It’s unproductive to just say it’s your fault, even when it is. Suffice it to say, no leader can delegate and get 100% done all the time. Here are some ways it won’t happen, and what to do about it:
Why your delegated tasks won’t get done and what to do about it
- Delegation vs dumping. What you call delegation… Do you think it might be just dumping a task on someone? They don’t know what a good job looks like. Or maybe they haven’t seen the job done well so they can watch and model the task from start to finish. If those situations are true, it’s dumping. Either model it yourself or pair them with someone who can, while showing them what the completed task is supposed to look like.
- Too much at once. Imagine each task as a list. The longer your list, the less likely everything will get done. That is, of course, unless your people know your problem solving style, or done every item on the list hundreds of times. Too much responsibility at once is not empowering, it’s burdening. Give a little at a time until you know they can do it.
- You don’t delegate across or up. Maybe the reason you couldn’t satisfy your boss in the past was that you didn’t know exactly what the person above you wanted. This is probably a reason why you got into business – to avoid this happening to you! Now, however, up means knowing what your customers want, what the tax man wants, and your bank, etc. Also, if you’re in business with a partner, maybe they know how to help with something. If it’s a healthy partnership, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
- Your employees don’t know your priorities. If your people don’t know why something should be done, or if a task should be done in a sequential order or according to certain priorities, it might not get done. The employee’s priorities are to know they’re doing a good job, that they will get paid (well), and that their future with your company is brighter than the present. Sometimes they can see the big picture, and sometimes they need to know your perspective.
- You didn’t turn it into a goal. That means deadlines, each person knowing their role, and specific measurable tasks. If you run your business like a communist party, where the leader makes a speech about what they want to see, leaving the underlings to go overboard interpreting it every which way, you’ll get communist results. Nobody wants communist results, not even communists.
- You didn’t give them the resources to do the job well in the time you expect. You may have thought you did, but maybe you didn’t. Be sure to check in on your people.
Delegation that Works
Delegation is an important way to grow your business in a way that rewards both you and the people who join you along the way. One thing you may want to delegate is your bookkeeping. This one move can save you over 80 hours per year compared to doing it yourself, and gives you a better outcome than doing it yourself! Schedule a free call with me about your bookkeeping strategy, and I’ll help you achieve your business goals.
This post was inspired very much by Mark Cole over at John Maxwell in this article here.