Previously on … The Delegation Deception
- Delegation hasn't freed up most multi-6 and 7-figure business owners (it's not just you!)
- Neither "4-Hour Workweek" nor "Big Corporate" approaches work for microbusinesses
- There's a reason why delegation often leaves you with more work, not less
To demonstrate why delegating always creates bottlenecks, let’s start with a quick story…
Meet Amy.
Amy runs a thriving online marketing agency. Over the past year, her revenue has doubled.
Her clients adore her, she gets amazing results, and she's got a constant stream of referrals filling up her inbox.
If only she wasn't so busy.
Right now, Amy turns down more than 80% of the prospects that come to her… and she’s still working 60+ hours a week, just to keep up.
One of Amy’s best clients has a big launch coming up, and she’s running a bit behind. So, nervously, she decides to delegate more of the work.
It takes a few hours to get everything out of her head, but “it’ll be worth it,” she tells herself. If her designer can follow these instructions, it’ll free up at least 10 hours.
A few days pass. With the design work off her plate, Amy’s able to get caught up on a few other projects. “Maybe,” she thinks, “I’ll even be able to get to bed before midnight.”
Then, she gets an email from the client…
“This is unacceptable,” the email reads. “Half the files are missing, the other half are filled with errors. This isn’t what we’ve come to expect from you. Please fix immediately.”
Quickly, Amy switches over to check the project files.
Her jaw drops.
How could her instructions have been so misunderstood? She specifically said not to… *sigh* never mind. It just needs to be fixed.
Amy fires off a message to the designer. Tells them what to change. “But this time,” she says, “let me review it before you send it to the client!”
An hour later, no response. Two hours later, no response. Amy’s sweating bullets. “Maybe I should have just fixed it myself” – but it’s too late for that, now.
Finally, the next day she gets a message. “Okay, ready!” is all it says.
Nervously, Amy goes to check in the project files. First one: pretty good. She breathes a sigh of relief. Second one: not great, but it’ll do in a pinch.
Third one … that’s when disaster strikes. It’s a mess. She rapidly clicks through the rest of the files, her stomach sinking further and further as she does. There’s hours of rework needed.
Guess she won’t be going to bed early tonight, after all…
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
This is how delegation works. Or rather, how it doesn’t work.
I’ll tell you the rest of Amy’s story in a bit, but first, let’s talk about why this happens. For that, we need to take a closer look at the word “delegate”…
delegate verb
del·e·gate | \ ˈde-li-ˌgāt \
- to entrust to another person, typically one who is less senior than oneself.
Now, I’m not sure how much you remember of your grade school grammar lessons 😉…
But the fact that word “delegate” is a verb means that it’s an action. It’s something you do:
- You figure out what needs to be done, how to do it, when to do it…
- Then assign it to someone else, who completes it.
- Then you figure out the next thing that needs to be done, how to do it, when to do it ...
- And assign that out, too.
- Then you figure out the next thing after that ...
- And, well, you get the idea...
This is the first reason that delegation inevitably creates bottlenecks:
If no one does the work of delegating, no work happens.
But that's just the beginning.
Let’s look at what happens after you delegate.
The work gets done, and then what?
It boomerangs right back onto your plate… for review, for approval, and to be passed along to the next person on the list.
Assuming, that is, that the work actually is good enough to pass along.
And if it’s not?
Well, one of two things happens. Either…
- You end up jumping in to fix it yourself,
~ OR ~ - You specify what needs fixing and how to fix it, then send it back for revision, review it when it comes back and … well, the cycle repeats
In either case, you literally have to spend more time and energy on the details of something you already spent time and energy delegating.
This is the second reason that delegation creates bottlenecks:
When the delegated work is done, new tasks arise.
But SOPs don't solve everything.
For one, SOPs don’t address the first problem of delegation:
If no one does the work of delegating, no work happens.
But even more than that …
Let’s say you force yourself to spend countless hours writing endless pages of mind-numbing documentation.
As long as things go exactly as intended, and nothing ever shifts or changes (in your business – in your clients – in your team – in your tech – or in the world), this will be fine.
But what happens when an exception arises?
Or when the process needs to shift?
Or when the systems that used to work start bursting at the seams?
Every emergency, every unexpected situation, every edge case and exception … even when you’ve delegated, built SOPs and done all the “right things”…
All those fires always come back to you to put them out.
In other words, even the “best” delegation—with all the systems, processes and SOPs already defined—doesn’t take the decisions off your plate.
Delegation doesn't take decisions off your plate.
| When This Happens ... | You Need To Decide ... |
|---|---|
|
A deliverable is completed |
If it's good enough to approve |
|
An SOP breaks |
Whether to fix it (and how) or make an exception |
|
A new training needs to be created |
What to include and what to leave out |
|
A contractor fails to deliver |
Whether to fire them or give them another chance |
|
A client has a legitimate complaint |
How to resolve it, and make sure it doesn't happen again |
|
A marketing campaign fails |
What to try differently next time |
This is why you can't take a real vacation.
It's why you always end up being “on call” in your business, and why – after the air has cleared – you’re always the one left to pick up the pieces...
1
If no one does the work of delegating, no work happens
2
When the delegated work is done, new tasks arise
3
Delegation doesn’t take decisions off your plate
And so if you want to be freed up and have more time to do other things beyond constantly managing your team, tasks and priorities…
- Your team needs to be able to decide what needs to get done, without waiting for the work be assigned
- Your team needs to be decide if the work is done properly, and
- Your team needs to start making these decisions without your constant guidance, direction and input.
Now, if this sounds mildly terrifying and like a disaster waiting to happen, you’re not alone…
The good news is that not all decisions are created equal.
No one is saying that you need to let every team member make every type of decision.
In fact, there are four different types of decisions, each of which maps to a different type of role on your team.
Once you know how to divvy up decisions according to roles, it becomes much easier to let your team members start taking over more of the decisions.
So let’s look at how to do that, next.
