BUSINESS


The third critical business mistake - ineffective delegation


Can’t find good people to work in your small business; or do your delegation systems need to be examined?


by Greg Roworth Y


ou can’t grow your business without delegating work to someone else. However, most business owners would typically prefer


to clone themselves than learn how to choose the right people, set them up with the right systems, then motivate and nurture them. As a result, many small and medium-sized businesses suffer from ineffective delegation.


THE CONSEQUENCES OF INEFFECTIVE DELEGATION Ineffective delegation leads to a number of issues: 1. Differing expectations between boss and employee.


2. Inefficient work methods, leading to quality and productivity issues.


3. Disappointment for the business owner because the employee doesn’t think the same way as the owner does.


4. Frustration for the business owner because the employee doesn’t get the same results the owner would have.


Often the business owner has expectations of


employees that are simply not communicated clearly, therefore they don’t get the results they expect. The outcome is frustration, leading to resigned acceptance that ‘you can’t get good people these days’.


CREATING EFFECTIVE STRUCTURES FOR SUCCESS On the other hand, successful entrepreneurs believe clear interactions between people and developing good relationships are essential to excellent execution, so they develop effective systems and communication processes. These include job descriptions, operations manuals, work instructions, and specific appraisal systems. These all help to


38 SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2017


ensure that expectations about an employee’s role in the business are effectively communicated and understood, and that the employee’s performance results are fed back and effectively worked through to the satisfaction of each party. Delegation can then occur without frustration and antagonism. Perhaps the most important means of creating


leverage in your business is through developing and implementing systems that remove dependency on you; systems that create a structure for executing the work done in your business with excellence, consistency, quality, and conformity in everything that happens.


HARMONY IN YOUR SMALL BUSINESS Think about what it would be like if everyone who either works in your business or with your business worked in total harmony. That is the recipe for achieving business excellence. When I think about harmony, I find it really


valuable to think about how an orchestra functions. Think of it this way: in an orchestra, the conductor gets everyone to follow the music in a way that is wholly prescribed. There is little room for creativity in how the musicians play their instruments and play their parts, the conductor dictates how that will happen. But somehow, with all this direction and lack of scope for creativity, in the best orchestras, each individual plays to the best of their ability and is able to express the full range of their talents. The conductor knows the capabilities of the musicians and sets up the score so that each person can produce the best results. That’s the way it should work in your business as well. In fact, the major benefit of the orchestration


process in business is to ensure that the desired outcome is actually achieved through the process being executed. However, far too often in business,


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100