How to Delegate Effectively When You’re Scaling Your Business

Learning how to delegate is a critical skill when it comes to hiring new team members to help you scale. Your team will only give you ROI if you’re able to let go of tasks and trust them to produce results. BUT, there’s a balance to keep in mind. You can’t just dump tasks on team members and hope they’ll get done. Listen to this week’s episode to learn how to dance that balance as you let go and lead. 

The Lasting Rewards of Hiring and Delegating For Your Business

Do hiring and delegating take more of your time instead of freeing up your schedule? Before you get frustrated, listen to this episode of the The Elevate Effect™ podcast! 

This topic reminded me of a conversation I had over 2 years ago. Does this question sound familiar to you:

“I’m feeling like I’m quickly closing my openness to outsourcing. I keep wanting to take everything back. What do you do when something you’ve outsourced is not what you want and you feel like you’d rather no one touch it but you?”

My response is this:

“Bear with me here. I’ve been there and done that, and learned some things along the way that may be helpful. I have high expectations. Quality is extremely important to me, and I’ve had a tendency to pull back in the past and just do it myself. Sometimes, doing it myself felt like the right thing to do in the short term… but long term, it didn’t pay off.”

Here’s what I learned: setting your expectations upfront is key when leading a team, whether outsourced or not. It isn’t fair to expect that everything will be done exactly as you would because they’re not you.

Weigh the opportunity cost. What does it free you up to do? Are you willing to sacrifice doing things that someone else could do for opportunities which have larger overall gain and more chance to grow?

Here Are 2 Steps to Take For Delegating Effectively

1. Set and communicate expectations – What are the goals, guidelines, non-negotiables and standards they should adhere to?

2. Create a feedback loop – Review and measure their work against the agreed upon expectations. Provide feedback and clarifications.

This is not a walk in the park, especially for perfectionists. Rather than taking control back, take on the leadership role and coach them up to meet your expectations.

Investing in people takes a little time before you see the return. After giving it some time, if they’re still not meeting your set expectations, they may not be the right fit. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on delegating or outsourcing altogether.

Knowing how to delegate effectively means giving people space to do what they’re experts in and shift your role from the one implementing everything to the one leading. If you’re struggling to let go, I encourage you to step up into your role as a LEADER.