A challenge that we almost always encounter with small business owners is difficulties with delegation.  The problem can be resistance to delegation or ineffective delegation.  In any case, the benefits of delegation are dramatic and obvious: employee empowerment and development, increased business capacity, more time for the business owner, development of an experimental mindset, better communication, etc. If you’re overwhelmed, delegation is the single best antidote.

So why is delegation so hard?  Here are the 10 biggest mistakes you might be making if you’re not delegating effectively or at all.

1. You like doing work you should delegate

This is a common malady for small business owners.  Let’s say you run a landscaping business and love being outdoors, getting your hands in the dirt, and directing your employees on-site.  Good for you, but…. Is that the best use of your time?  Who is piloting the ship?  Who is attending to marketing strategy and initiatives?  What advancement opportunities for your employees are being lost because you continue to supervise on-site?  

Chances are that you got into your business because you enjoy the activity of the business.  But if you are stuck working in the business and not on the business (read delegation), you are leaving behind opportunities for business and employee growth.  This might be the most common of several difficulties with delegation for small business owners. Just remember: your leader role is more important than your doer role.

2. Delegation takes too long

Owners/Leaders that fall victim to this bias are embracing one of the most ironic dysfunctions in business operations.  Why?  Because even with all  the training, communication, and oversight involved, it’s still less than the time and efficiency your business will get back with good delegation.

Maybe you’re not a natural delegator or teacher.  But do you really want to cultivate a work environment where commitments pile up on your own plate while your employees get used to doing less or the same?  If you don’t like the training that goes along with delegation, get help.  There are plenty of consultants and trainers out there who enjoy training and will do it better than you.  If you like training but still carry the “it takes too long” bias, consider the words of Andrew Carnegie: No person will make a great business who wants to do it all by himself or get all the credit.”  If you’re not delegating, you’re not creating followers, leaders, or capacity.

3. I’m a type-A perfectionist

Being a Type A Perfectionist is not a bad starting point for a business owner; it can yield many good business outcomes.  But in the case of delegation, you might have to ratchet it back to be effective. 

Type A perfectionists struggle with two resistance issues: 1) to quote Napoleon, “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself”; 2) perceived loss of control if you’re not “hands-on”.

Napoleon’s quote can be accurate, but it misses the bigger picture; you might do something better than your employees because you’ve been doing it, and they haven’t!  Even with natural ability, task excellence only comes – like most things — with practice.  Try this thought experiment: how did you do at critical tasks when you were young and just getting started?  We only learn and produce great results with experimentation and practice.  Withholding that from your employees creates a bottleneck for your growth (it takes practice to get good at delegation!) and their growth.

With respect to fear of loss of control, a quick and honest investigation of that feeling will reveal that it’s fiction. Emotions are real, but not always true.   Empowering your employees while stepping back to focus on leadership and bigger business issues extends, not diminishes, your control. In addition, if you delegate well and mind the requisite associated tasks —  clarity in communication, follow-up, gratitude, etc. – you will still retain a large measure of control over outcomes generated by your employees.

4. Delegating the wrong task

Delegating for growth is important.  But delegating the delivery of a Board of Directors presentation to an assistant you hired two weeks ago is simply not  a good fit.  While your employees might be good at stepping up, the task you delegate should be a good match for the employee; challenging but not overwhelming.  The employee and task should stand a better chance of success than failure.

Here’s a yardstick validated by coaching science to test for task suitability.  Ask your employee, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that you will succeed with this task?” ( 1 being certainty of failure, and 10 being certainty of success).  You want an answer in the 6 to 8 range.  A 1 to 5 response usually means that she is not confident and that failure is a concern..  A 9 or 10 usually means that she is overconfident, or  not being challenged sufficiently, and so will miss an opportunity for  personal growth.  You want two outcomes when matching the employee to the content, scope, and difficulty of a delegated task: 1) employee development; and 2) a good business result.

5. Delegating to the wrong person

This issue is related to #4 but involves different issues.  It’s possible to delegate to someone who: 1) is available but not the best resource to accomplish the task or; 2) has a role and responsibilities outside of the task area or; 3) is already overloaded or in a bad place.

When assigning a task, be careful not to let simple availability be the overriding factor.  This tactic ignores all of the other principles of delegation and healthy work culture.  If the right employee for the task is currently working full-tilt, have a quick conversation with that employee.  If the task is urgent, it might be possible to shift the task deadline or move something else off the employee’s plate.  Similarly, delegating to someone who isn’t responsible for that task area could reduce the likelihood of success while demoralizing the employee whose role and responsibilities match.

Finally, assigning a task to someone who is overloaded or compromised also reduces the chances of success.  It could also be interpreted as insensitivity, or signal that communication with your employees  is not where it should be.  Have the conversation and let the employee respond.  You want a culture where employees feel comfortable pushing back if they are overloaded.  It’s about suitability, not availability.

6. Insufficient or unclear communication

Being clear about what needs to be done, who needs to do it, the predicted time to complete, and what success looks like on completion, is not easy.  If you are already delegating but struggling, how and what you communicate might be the culprit. 

Don’t assume – though it is tempting — that a well-developed team can read your mind. If you have a vision for a delegated task and you fail to  share it, you are courting failure and compromising your  ability to effect outcomes.  Team alignment, motivation, and efficiency happen when leaders communicate clearly and often.  In a healthy work culture, vision, mission, strategy, tactics, and goals are all connected, explained, and modeled through leadership.

I once complained to my CEO that people weren’t getting it after I explained a work issue multiple times.  His response?  “If people aren’t getting it, and you feel like you’ve communicated enough, you’ve either communicated badly or you’re only  30% done with your communication.” Bad communication is one of the most common — albeit often unintentional — difficulties with delegation.

7. Not allowing for failure

Though we have trouble seeing or admitting it, everything we do is an experiment.  By “experiment”, I mean an intelligent activity where we predict an outcome based on our best information, and a willingness to adjust if the outcomes fall outside of expectation.  Experimenting is good and necessary; business and employee growth is impossible without it.

If we’re experimenting – which is implicit with delegation – we must allow for failure.  We are not courting or looking for failure, but new ideas and approaches from your team will not materialize without allowing for failure. 

8. Not providing enough training or resources

When you ask an employee to do something that requires training and resources, it’s your job to provide both.  If you don’t, you’re crippling them from the outset, endangering your desired outcomes, and encouraging frustration and disappointment from every angle.

As part of this enablement, it’s sometimes hard to resist micromanagement.  This is related to what ails the Type A Perfectionist in #3 above.  The main point of delegation is learning, empowerment, and efficiency for the business.  Getting into the details of how the employee accomplishes a task works against these goals.  Instead, provide clear direction on what needs to be accomplished by when, address skill set gaps, and then make yourself available for advice and encouragement on issues.

9. Lack of follow-up

Following up involves a few elements: delivering feedback, requesting feedback, and giving credit.

Showing interest in an employee’s activity engenders communication and trust.  Regardless of how the task went, follow up with them to ask them about how it went, what they learned, etc.  Do not be afraid to offer constructive criticism after they have described their perception of the outcomes and/or difficulties, with emphasis on being “constructive”.  Avoid personal judgments, like “you have a history of not listening well.”

Giving credit is also a critical follow-up task.  This can be done privately or publicly.  Many studies reveal that employees value recognition and work relationships more than compensation.  If there’s an opportunity to publicly recognize an employee for outstanding work, take it. You will be affirming the value of the risk you and the employee took with the delegated task.

10. Not being patient

Harkening back to many of the above challenges, most employees are not going to accomplish a delegated task as quickly or as well as you could.  Alton Brown, a celebrity chef, noted that delegation is, “.. harder for me than doing the work myself.  I’m a lousy delegator, but I’m learning”.

Being aware of this reality, as well as the reality of your own early challenges and failures, will go a long way toward enabling your patience.   When considering Alton Brown’s words, be patient with yourself as well. 

Conclusion

Delegating well requires growth in the areas of self-awareness and mindfulness. You are not alone in suffering the difficulties with delegation. It’s a critical and complex skill to master, honed over time with lots of practice. But take the time. Done well, it delivers unexpected growth for your business and employees.

Chip Carter, Co-Founder of Summit Business Growth
chip@summitbusinessgrowth.com