JUST ONE THING
The Delegation Fix
Episode 183
With Rick White, 180BIZ
Proper Delegation Creates Lasting Change
What I want to talk about today is probably the single biggest thing that you are doing that's hurting your business. It's how you're delegating. Don't delegate tasks, delegate responsibilities. Tasks are burdens while responsibilities are opportunities. This is part of what's making you frustrated. Let me explain why. Traditional delegating is where I just come in and say, here, do this, do that, do this. That is not delegating, that is dictating. When you're delegating like that, you're delegating tasks. You're looking for someone's hands. You're not looking to engage their head or their heart. When you're on the receiving end, it feels very transactional, menial, and demeaning for your team. It also creates a dependency on you. Think about that. How many of you can't move or go away from the shop for any length of time because of what you delegated you are the brains, and they are the hands? That doesn't work. It limits creativity.
Delegating properly creates an ownership mindset.
Let me give you some examples. “Hey, I want you to run this report.” “Go replace those spark plugs.” “Empty the trash.” That is not delegating, that is dictating. But what I want you to understand, and I want you to really get this, it completely changes the game. When you start to delegate responsibility, think about that, it creates an ownership mindset. People are frustrated because they can't get their team to step up. When you start to delegate responsibility, you will create an ownership mindset in them because they have to take ownership of the responsibility in its outcome. Not only does the ownership mindset emerge, but the creativity starts to flourish. In other words, they start to see things from a different perspective than you do, and it creates greater possibilities. Then you're actually growing leaders.
Growing leaders is leadership 101.
See, that's leadership 1 0 1. It's not to get people to follow you. It's for you to grow leaders. So let me give you some different examples. Instead of running this report, “Hey, you're in charge of our monthly reporting.” Instead of replacing those spark plugs, “Hey, find out why this car's running rough.” And instead of emptying the trash, “Hey, you are now responsible for keeping the shop spotless.” See what happens when you start to do that. It gives them a much broader sense of doing things. I don't want to just talk to you about this and walk away. That doesn't make sense to me. What I want to do is I really want to give you simple steps on how to do this.
Steps to better delegation.
1. Define the purpose or the outcome that you're wanting or needing. In other words, don't tell me what to do. Tell me what you want it to look like. Tell me what you should be doing. We're going to talk about that in a second. You're going to find that purpose or the outcome.
2. Set clear boundaries.
a. What does success look like? What are the hard things that have to happen in order for this to be a success? How does it feel? Because guess what? There's a feeling to an outcome. How should you feel when this is done? How should others benefit from this after you're finished?
b. The second thing for boundaries is what resources are they're going to have available to them so that they can do the job. In other words, “Hey, I want you to build this, and here are the tools and the product that you have to build that, the raw materials.”
c. And then the last thing to set clear boundaries is you got to give them their level of authority. What are they allowed to do without coming to you? Now, in the beginning, it's going to be small. That level of authority is going to start small, but then as they prove themselves able to do the job and can do it, then you give them more authority. That doesn't mean you ever totally walk away. Don't ever do that. That's not delegating. That's abdicating. You always share the responsibility with them for the outcome.
3. Focus on outcomes, not methods. If they don't do it your way, that's okay. If I leave Virginia and drive to California, there's a bunch of different ways to go. As long as I can get, we can all get there with the same resources at about the same time. Who cares? Let them do it their way. Your way is not the only way. Let them figure it out. This is part of growing a leader.
Better delegation creates lasting change.
Now, by doing this, you will create lasting change. How are you doing that? Because you're building trust. You're building trust while they're learning. They’ll think, “Wow, he or she really does trust me with this.” Understand that mistakes are a part of this. As they succeed, they get more and more confident, and your team members become leaders.
We're delegating wrong. Don't delegate what to do, delegate the outcome that you want, and let them figure it out with boundaries.
Share this video. Please also shop owner’s roundtable. Second Thursday of the month, 7:00 PM Eastern Pocket Business genius. If you're interested in our webinars, you can check out that as well. There's some great stuff in there. I highly recommend it.
God bless everybody. Take care.
