Are You An Over-Delegator or an Under Delegator?

I know you’ve heard me talk over and over about the importance of delegation. It’s crucial to business growth, but figuring out how to do it correctly isn’t always easy. I view it as “part Art, part Science”. The “Art” is knowing which tasks and responsibilities are most beneficial to delegate (and which ones would be detrimental for you to lose). The “Science” is figuring out that delicate balance of just HOW MUCH to delegate for optimum results.

For the “Science” of delegation, you’ll first need to know if you are an over-delegator or an under-delegator. Both can present problems in your ability to delegate to virtual assistants, contractors or employees.

For the over-delegator, the fact that you’ve seen the need to delegate is great. It shows you have vision for your company and you know you can’t do everything yourself. But one common trap with over-delegating is the tendency to dump and run. It’s almost too painful to slow down enough to fully explain what you want done so you just pass the buck, hoping the other person will figure it out. Among other issues, over-delegating leads to costly mistakes, burn out of your team and a lot of running around in circles trying to figure out what the “boss” really wants. Proper communication will make your team more productive, projects will be completed on time and your team will actually be happier!

For the under-delegator, it’s still hard to let go. Your business is like your baby. But you will never become wealthy if you insist on doing everything yourself! Not only will you burn yourself out, you will lose out on opportunities. And it’s impossible to have a big impact if you’re stuck on all the small things. Don’t get trapped in thinking no one else could possibly do it better than you can. You’ll often hire people to help you then end up doing things yourself, just because you are worried about mistakes or don’t want to slow down enough to train the other person. For every hour you free up you can focus more on the high payoff, revenue generating activities that only you can do.

Balancing the “art” and “science” of delegation means you get 10 times as much done, increase your sanity cause things are done on time correctly and your finances expand exponentially. It’s definitely a big win to implement this strategy sooner rather than later.