Feeling stressed? Start delegating!
It’s impossible to oversee every part of your business. Jeremy Liddle explains how to make delegation work and release the stress of micro management.
Sitting in an office thinking about sales will not generate revenue. You have to get up and get moving! So get out on the road and kick up a storm. Without taking action you are doomed to a fate of inaction and flat or declining revenue. The good news is that YOU don’t have to be the one that increases sales all the time!
Look internally at your team. Do you have someone that you could delegate some responsibility to? If not, then look to your mentors. What can they do for you?
By delegating some tasks, you will be able to improve your business. The first step to do this is to be able to recognise when you need assistance. Check your current workload, responsibilities and some aspects of your business that stress you out. Sometimes, people are in denial of stress, so for you to be able to do an honest stress assessment, try to see if you have some manifestations of stress like headaches, muscle pains or trouble sleeping.
After deciding to delegate tasks, the next step is to decide what to delegate. People sometimes find it hard to delegate because it requires a cut back on a certain control on the task because another qualified individual will be taking over to do some of the decision-makings.
To help you determine which task to delegate, come up with a list of your projects or responsibilities and try to see which tasks will mostly likely require you to seek other’s assistance. Delegate those tasks that could probably use other’s expertise and experience when you collaborate with them. Your collaboration is most likely to succeed when you are able to delegate successfully.
Based on the best practices of leaders who are really excellent at delegation, executive coach Scott Eblin came up with a five-step approach on delegation called TRACK:
Task: Get really clear and specific in your own mind about the task you’re delegating and why it matters.
Request: Make a clear request of the person you’re delegating the task to. Be sure to cover the what, when, why, who and in-bounds and out-of-bounds parameters for accomplishing the task.
Achieve: As part of the delegation conversation, paint a picture of what success looks like when the task is achieved.
Check-ins: Set up a process for checking in with each other over the course of completing the task. Most check-ins will be scheduled on a recurring basis. Be clear about the conditions for when the person you’re delegating to should initiate a check-in that’s not in the schedule.
Kudos and Knowledge: When the task is complete, offer kudos for a job well done. Point out specific things that were done well and should be repeated in the future. Ask what was learned that could lead to an even better outcome next time.
There will always be setbacks and issues in any business and delegating tasks to get things done is one of the things that may be able to address problems and stress. Just be careful on who you delegate tasks, choose the right person to delegate and collaborate things with.
Biting your tongue and not resolving conflict constructively when it arises will cause problems further down the track. All you are doing here is sending a message that negative attitudes and substandard performance will be tolerated. The first time an issue arises, be firm, fair, and set some solid rules for what will happen should this come up again. Then, most importantly, follow those rules even if it means losing a team member you value. It’ll be best for the entire team down the road.
Jeremy Liddle is a self confessed entrepreneurial maniac, passionate about inspiring other entrepreneurs to plan and launch successful new businesses, and maximise growth in existing enterprises. He is head of the Australian delegation to the , and has been featured in media such as Channel 7 Sunrise, Channel 7 Kochie’s Business Builders, BRW and The Australian. Jeremy began his business career in the booming Australian juice bar trade. With his brother he opened up Australia’s number one Juice Station outlet, and was sent to Singapore to operate as stand in General Manager for 18 months. Named as one of Australia’s young guns Jeremy Liddle co-founded a natural health company called RioLife in 2004. In 2010, they were featured as one of Australia’s top emerging companies in BRW Magazine, and picked up a Fastest Growing Small Business Award from the My Business Magazine Awards. Jeremy has now authored his first book “From Idea to Start-Up”, designed to teach budding young entrepreneurs how to write a business plan and launch their ideas as a viable enterprise. Jeremy is also involved as founder, director and advisor to a range of new Start-Ups and established businesses.
