Episode 176 - The Delegation Playbook for Entrepreneurs: Unleash Your Time

 Good day and welcome to The Budding Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host, Randy Bridges. In each episode, we dive into practical business strategies that you can put to work in your business right away. 

We also focus on inspiring stories from leaders who are shaking and making things happen in their industry. It's all about giving you the tools and insights to take you and your business to the next level. So get comfortable and let's jump right in. 

All right, all right, we are on episode 176 of the podcast. Today is Friday, December 6th, 2024. In today's agenda, we're going to dig into a quote from financial wizard Warren Buffett, and then we're going to dive into our actual topic, which is mastering the art of delegation, freeing up your time.

Here's what we're going to cover. We're going to start with why delegation matters and how it can transform your business. Then we'll look at the delegation transition, how to let go and lead effectively, and then practical tips to delegate tasks without losing control. 

We're going to wrap it up at the end with actionable insights that you can implement right away. This being the first episode in December, this is arguably the busiest, most chaotic month of the year. We're fresh off of Thanksgiving. 

Many of us are juggling holiday obligations, year-end tasks, and planning for the next year. It's easy to feel like you're stuck in a whirlwind with no way out. But here's the good news. 

Delegation can be your lifeline. Today we're going to talk about how you can master the art of delegation to reclaim your time, lower your stress, and create a thriving team ready to help you succeed. First though, let's work on a quote from Warren Buffett related to our topic.

He said, you can't do everything, but you can do the most important things. And that's where delegation helps to be able to do this. We'll be looking at some of these pieces. 

With delegation, it allows you to focus on the most important things while empowering your team to take the rest off your plate. So let's jump into our business strategies and see what we can do to master delegation and talk about why delegation matters. Delegation is more than just assigning tasks. 

It's about creating a business that can operate and grow without you handling every single detail. Let's face it, burnout is a real problem for entrepreneurs. You're likely here because you've hit a wall trying to do everything yourself. 

Many entrepreneurs find getting everything off of their plate a difficult choice, right? But here's the truth. When you don't delegate, you're holding your business back. You become the bottleneck. 

Tasks pile up, your energy drains, and your team is left waiting for direction. But when you delegate, you're not just freeing your time, you're showing your team you trust them, which boosts their morale and their overall productivity. Now I want to bring in an example of how this all affects a business. 

One of my clients realized he was spending hours on administrative work instead of building client relationships. It was killing his business and no matter how many times I or other people pointed this out, he just couldn't let go. Finally, after about a year of talking about the same thing, he finally saw the light. 

We started delegating those non-client tasks to a virtual assistant and he suddenly doubled his client retention rate within six months. Now that's the power of delegation. When it's not on your plate, you can focus on the key things that make the difference in your business. 

More than anything, delegation is about creating clarity around responsibilities and empowering your team to step up. Now if we shift over to the transition, we talk about how this all works, it can feel very challenging. Many of us, you know, it's hard for us to let go. 

We think no one else can do it as well as I can. But here's the thing. If you want your business to grow, you have to trust your team.

Start by building a culture of accountability. We've discussed this many times. And when the team knows they're trusted to deliver results, they will step up. 

If you create systems and guidelines that provide structure without stifling creativity, you're going to see tremendous rewards on that. Now last week, we talked about a practical tool to help you make this delegation process begin. This is called the Eisenhower box.

It categorizes tasks into four quadrants, and it clearly indicates what tasks should be delegated. The first quadrant is urgent and important. These are things for you to do right now.

Don't wait after this whole thing is over with, go to work on those. The second quadrant is important but not urgent. These are things that you may still need to do, but you're definitely going to want to schedule these for later. 

The third quadrant is urgent but not important. These are the ones that you want to delegate. And the fourth quadrant is neither urgent nor important, and you just eliminate these. 

If you can use this framework, you can quickly identify what needs your attention versus what can be passed on to someone else. It's all about prioritization and delegation. Now let's start with a picture of what delegation looks like when it's done well. 

At its core, effective delegation means assigning tasks in a way that matches your team's strengths. It communicates clear expectations and it empowers your team to take ownership of their work. When this happens, you're no longer stuck doing everything yourself. 

Imagine your business where routine tasks like scheduling, client follow-ups, and invoicing are handled seamlessly by your team. Whether that's virtual or in-house, that matters not. You are freed up to focus on high-level strategy, vision, and growth.

That's the power of delegation. It shifts you from being reactive to proactive in your business. But let's not sugarcoat it. 

Delegation isn't just a handoff. It's actually a process, and when you get it right, it boosts not only your productivity but also your team's morale. You see, employees feel trusted and valued when you're delegating to them, and that leads to higher engagement and better results. 

So think of this as the proverbial win-win. I'm not a fan of that statement, but in this case, I believe it actually reflects what the gain is. Now, how do you know if you're not delegating enough? Well, here's some tell-tale signs.

First of all, you're overwhelmed by routine tasks, and this is probably everybody listening here. If your daily schedule is packed with things like data entry, email responses, scheduling meetings, things like that, you're stuck in the weeds. Second, growth in your business is slowing down. 

Ah, terrible thing to have happen. You start to see bottlenecks appear because you're trying to oversee every detail. This leads to missed opportunities and delayed progress.

And finally, you find that your team seems disengaged and maybe underutilized. When you're holding on too tightly, you're not allowing them to shine. And if any of these sound familiar, it's a clear signal that it's time to let go and start delegating more effectively.

Speaking of delegating effectively, let's break it down and see what that looks like. First, we want to identify what to delegate. Look at your task list, use your Eisenhower box, and ask yourself, what doesn't require my unique skills or expertise? Second, match tasks to team strengths.

If someone on your team is great at organization, let them handle the scheduling. If another team excels at communication, put them in charge of your client interactions. And third, provide clear instructions and set expectations.

This is where most delegation falls apart. Your team needs to know a sense of why behind the task, along with the desired outcome and the deadline. Finally, don't forget to follow up.

Delegation is not a set-it-and-forget-it process. This isn't Ron Popeil's set-it-and-forget-it oven, right? You want to be sure to check in to ensure there's progress, but resist the urge to micromanage. You're there to guide, not to hover.

Before we wrap up this, we're going to look at some delegation pitfalls, and we want to talk about how to avoid them. We've just discussed micromanaging. It's one of the biggest mistakes.

If you delegate a task, but then constantly check in or redo the work, you're defeating the purpose. Trust your team to deliver. If they're having problems delivering in the past, make sure that you put in micro-commitments along the way, areas that they can submit to you that will allow you to make corrections if you have to.

But it's often better to turn to them and say, I see a problem right here. How do you think this needs to be solved? And let them tell you, and then say, all right, and go. You're on your own on that, and bring it back to me when you get to a good stopping spot.

Another pitfall that goes right along with that one is failing to provide clarity. This wonderful A word, ambiguity, often leads to mistakes and frustration. Always communicate the what, the how, and the when.

Why is often an unstated question that leads to no kind of an answer. Why is this this way? I don't know is the most frequent answer you're going to get to that. And it's not a great way to look at it.

Whether the task was completed perfectly or it needs improvement, your input helps your team grow. And finally, leverage tools to keep everything organized. You want to be able to track progress, definitely without micromanaging.

So if you can have your people put the information into a scheduling or a task tracking tool like Trello or Asana or a few others, it's like having a dashboard for your team's tasks. You can see what's happening at a glance without having to ask them constantly and giving the appearance of micromanaging. Now, I want to address a common fear.

This is usually I hear it from business owners all the time. What if the work isn't good enough? I mean, you know, we're entrepreneurs, we're always cognizant of risk. So here's my solid answer.

It may not be perfect the first time, but that's okay. Delegation, like any kind of work, is a skill for both you and your team. The more you delegate, the better everyone gets.

And the reality is your team will continue to develop and improve, whereas you will eventually stumble and fall much to the demise of your team. You definitely don't want to do that. I recommend that business owners especially learn to get out of the way.

You pay your people good money to improvise and to improve and excel, not to be perfect. Instead of spending hours on routine tasks, focus your time on strategy, building client relationships, maybe even taking some time off. That's the business owner you're meant to be.

As a review, delegation is about freeing yourself to focus on what matters, while empowering your team to thrive. By identifying what to delegate and aligning tasks with team strengths, finally, in avoiding common pitfalls, you can build a business that runs efficiently, effectively, and grows sustainably. Now next week, we're going to build on this conversation with our topic on breaking free from inefficient processes, streamlining for success.

It's all about cutting the fat from your workflows, so you and your team can maximize productivity. Start today and you'll see your business and your team soar much higher and much farther than you ever thought they would be capable of doing. That's it for this episode.

I hope you picked up some valuable insights and maybe even sparked a few new ideas. If you want to keep the conversation going or maybe even explore partnerships, don't hesitate to reach out. And hey, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who needs to hear it.

The steps you take today could be the start of something big tomorrow. For The Budding Entrepreneur, I wish you the best in your health, your wealth, your business, your family, everything about you. Take care and we'll see you back here next week.