Return on Delegation

by Benj Miller | Jan 7, 2020

I recently got to spend some time chatting with Dan Sullivan, Founder of Strategic Coach and the 10x program.

Dan didn’t mince words when he talked about leaders that scale – they know their job is about direction (where we are going) and WHO (who are the people that are going to take us there). If a leader is in the back office working on HOW then she/he isn’t creating momentum to scale.

Most entrepreneurial leaders are created to innovate or sell and that’s what they should focus their energies on. So how do we get everything else done?

Delegation can be scary to some leaders. Often times the fear comes from one of two places:

1. The need to feel needed.

2. The fear of delegating.

If you have the fear of being needed, here’s your tip: Get over it. Now. Your company, team and clients need you to lead.

If you have the fear of letting go, ask yourself why. It may be back to #1. Or it may be quality. Or… maybe you haven’t picked the right WHO. Most of the time when we find the right WHO, they can do a better job than we can. When we find the right WHO, the job actually energizes them because it is in their gifting.

Delegating is key to your organization if you want to grow past yourself and elevate others!

Here are a few tips:

DO: Have a feedback loop so they are responsible and measured with how they keep your finger on the pulse.

DON’T: Have your finger so hard on the pulse that you’re strangling.

DO: Let the WHO design the process, rhythms, budget, resources, etc – only coming to you for approval.

DON’T: Impede your “wisdom” on their plan. A plan that they 100% own. 90% perfect is better than a plan that they 10% own and is 100% perfect.

DO: Create clear accountability of who owns what. Fight to continue to push everyone in the organization more into their unique abilities.

DON’T: Feel bad giving someone tasks that you really don’t like. You may not understand it, but they may LOVE IT!