Are you tempted to do everything yourself? If so, you’re not alone. It’s a common dilemma for startup founders and CEOs.
It’s easy to see why entrepreneurs would want to maintain total control of their products, their marketing, their sales, their finances, and their delivery systems, but it isn’t realistic.
The art of letting go and delegating can be a hard task to learn, yet it is vital to the success of your startup.
Why delegate
One of the most important and perhaps obvious reasons you should delegate is because it saves you time. This leaves you ample space to get your work done in a productive, efficient manner.
A smart CEO or founder knows that taking on every business task is a bad business plan, and this business owner hires the right people to help run the startup.
Delegation can happen downward, but it can also happen horizontally. For example, you might delegate to your to executives, or you might outsource tasks such as human resources and accounting.
Now let’s look at some tips for getting started.
Let go
Once you decide to delegate, you’ve got to tackle the hard part, and that is letting go.
This is easier if you hire a strong team and work with an experienced outsourcing company.
You can start with baby steps and delegate small tasks, working your way up to big ones as you develop trust.
Create priorities
When delegating, you need to prioritize your task list.
Separate the things that you’ll do from the items you’ll delegate. Divide the delegated items into categories based on the skill needed. For example, you might need to outsource accounting and HR which require different skill sets.
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Know your team
Do you know where your teams skills lie? Perhaps you have a team that’s strong in certain areas and not in others. This is where an outsource team would come in.
Assign tasks from your priority list according to relevant skill sets.
Provide detailed instructions
The task you delegate may make sense to you, but it might not to the person or team you’re delegating to.
Make sure you give specific instructions and include a timeline. This helps keep the line of communication open and makes your expectations clear.
Offer on-the-job training
If someone on your team wants to take on a task but isn’t quite up to speed on how to do it, you can always provide some additional training.
This may initially take you more time, but if you invest a bit of training in the beginning, you’ll be sure that the team member can complete the current task as well as any future tasks.
Consider this an investment in the future of your startup.
Create a feedback process
Feedback is an important part of delegation, and it’s multi-faceted as both parties need to provide feedback.
Consider an open door policy so your staff knows they can ask you questions about the task you assigned.
You also want to be sure to offer your thanks and praise, so your staff knows you appreciate them.
To conclude
Ultimately, when founders and CEOs delegate, they save time and money.
Delegating helps you grow your startup because you have more time to focus on your company’s core processes and tasks.
It takes time in the beginning to hone your delegating skills, but once you do, you’ll be amazed at how well it works.
For many startups, delegating tasks is best done to an outsourced company. This is a win-win for many startups as this lets them efficiently tap into the skill-sets and expertise of seasoned professionals, while focusing on growth.
Want more?
Since 2006, Escalon has helped thousands of startups streamline processes and grow faster with our back-office solutions for accounting, HR, payroll, insurance, and recruiting and taxes — and we can help yours too. Talk to an expert today.
Image: Mimi Thian on Unsplash
