Because you have invested in your business, maybe financially as well as emotionally, it's a tough call to let go of those roles that you've personally nurtured and grown. Yet as your business grows, effectively delegating tasks to other people who are able to do it as well as, if not better than you can, is vital.
With that comes a fear on your part of losing control and all the concerns that raises.
So, it's important to have a process that lets you give up some of the things that you personally do, to others, without the business crashing down on you. Even more, your comfort zone is stretched gradually, so that you know things are going OK.
Each person you choose to delegate to will need to move gradually through each of these levels. They may make mistakes and drop back occasionally. With your help and support they will learn and rise back up - mistakes are marvellous learning opportunities, not to be missed.
Different situations may also require that you take someone back to the beginning, so that both of you have the confidence to see through the new way of working, by your effective and developmental delegating.
Level One is the least delegating, whilst Level Seven is the most, giving you the freedom and time to do only what you can do, whilst enabling your people to shine and grow fully into capable, dependable and confident employees.
Level One - Do Only As You Are Told When you start, you will want to keep as much here as possible. Yet hanging on by your fingertips to controlling everything is hard, especially when your talents could be used much more valuably elsewhere in your business. This is the first step - recognizing that you are hanging on. It is your first acknowledgement that you are in total control of everything - and if you aren't careful, it's going to crush you as you grow.
Level Two - Investigate and Let Me Decide Trusting your people at all with your 'baby' (this business you've grown) is hard at first. By letting go of research, you keep control of decisions and help your people recognize the value of their contribution.
They learn and you position your needs in such a way that they are clear of what is expected of them. Most importantly for the relationship, is that you show trust in their work, encouraging them to know that they have made a difference.
Level Three - Investigate and Decide Together The next step, once you are accustomed to others feeding back what they discover, is to have them part of the decision making process for next steps. A joint conversation where together, you mull over the possibilities.
Fear not, you are still making the decisions! Listening to your people contribute to the decision really encourages them that they can influence and share their thoughts on the best way forward. And you are listening fully to what they say.
It might even just be possible that they have an idea for a solution that supports and embellishes yours, creating even better outcomes than you could have gotten alone.
Level Four - Investigate, Analyze, Suggest and I'll Decide Here, once you are comfortable with the capabilities of your people, to make sound considerations of a situation and to give you good unbiased information, you can release the control a little further. It's time to let them make suggestions of the best way forward.
You still have a power of veto and you will need to take care in how you use it. It's time to recognize the possibility that they can make as good decisions as you, or better.
Here is the moment that you ask yourself, 'If I let this go, to encourage and develop this person, what's the worst that could happen'?
And recognize that the best that could happen, is that you delegate more fully in similar circumstances in the future, and the big-time value to you of being able to do just that.
Level Five - Investigate, Analyze, Suggest and You Decide (Just Tell Me First, OK?)
Here, you just want to know what decision has been taken before you sign it off and action happens. This is a significant shift in who is doing what in your business.
The trust you have in them is implicit. You can intervene and you do - only when a clear irrevocable mistake is going to happen. It's a last ditch safety feature you use extremely rarely. If you use it too often, you are relegating the skills of your people back to Level Two.
In some circumstances there may be occasions where you do move someone back to Level Two for a while, if things haven't gone to plan and that's OK, as long as you explain why and they learn from the experience.
Level Six - Do It and Tell Me Here, you've almost let go completely. Only one more level to go! Your people are enabled to investigate, review, decide and do, just telling you as they go what's happening. They have complete control of these areas you have now delegated to them.
You can spend much more time in the development and strategic phase of your work. It's getting to be much more a time for growth and future.
Level Seven - It's Lonely Nowadays!
For the relevant areas of the work you do, you have successfully delegated most of the tasks that your people can do as well as, if not better than you can. They are really buzzing, as you have shown how much you value them, by the trust you have shown in their decision-making and creative problem-solving.
You do nothing at all, except for things that only you can do in driving your business forward. Because of this, you are more relaxed and that helps you think better.
Your people are energized, motivated and loyal. You have achieved near perfection in a management model that can only help you go forward.
Remember, not only is control about a fear of letting go to your people, step by step, it's also about you being comfortable working in the thick of the business. Managers and business owners are much more comfortable in the 'doing' part.
Raising your own personal bar to a far higher level, through developing others with how you delegate as much as you possibly can to them, is a challenging personal development work for yourself.
You are moving yourself from a manager to a leader, where vision, strategy and excellent people skills will accelerate your business into the future.
It's a huge step forward and will ensure that you, your people and your business thrive.
Martin Haworth is a business and management coach and trainer, working with a range of clients from corporates to individuals worldwide. www.MartinHaworth.com
Business Management Skills - Seven Levels of Delegation - To learn more about this author, visit Martin Haworth's Website.
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