Every successful business leader will agree that effective delegation is critical to growing their business and achieving long-term success.

But many business owners and leaders need clarification about the who, what, and how of the delegation process.

This post will provide a framework that business owners, executives, and leaders at all levels can use to build a culture of responsible, effective delegation.

Delegation done right will create numerous positive feedback loops in an organization’s people and teams. And these feedback loops will generate growth and productivity in the business. 

Delegated responsibility will ensure that leadership teams have the confidence it takes to make intelligent, informed business decisions.

Delegation engenders confidence. And confidence is contagious.  

Here’s what you can expect to learn in this post:

  • What is delegation, and why is it important?
  • How can you practice delegation effectively?
  • How can responsible delegation make you a better leader?
  • What’s next?

Before we get started, we wanted to share an excellent definition from the business productivity experts at Asana:  

  • Delegation is the act of redirecting tasks and initiatives to other team members. You might delegate work to distribute responsibility more evenly, or because the task or initiative is more relevant to another team member’s priorities, skills, or interests. 
  • Knowing when and how to delegate makes you a better manager. Not only does delegating help you get your high-impact work done, but it also gives team members an opportunity to get involved in interesting projects. Effective delegation builds team skills and allows team members to develop new strengths.

That’s a great starting point. Now let’s put it into an actionable format.

What is delegation, and why is it important?

If you don’t practice effective delegation, your business will not grow in any meaningful way. We’ve seen this play out with small businesses time and time again. 

We point out in a previous post that every successful business “usually begins with a great idea, a lot of hard work, encouragement from friends and family, laser focus on your customer(s), and possibly a little luck.”

After the startup stage, organic growth for established businesses will occur when the founder(s) build an exceptional team and empower that team with effective, appropriate, delegated responsibilities.

So how can you practice delegation effectively?

You have to trust your team. And that means you have to be supremely confident that you have the right leaders in place. We consistently leverage The Predictive Index as an invaluable hiring intelligence tool to assist business owners with assembling the right team.   

With the right team in place, the delegation process becomes much easier. We recommend picking specific operational tasks, like hiring, firing, and promoting team members, for example, and delegating those tasks to leadership.  

This doesn’t mean that decisions will happen in a vacuum. Businesses should also have documented policies and procedures in place and open lines of communication. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page with all core business decisions. 

And there are always executive and ownership privileges to intercede in rare cases. 

The bottom line is ownership and executive teams can focus on their strategic agendas when there is a logical, clearly defined, delegated order in the operational decision-making process. 

Business owners should also be comfortable delegating non-recurring business-critical projects and tasks to their teams in addition to recurring operational tasks. Delegation does not mean that all strategic decisions will be entirely relegated with absolute decision-making power.

It does mean that appropriate team leaders will have an active, authoritative, impactful role in the process.  

How can delegation make you a better leader and help you grow your company?

Delegating important tasks and projects to your team is a highly useful means of demonstrating trust and empowering your employees.

To delegate effectively, ensure you’re assigning tasks to employees who are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and resources to handle them, or who stand to gain a valuable learning experience by taking on additional responsibilities.

Be sure to play to your team members’ strengths when entrusting them with work. Studies show that when employees know and flex their strengths, they’re more engaged, perform better, and are less likely to leave the company.    

So what’s next for you and your team?

Our leadership coaching programs might be just what you need to jumpstart your business’s growth process. Growth starts with delegating operational responsibilities to the team you trust.

We’ve helped numerous companies just like yours scale their operations to support double-digit growth rates. We can help you build a high-performing leadership team through laser-focused alignment on direction, trusted delegation, and open communications that foster innovation and informed decision-making.

Our passion is helping teams discover their extraordinary so they can achieve extraordinary things.

Call us at 415.991.4961 or get in touch with our team online today to schedule a complimentary consultation.

The post Business Leaders Struggle With Delegation—Learn When To Let Go! appeared first on Fifth Ascent.