Letting go of control can be extremely difficult for a lot of people. Early on as a founder you probably had to do everything yourself. As your business has grown however you need to learn to let go of some tasks or you will find yourself overwhelmed.
What happens if you don’t delegate?
Delegating tasks is important because it shows trust. Giving people elevated tasks or responsibilities empowers them, encourages them and shares knowledge and abilities. Therefore, if you don’t delegate you can risk people not feeling trusted or valued.
Further, you will find yourself constantly being distracted as you are the only source of a lot of information, forcing everyone to come to you.
5 ways to help delegation
1) List out your tasks. If you want to take delegation seriously then the place to start is to take stock of your day-to-day. List out all the tasks that you did today, then everything you can think of from the last 7 days and then finally all the tasks from the last month. This ensures you create a comprehensive list that includes less frequent tasks as well as daily ones.
2) Use the 10-80-10 Rule. The 10-80-10 rule is a framework for delegating critical tasks. These are the tasks that are high impact and complex. If they weren’t completed your business would cease. 10-80-10 then refers to the process of delegation. 10% coaching and showing someone how to do it, 80% allowing them the chance to do it on their own and finally 10% reviewing what they did and giving feedback.
3) Delegate DTT Tasks. DTT stands for document, train and trust. They refer to tasks that have a big impact on your business but are less complex to complete. These tasks are easier to hand over due to their lower complexity.
4) Delegate Lever-Puller Tasks. Lever-puller tasks are the everyday things that you do almost without thinking. These tasks are low impact and low complexity. They should be able to be automated either through technology or people so once handed off you can forget about them.
5) Stop Doing what doesn’t need to be done. The bottom line is you won’t need to do everything you have been doing. Looking at the tasks remaining along your list ask yourself if you need to be doing them. The easiest way to see if you need to do something is to stop doing it and see what happens.
TAKEAWAY: No founder or leader has enough time in the day to do everything they need to. If you find yourself sinking more than swimming it is time to delegate out some tasks, lighten your load and spend your time doing what delivers the most value.