Who is the Monkey? FIGHTING FOR EFFECTIVE DELEGATION

Delegating is a frightening concept within our shores, not as a result of ignorance, but because business owners and managers often fail to reap the benefits it should birth.

To delegate is to entrust work into the hands of another, through assigning tasks with the aim of hitting objectives and reaping benefits.  The main purpose for delegating is to free up time and energy for the delegator to apply to more meaningful and gainful duties.

Many leaders, however, have stories of woe.  At social gatherings, it seems the most vibrant competition amongst those who are employers is measuring who has the ‘dumbest’ group of staff.  Weighing the pros against the cons, most of us choose to do almost everything at work ourselves – ‘just in case’ we think.  In reality though, what we do in refusing to shake our workforce out of an inane state and empower them, is squeeze the life out of ourselves and our businesses.

When you fail to delegate effectively, work is delivered incomplete or in poor quality (or not delivered at all), morale drops and stress levels rise, a growing army of disgruntled customers develops and business eventually begins to dwindle.

I was nauseated by what I saw and heard of the catering and service personnel at a wedding some weeks ago.  I know the owner of the business to be a very creative, hard working and sweet lady, but sadly, I found myself undertaking never to use her services for any future function.  She was an utter bag of rags by the end of the evening, while her staff having performed poorly most of the evening giggled stupidly, while consuming food and drink that I considered ‘pilfered’ and without a care in the world.

Knock!  Knock!  Are you there?  This is one of those ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’ situations – do you continue to run all areas of your business by yourself (in which case you must remain content running a small business) or would you rather bite the bullet in working hard to see delegation work for you amid all the associated risks such as theft and greedy sabotage?

Whilst this is easier said than done, doing the math will tell you that 75% of several millions is more rewarding than 100% of a few thousand.  Delegation is crucial for organizations seeking to compete.  Competition is fierce, so any business hoping to survive must empower its people to think for themselves and draw on their experience and wisdom.

So how can you begin to gun for the next level?  Firstly, you must be prepared to let go and let others! Then take cognisance of the following points:

1.    Much as you may like to, you simply cannot do everything.  Get over it!  Determine an acceptable level and concentrate on strategy and leadership rather than being the general dog’s body.

2.    Inform and empower your workers so they can use their initiative and confidently take good decisions.  Stretch your workers’ abilities by gradually increasing delegation levels and provide the support they need to ensure success.   Help them grow their initiative.

3.    Give your staff plenty of practice; just make sure your practice is not done on clients’ time.

4.    Be flexible, the important thing is to attain results, it really often doesn’t matter what route is taken as long as quality is not jeopardized.

5.    Allow room for mistakes. For your employees to grow, you must remove hindrances such as those that arise as a result of them being afraid of the backlash of errors.

6.    Ensure you issue clear instructions, set targets, grant authority where necessary, monitor appropriately and establish accountability.

7.    Train, train, train!  All levels of staff should be trained on a continual basis – there simply is no other way to achieve that superior position in the market that you crave.  Invest in your people so you can grow to trust them.  You will be amazed at how they begin to rise to the occasion.

8.    Remember to recognize those who get the work done well. It will encourage them to do better next time and make others to begin to think and apply more effort and interest in their work.

Getting it right will see you achieve your dream of that multi-million dollar national  or international business and will have you contribute your quota towards making the workforce of our country more intelligent and achieving.  Then of course, you stop being the working monkey; and the ‘chopping’ baboons will be forced to use their brains and earn their keep!  You strategize and stay sane - help develop your workers and let them work for the money that you pay them!