I was speaking with a managing director the other day and had the opportunity to ask one of my favourite questions, “What’s your biggest challenge in business”
She replied, “My staff won’t do as they are told” and this sparked something in me and inspired me to write!
“What have you tried” I asked, as I love to learn what strategies people use in business and how effective they are or not.
“Well, I tell my staff what to do and then they go and make all the mistakes that I’ve already made and learned from so I feel like I might as well just do it all myself!”
This is a common thought and understandably so, most of us know the frustration of watching someone doing something you could do ten times faster and without fuss or bother. Until you start thinking about where you want to take your business in the future and what is stopping you getting there.
More frustrating than that is when you realise that what is stopping you is you.
When I asked her where she wanted her business to be in a couple of years she told me all about her thoughts and hopes for the future; hopes and dreams just like the ones we all have, more or less.
But her current relationship with her staff and her need to micromanage their work was stopping her in her tracks from making any headway on those distant dreams.
I have to tell you, by investing your time into training and developing your people today, you’ll gain additional time to do the things you want and need to do tomorrow to reach those dreams.
And your people will gain encouragement and job satisfaction as their work becomes more interesting.
The more tasks you can delegate to your people, the more time you have to move forward with where you want to take your business and the less time you will be bored and frustrated carrying out these tasks that others could do for you.
Think of a surgeon; all the routine tasks of identifying specific patients for his surgical specialty are handled by other doctors and experts. Trained staff prep the patient for operation and the surgeon only meets them when he’s about to operate on them.
Following the operation, nursing staff care for the patient and he’ll check in with you however other doctors and consultants manage the aftercare. The surgeon does the surgery, and very little else.
Think of your business in these terms: identify the supporting tasks that need to happen around your expertise and allow others to pick these up and make them their expertise.
Start thinking “am I the best person to be doing this” and when you’re not, don’t. Start turning your world around by focusing on what you’re good at and get others doing the rest.
And before you know where you are, you will be more fulfilled because of the quality of the work you are doing.
The first thing to accept is that you believe your people will never do your work as good as you, and maybe you’re right. But how good were you when you first started?
Start training them, allow them to find new ways of doing what you’ve always done, it might even be better than your way, educate them about the mistakes that have already been made so they can avoid those pitfalls.
You have to invest in training them, and a couple of years down the line you’ll look back and see the progress, which will never happen if you don’t ever start to delegate.
5 Simple Steps to help you let go
Start by showing them what to do
Let them watch and learn from you, talk them through WHAT you are doing, WHY you are doing it and HOW you are doing it
Do it with them
Let them take control but shadow and support their learning
Back away when you feel comfortable they understand
Have scheduled check ins when they can come to you for guidance
Document the processes
If procedures are documented and then used as a reference, this ensures a consistent approach to the task, regardless of who does it.
“But they’ll still make the same mistakes I did” – yes and probably a whole load of other ones, and then, if you’ve put the right person in the role, they’ll get better.
Life is about challenges, about learning and we do this by putting our skills and knowledge to the test, and yes, we’ll make mistakes. Every one of us does when we’re learning and growing.
(This is a learning experience – not to be confused with constant errors and inability which is a totally separate issue and not being addressed in this writing.)
Remember when you embark on your training journey, imparting your knowledge and expertise in others, not to think of today’s frustrations, but instead think of tomorrow’s freedom, of holidays and appreciation of your business, the one that is running successfully while you are doing something else altogether!
Is Not Letting Go Stopping Your Business Growth?
I was speaking with a managing director the other day and had the opportunity to ask one of my favourite questions, “What’s your biggest challenge in business”
She replied, “My staff won’t do as they are told” and this sparked something in me and inspired me to write!
“What have you tried” I asked, as I love to learn what strategies people use in business and how effective they are or not.
“Well, I tell my staff what to do and then they go and make all the mistakes that I’ve already made and learned from so I feel like I might as well just do it all myself!”
This is a common thought and understandably so, most of us know the frustration of watching someone doing something you could do ten times faster and without fuss or bother. Until you start thinking about where you want to take your business in the future and what is stopping you getting there.
More frustrating than that is when you realise that what is stopping you is you.
When I asked her where she wanted her business to be in a couple of years she told me all about her thoughts and hopes for the future; hopes and dreams just like the ones we all have, more or less.
But her current relationship with her staff and her need to micromanage their work was stopping her in her tracks from making any headway on those distant dreams.
I have to tell you, by investing your time into training and developing your people today, you’ll gain additional time to do the things you want and need to do tomorrow to reach those dreams.
And your people will gain encouragement and job satisfaction as their work becomes more interesting.
The more tasks you can delegate to your people, the more time you have to move forward with where you want to take your business and the less time you will be bored and frustrated carrying out these tasks that others could do for you.
Think of a surgeon; all the routine tasks of identifying specific patients for his surgical specialty are handled by other doctors and experts. Trained staff prep the patient for operation and the surgeon only meets them when he’s about to operate on them.
Following the operation, nursing staff care for the patient and he’ll check in with you however other doctors and consultants manage the aftercare. The surgeon does the surgery, and very little else.
Think of your business in these terms: identify the supporting tasks that need to happen around your expertise and allow others to pick these up and make them their expertise.
Start thinking “am I the best person to be doing this” and when you’re not, don’t. Start turning your world around by focusing on what you’re good at and get others doing the rest.
And before you know where you are, you will be more fulfilled because of the quality of the work you are doing.
The first thing to accept is that you believe your people will never do your work as good as you, and maybe you’re right. But how good were you when you first started?
Start training them, allow them to find new ways of doing what you’ve always done, it might even be better than your way, educate them about the mistakes that have already been made so they can avoid those pitfalls.
You have to invest in training them, and a couple of years down the line you’ll look back and see the progress, which will never happen if you don’t ever start to delegate.
5 Simple Steps to help you let go
“But they’ll still make the same mistakes I did” – yes and probably a whole load of other ones, and then, if you’ve put the right person in the role, they’ll get better.
Life is about challenges, about learning and we do this by putting our skills and knowledge to the test, and yes, we’ll make mistakes. Every one of us does when we’re learning and growing.
(This is a learning experience – not to be confused with constant errors and inability which is a totally separate issue and not being addressed in this writing.)
Remember when you embark on your training journey, imparting your knowledge and expertise in others, not to think of today’s frustrations, but instead think of tomorrow’s freedom, of holidays and appreciation of your business, the one that is running successfully while you are doing something else altogether!
When is the best time to think about tomorrow?
Today
Always today.
Categories