How Effective Delegation Can Help Your Startup Win

If you struggle at delegation, improve quickly. You’ll be a better leader for it. Effective delegation—the ability to share tasks and provide people with clear and present (read: immediate) benchmarks—is unparalleled. Some are naturals at it, and others have to refine their skills. But, first you must understand its value.[bctt tweet="Effective #delegation is key to effective #leadership, says @marvin_mathew"]

Getting it done:

Most people "get things done."

The solo-entrepreneur understands how to hustle and their capacity to get things done is unmatched. Nevertheless, "The Hustle" is unsustainable and nearly impossible to scale effectively.

When you take on the bulk of tasks or worse, micromanage your team, you are restricting yourself and your output to the limitations of your time, energy, and focus.

Focus on building a business—not getting a task done. This is just as important for the startup employee as it is for the CEO.

You need the help of others. Delegate. Cut parts of a large job into pieces.[bctt tweet="The Hustle is unsustainable and impossible to scale, says @marvin_mathew #delegate"]

How to delegate effectively:

First and foremost, set their expectations and let them know yours.

Give each person a chunk of the work load and set expectations: "This is how I want it done," "This is when I want to see it," and "This is how I’ll follow-up with you while you’re working on it."

Following these steps, you make clear:

1. What the person should do.
2. How they should do it.
3. How you will interact with them while they do it (this piece is important and undervalued).

Delegation is something I’m constantly working on, helping my clients to be better at it and improving my own aptitude of it. It is from these experiences that I've considered these steps. Atop that, I have found that a key to delegation is to be the model.[bctt tweet="Be clear about how you'll support delegated tasks—this is important + undervalued. @marvin_mathew"]

Model the qualities and initiatives you want to see in your people:

Walk your talk. Your team will reflect the action and behavior you model. If you want people to get things done, show that you are getting things done. Set an example and a standard.

If you want promptness, be prompt.

If you want transparency, be transparent.

If you want unity, bring people together.

If you want happiness, smile at the gate.

You can’t ask people to do things they don’t see you doing.

Strong and meaningful results from delegation are brought about through respect, not authority. Use your influence as a great leader to move your team towards results.[bctt tweet="Meaningful #results are achieved through respect, not authority - @marvin_mathew #delegate"]

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Photo credit: monsterdestroyer via Flickr cc