"Don't do anything someone else can do for you." Bill Marriott Sr. Do you have trouble delegating? Is it your lack of trust in your employees, your lack of patience, or do you subscribe to the phrase, “if you want something done right do it yourself?” Unless you are the only person in your business, reluctance to share the workload will cripple your company. It is foolhardy to think you can do everything yourself- beyond driving yourself crazy, you will collapse from exhaustion and your business will collapse on you. Sam Slotki, a retiree, who after leasing a combination gas station-food mart, lasted in business only eleven months before “retiring again. This time, a bitter person with little money and too many unpaid bills. He failed because of his arrogance and attitude. In his opinion, none of the people he hired wanted to work; all were lazy and shiftless. He welcomed the chance to tell anyone willing to listen how he must constantly supervise and jump in or things were not done the way he wanted. For example, one of Sam’s ill-mannered traits was publicly faulting his employees over the smallest of mistakes. Not surprising, he found it difficult to keep his workers. His views became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as only the least skilled were willing to stay. To the end, Sam denied his responsibility for the failure. Unfortunately, he was unable to delegate or understand the need to. He never saw that his failure to delegate the workload and assign responsibilities led to employee insecurity, high employee turnover, owner burnout, tension, and failure. He did what many do in failure; he blamed others! Small business owners with delegation problems tend to fall into two extremes: those like Sam, who can’t, and must do everything themselves-known as “micro-managing” or those who are willing to turn everything over and take the afternoon off, trusting that the company will run smoothly. Either can lead to failure; delegation is like other things in life, best through moderation. Delegation is part personality and part ability. It is the sense to trust within reasonable limits, the ability to sort out priorities, assign responsibilities, and the ability to manage the activities of others. You will discover that successful delegation comes from the practice of clarity, reasonableness, patience, and interest in the outcome. To delegate successfully, start with your hiring practices. If you have no faith in those you are hiring to do the job for you, don’t hire them, you are wasting your precious cash, and adding to your frustration level. But assuming you have reasonably talented employees, with an interest in their jobs, learning to delegate is straightforward. 1. Find someone to do the task 2. Show the person what to do and how you want it done. 3. Check back to see if it was done and if it was done the way, you instructed. Problems rise from assigning the task to the wrong person with fuzzy instructions and unrealistic expectations. Think about it, problems with delegation start with you- if you fail to be clear with you instructions and if you are impatient with the results, expect difficulty. Or, if you are in a hurry to turn over the task-disappear and expect perfection –expect more difficulty. If all of this is new to you, start by assigning activities that if screwed up, have minor consequences. As you feel your way, compliment the successes-positive reinforcement works wonders-and when things go wrong, spend some time to find out why. As you free yourself from some of the daily tasks of your business, you are learning how to multiply your talents through others. You are delegating; you are getting things done through the actions of others. You are mastering the basics of management: Identify the task, identify the risk, turn over the task, review the results, and move on. In time, delegation results in sharing the decision-making responsibility with your employees, creating a collective judgment that may result in better decisions. If you see yourself as a coach, with a team of employees that will make your success possible, then sharing opinions can by valuable to you. If you respect the opinion of your employees, you may respect their judgment as well. How much you should delegate and involve your employees in deciding the issues of your company depends on the style of leadership you are most comfortable with. But, regardless of your fashion, there will always be some issues only you can decide. Generally, the larger the risk, the more the decision must be yours alone- but, the more you may need the thoughts of others. However you see yourself as a business person, if you learn to delegate you will have a better chance of building a successful business. Remember the story of a man to busy fishing with a spear, that he had no time to weave a net. Copyright 2003 Paul E. Adams Dr Paul E Adams, Professor Emeritus Business, Ramapo College of New Jersey & Retired Entrepreneur, Syndicated Columnist, Host of the access cable TV program "Tri -State Movers and Shakers," and Author of “Fail-Proof Your Business,” Available @ Amazon.com. Comments, questions, or suggestions to: xpaul@pikeonline.net