to master, which is completely understandable. When you first started your business, chances are you were the Marketing Team, the Sales Team, the Bookkeeper, the Client Happiness Coordinator, the Receptionist, and more. You developed your own way of doing things, and it worked for you – at least until you started growing.
At some point, it became clear that you needed to hire a team if you were to continue to scale. Being able to grow your team is an amazing feeling, but then the real question hits: how will they possibly be able to do things like you’ve been doing them?
Shifting Your Mindset
This is one of the most challenging mindset shifts I’ve gone through as a business owner, and I know I’m not alone. Learning to delegate can be like letting a near stranger care for your child; handing over a part of the business you’ve worked so hard to grow is never easy.
Over the years, I’ve learned that delegation is an art. It’s something that works a bit differently for everyone, and it is refined over time. The hardest part is often deciding to do so, but making this decision is one of the first steps toward positioning yourself for growth.
What and When to Delegate
Once you make that mindset shift, the next question comes into play: what should you delegate, and when should you do so?
This, too, is a bit of an art, but there are guidelines that can help you through the process. Whenever I delegate something new to a team member, I start by walking them through the process. I hop on Zoom with them, share my screen, and talk them through the What, How, When, and Why. I offer them the opportunity to ask any questions, clarify any confusion, and explain to me what they understand.
Then, I hand over the reins, but only partially so. I make sure they are clear on timelines and milestones and give clear due dates to have drafts turned in to me or someone on my leadership team for approval. This isn’t because I don’t trust them; it’s because I want them to learn to walk before I ask them to run. I give constructive criticism as well as praise on all drafts and point out places where they can improve. As they do so, I hand over more of the process until finally, it’s completely theirs.
The other important aspect of delegation is that I don’t hand over everything at once. I didn’t develop my processes in a day, and I certainly don’t expect my team members to pick them up immediately!
Strong Systems Allow for Growth
Mastering the art of delegation (and training my team to do so) is one reason I am so passionate about building and implementing strong systems! Systems really are what allow a leader and their team to thrive.
By documenting, testing, and refining your systems, you can be proactive about creating repeatable, dependable processes that anyone and everyone on your team can follow. This is what saves time, saves money, and increases both client and employee satisfaction!
If I could give any piece of advice to help you build stronger systems, it would be this: don’t start from scratch. Instead, use proven frameworks and get guidance from people who have been there. Doing so will save a lot of trial and error – and will help you scale your business more quickly!
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