Delegate the Tough Stuff: How to Ensure Your Business Doesn’t Fail by Doing Too Much of It Yourself
Every business owner knows how vital delegation is to the growth and success of their company — but it’s an aspect of running a business that many struggles with. And, as we all know, doing too much of the work for your company on your own can be detrimental to its success.
The reason, of course, is that the more you do for your company on your own, the less time you have available to fulfill your primary role as an owner — growing the business. This is true whether you own a small business or one that employs hundreds of people.
Here are four ways that most business owners do too much work on their companies’ behalf. And this is without even getting into the mistakes most owners make concerning delegating.
1. Multitasking (and not doing it well)
It’s human nature to want to get things done quickly. This is particularly true in the business world, where time equals money. The fact is, multitasking can make you feel like you’re getting more done in less time. But the truth is, when your head is split between multiple tasks at once, you lose focus. And when your focus is off, you lose productivity.
Multitasking requires quick decisions, constantly shifting gears with continually shifting priorities, and the ability to go from one task to another quickly with little reflection. If this sounds like you, you’re making the same mistakes as business owners.
2. Over-complicating things
The more you make a task complicated, the more time it takes to complete it. This is because the brain takes longer to take in, understand and remember complex information. Difficult tasks also require more brainpower. Because of this, you must keep your tasks as simple as possible. As a business owner, you have more important things to think about than the intricacies of a task.
By keeping things simple and focusing on the most critical aspects of a task, you’ll be able to get things done faster and more efficiently. This is critical to fulfill your primary role as an owner — growing your company.
3. Doing work that others can do for you
This is a classic mistake — and it gets made over and over again. You may think that you’re saving your time, but if you’re doing work that someone else can do for you and do it well, then you’re losing time. Again, this is because you’re not being efficient with your time.
One of the main reasons you need to delegate tasks is that you’re spending too much time doing work that others can do for you. When you delay a task that others can do for you, the more time you’re losing with your work. And when your focus is so divided between being an owner and doing work on the business’s behalf, it’s impossible to grow the company at the rate it needs to.
4. Over-managing your employees
Over-managing is another mistake that many small business owners make. You indeed want to keep an eye on your employees to ensure that the tasks are being completed to your standards. However, you also want to make sure that you don’t let the work become sloppy.
But there’s more to it than that. By micro-managing too much, you’re slowing your company’s growth by keeping yourself, find out more here, and not your employees, responsible for the work. This is keeping you from growing your company and moving it to the next level.
Don’t fall into these traps. Delegate as much as you can to your employees, and let them handle the demanding tasks. Let them learn how to do work on their own. By doing this, you’re helping them grow in their careers, and you’re growing your company with them. You’ll be able to focus on the bigger picture ideas that will help your company grow faster than it would otherwise.
Every business owner knows how important it is to delegate tasks to their employees. And yet, so many fail at doing this because they fall into the same traps mentioned here. Don’t do this yourself — for your company’s sake and your own.
Your job is to grow your company — and that means growing yourself. So, learn how to delegate the tough stuff — and let your employees do the work. The results will be better for you and your employees — and far more productive for your business.