Delegation: Transferring the Fire

Dave,

I’ve owned my own live events business for five years now. We’ve started really growing over the last year, but there are so many moving parts, and I’ve begun to feel like things could spin out of control at any minute. Do you have any tips for relieving all this stress, and my fear of losing control?

Russ

Russ,

I get what you’re saying. I really do. Years ago, I went through these same feelings when my company began to really grow and pick up steam. Fanning flames, putting out fires and burning the candle at both ends can seem as necessary as breathing for most driven business leaders.

Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing wrong with being driven to achieve your goals and build something great. But the truth is this: Your business will never grow beyond your ability to let go and delegate. That’s why, as an entrepreneur, it’s vitally important to learn how to delegate the right way.

Delegation is one of the most misunderstood-and abused-areas of leadership. It isn’t handing off tasks you hate. It’s all about recognizing and developing your team’s abilities and skills, then trusting them to take on responsibility. Transferring the fire in your heart to the right team members (transformational leadership) sets everyone up to burn brighter. But you’ll need to intentionally shift your mindset from doing the work to leading it. You can start this by beginning to see yourself more as a catalyst, coach and consultant, instead of the muscle for all the heavy lifting.

If this sounds hard, it’s because it is. At the outset, it’ll be one of the most difficult things you’ll ever do in your business. But if you slow down just a little, and develop a great training plan and delegation process now, I promise you things will grow incredibly later.

Done properly, delegation will lighten your load, and stress, so you can focus more on strategy and vision. It will also increase project ownership and company loyalty, while giving others a growth path and the motivation to learn new skills. As you activate this momentum, your whole team will become stronger, faster and better. It will also show your team that you believe in them.

And in time, watching your team do tasks as good as, or better than you, will feel rewarding beyond anything you ever imagined.

Dave