The Art of Effective Delegation

Learning the delicate art of effective delegation usually requires a lot practice and patience. It's a dance of constant refinement and adjustment to find the perfect balance of delegation that allows you to take your business to the next level.

It can be challenging to hand the controls over to someone else; especially when it comes to your livelihood. However, delegation is a necessary factor for the growth of your business - no delegation, no growth.

It takes a team to run a business, whether it's two people, twenty, or more. The growth of your business is in direct relation to power of your team. Barring any counter-productive factors, a team of ten will always be more productive than a team of one. That being said, any successful business will always rely on a team structure for growth and efficiency. While one person may be able to do a lot, it's not possible for them to do everything, so at some point a team structure is a necessity.

The goal is to find team members that complement your skills and can deliver the missing part of the business. With the right team, effective delegation will take your business to the next level.

What exactly is effective delegation? It is the process by which tasks are assigned to create the highest return in the shortest amount of time. In other words, the goal is to optimize your business by expending the least amount of effort with the biggest pay back. Sounds good doesn't it?

Delegation is often considered a delicate art because you are essentially handing the future of your business to someone else - and that can be terrifying. What will happen? Will something go wrong? Will I lose clients over mistakes? What if they don't do as good of a job as me?

All of those feelings are normal; after all, the process of learning to trust others with the future of your business is challenging. It's natural to think that no one will do as good of a job as you, but it's not always true. It comes down to choosing the right people that can complete tasks in a way that supports the success and growth of the business. Although you may initially think that no one can make a greater impact on your business than you, the right team members and effective delegation can make all the difference and dramatically improve the success of your business.

However, many business owners suffer the negative effects of building a team, by choosing the wrong team members. They end up creating more work than what they started with by picking up the pieces and trying to repair the damage. The number one rule for accomplishing effective delegation always starts with building the right team.

If you don't choose the right team members it will be near impossible for you to achieve the stability, reliability and performance you know your business needs for success.

Do whatever you need to do right now to get your business running more smoothly and efficiently. Have a meeting with your team members and outline everyone's tasks in specific detail. Effective communication and delegation from the beginning will establish expectations and specific roles with each team member. Prioritize and establish deadlines for all tasks. Whether you build your team all at once or one member at a time, having regular meetings - say once a week - for the first few months will help keep everyone on the same track. Plus, will allow you to keep tabs on the daily happenings and head-off any potential problems.

Effective delegation is unique for each business and in the beginning you will have to engage in a series of checks and balances until refinements are made to the point your business is running at optimal level. It is completely acceptable to maintain control over certain tasks for the sake of the success of your business (and your sanity), but reevaluate task delegation and responsibilities every few months to make sure your business is running optimally. As you get to know your team more intimately, you will be able to identify the perfect team member to complete a specific task to get your business to its optimal level.