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My job, our job, your job. How to delegate effectively:
When new entrepreneurs first consider delegation, they think:
“This all sounds great and easy. I’ll just hire somebody and tell them what to do. Then I’ll send them on their way. Right?”
Wrong.
A huge mistake people make is they actually delegate too fast and too aggressively.
They tell somebody what to do one time and turn them loose. This often happens with higher level managers who are used to managing teams and running projects. Problems come up, and they dish them off with a Slack message, a phone call, a text or an email. “Hey, go do this. Thanks.”
I once had a manager who did this all the time. The process went something like this: I’d spot a problem at the company and would get to the bottom of it with a few questions.
For example, I’d be listening to customer service calls at my storage company. Our reps’ script would be off, and I’d want to change the order in which they said something.
Let’s talk about our discount first and then let’s work into the unit pricing and try to figure out what location they are calling about.
“Hey Maria,” I’d say. “Let’s change this. Can we switch the order?”
“Done.” She’d say.
A few weeks later, I’d listen to the calls again, and the order still wasn’t right. The reps weren’t mentioning the discount first. What happened?
What happened is that my manager didn’t follow through, follow up, and give guidance. She simply passed on the message and considered the change implemented.
But in reality, when you delegate, you have to tell an employee what to do, coach an employee on how to do it, and then follow up with that employee to make sure they change something about how they are doing their jobs. It is a process.
So I have come up with a very simple, very useful formula to delegate more effectively. I say it’s:
My job. Our job. Then your job.
First, it is my job.
My job is to make sure that you can do the work efficiently before I stop working with you. Then I’m going to make it our job and our responsibility together. I’m going to hold your hand. I’m going to coach you. I’m going to check your work and listen to the call and make sure it’s happening correctly.
I’m going to provide feedback. I’m going to answer questions. This process can take weeks or even months with important initiatives that you need to delegate.
Then, when I am finally comfortable with the way you are performing the job and confident in your continued ability to do it, it is officially your job and it is no longer on my plate.
Warning – Successful delegation takes follow up and continued monitoring.
If there is no accountability, employees will slip back into easier ways or shortcuts. Running a company is a constant system of checks and balances.
Everyone needs to know that if they don’t do their jobs the way they need to be done, somebody will find out and they will be approached. This is how you properly delegate.
So as an entrepreneur, you must understand that delegation is a process.
There is hand holding involved. It is hard work and takes time. As an owner, you are investing in people and teaching them things that take weeks or months. It doesn’t happen overnight.
My advice: Do the work. Show the process. Teach the employee. Be available. Answer their questions.
You will likely need to do this 5-10X for important key tasks before it’s fully engrained.
Don’t get frustrated here. This is NORMAL.
Think about it:
Can someone learn to play piano after just one lesson? Would you show up and only share the sheet music with them once and expect them to be world class by next week or next month?
Of course not. All skills take time + reps.
Business management and effective delegation is the same.
You can’t expect your employees to be perfect on day 1, or day 30 or after a single conversation. The more time that you invest as a leader, the better your results will be.
A note on management and communication:
I have also found that people have extremely short attention spans.
If you talk all day, an employee will retain about 15 minutes of it. If you write a 1,000 word email, an employee will skim it and forget 900 words of it.
If your training video is 20 minutes long, nobody will watch it.
They may look at you and nod…but they aren’t paying attention.
ALWAYS keep your instructions short and simple.
If you can say something in 15 seconds that it takes others three minutes to say, you will drastically outperform other managers when it comes to delegation.
Clear and simple communication, both written and verbal, is a superpower.
So is repetition.
You are going to have to say the same thing over and over again before it gets through.
This is what education and training actually is.
Guidance, communication, repetition, feedback.
This is how your team will improve.
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A few tweets from this week:
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If you don’t have a personal assistant, you are the personal assistant.
Cera ($9/hr) and Zama ($6/hr) are available for hire today if you would like to interview them. Just respond to this email and I can make an introduction.
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Onward and upward,
Nick Huber