I don’t like delegating—I fear they won’t do it as well as me, or that the explaining and the monitoring will take longer than just doing it. But of course I know I’m wrong, and on the rare occasions when I do delegate it feels great—they do a BETTER job than I would have, and I have loads of extra time to write blog posts like this!
If you run a business employing other people, you really CAN’T avoid delegating, and here’s why:
As the company grows—or IF the company is going to grow—you will go through four levels of pain:
First level of pain (at approx five people)—you can’t DO everything yourself. You can’t even do all the IMPORTANT things yourself. Someone else will have to go and see that customer, or negotiate with that supplier for you. Even though they may not do it as well as you would have. The difference might only be in your head, but also it might be REAL! Unavoidable though.
Second level of pain (at about 20 people)—you can’t know the answer to everything. You’ll have to trust the judgment of the others to make decisions and solve problems. How’s your ego doing??
Photo by Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash
Third level of pain (maybe at about 50 people)—you can’t know everything that’s going on. There’s not even enough time for people to tell you AFTER they’ve done things. Things will just be happening, without you even knowing there was a problem, let alone being involved in the fixing of it. I’m feeling anxious! But then, if it works, it’s great. Just that 1% where they get it wrong, and YOU would have done it right (especially with hindsight!)—you’ve got to let that go…
Fourth level of pain (probably at about 150 but depends on your memory)—you even can’t know all the people! “Who is that? What does he or she do? Who employed them? Is this even my company any more?” Yes it is, but it’s now a thing that has a life of its own. Hey you could even sell it and retire, maybe! And maybe it’s growing differently and better than your own vision can imagine—wow!
So if you’re going to have to let go at some point, maybe now is the time to start. What’s one thing you could delegate today?