(Post 4 in a series)
The buck starts with you.
Delegation is a required management responsibility, not a luxury for you to indulge in once you’ve “arrived.” You will never get off the runway without learning to consistently delegate in a successful manner. Leaders who successfully delegate not only free up their daily schedule for more critical projects, they create a culture of grooming capable teams and strong management individuals.
Often a combination of fear of failure and need for control inhibit a potentially strong leader from delegating on a consistent basis. You can find yourself in a catch-22 where you don’t want to delegate until you see your employee(s) do things better but how can they get better if you won’t let them have the reins more often and more completely?
The paragraph above is a typical description of a highly motivated performer that might be the stereotypical entrepreneur. They believe they can do it better than the next person and want to control the quality of the process. They are driven so their quantity output is higher than most.
Almost every business owner encounters this paradox. The very motivation that caused them to create their own business and get it to a successful level will either keep the business from growing or kill it altogether. The things that brought me here won’t let me get to the next stage of business.
Many entrepreneurs love a competitive game environment because they love winning. I encourage my Business Coaching clients in Edmond, OK to contemplate that. Just like most really good games, they have different levels with different rules to win.
Consider that you have just made it to the end of the first or second level of the game. This next-level can only be won with teamwork. Any individual player, no matter how fast and smart they are, does not have a chance to make it through the next level of the game.
The next level requires many capable players to complete. As a matter of fact, you will find that some of your managers are actually better at certain skill areas than you are. WHAT? Take that back!! It cannot be true! How could someone that works for you be better at any part of your business than you?
Your goal should always be to hire people that are smarter than you. Your value to your company should be in your higher vision and not in your higher capability at any given task. If you can win your struggle with your ego, you might just be able to build an unstoppable company in your industry.
To get to the next level, you will have to hire and train extremely capable people and also equip them to do the work better, faster, and more creatively than you could do on your own. You will have to learn and practice how to direct them towards the goal, give them resources to accomplish it, and remove obstacles from their path.
Other articles related to this series:
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