Jeffrey Ross, Glenoe Associates

Friday, August 31, 2012

Delegating for Success



After reading an interesting article by Vanessa Merit Nornberg called Leadership: 4 Traits of Incredibly Effective Delegators, I had some additional thoughts...

Of all the difficult things a small business owner has to do, Delegation is one of the most difficult in the beginning.  It's a lot different than just giving orders.

Every small business owner or entrepreneur thinks he/she can do it better than anyone else. However, as the business grows you can’t do everything yourself. If you try, it will deflate your important people’s egos. They will feel you don’t trust in them or have faith in their ability to carry out their responsibilities correctly.

Try it. In the beginning it will be awful! However, once your people begin to succeed, they will be much happier and you will have time to actually run your business, rather than working 20 hours a day.

I learned this the hard way. I had some very unhappy people who were very important to the future success of the company. They came to me and asked for the responsibility. Reluctantly at first I gave it to them. The deal was they had to agree to be held accountable, as well. After a few stops and starts, it really worked well. Soon I had ample amounts of time to think about tomorrow while my management team worked on today.

Delegation is a wonderful thing - if you do it correctly, and with the right people.  If you are interested in delegating smarter, give me a call and we can discuss.

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