Delegate Don’t Abdicate

 Over the past 18 plus years of coaching business owners, I found that most people don't understand the difference between delegating a task and abdicating a task.

According to the Webster dictionary, abdicate means to renounce a throne, high office, dignity, or function. That is to discard a responsibility.

Many times I hear business owners say, “If I want to have it done right, I have to do it myself” or “By the time I teach someone to do it, I could just do it myself”. These two beliefs are what cause business owners to get stuck and get trapped in their business.

True delegation is to assign responsibility or authority or to appoint one's representative.

This doesn’t mean to appoint someone to a task and then just forget about it. It means you are still responsible, but you are now appointing someone to act as your representative.

You need to define how you want them to act as “your representative” through the creation of systems and training. If you don’t, you will continue to be saying, “If I want to have it done right, I have to do it myself” or “By the time I teach someone to do it, I could just do it myself”.

The major cause of this reaction is that most business owners and entrepreneurs have the “Superman Syndrome”.

It means that whenever there is a problem, they can fly in to save the day. Subconsciously, this gives them a sense of importance. Stop it! You need to let go to get unstuck and grow.

The only way for you to rise to the top of your organization as a true leader, is you need to let go and let your team grow your business for you. You don’t grow your business, your team does.

One of the major reasons business owners don’t let go is that they have not yet defined what their role is as the business owner and leader.

Business owners need to define what their unique strength is. What is the one ability that they have that no one else in their organization has? This is where you need to begin to focus your time.

There’s an exercise that I give my clients to help them figure out where they should focus and what they need to let go of and delegate in their business. Focus > Delegate > Exercise.

Make a list of all the activities you do in your business Now put them into one of four columns.

• Things you don’t like to do and things that you’re are not good at.
• Things you don’t like to do but you are good at.
• Things you like to do and are good at.
• Things you LOVE to do and are GREAT at.

Here are 4 steps you can do right now to work smarter not harder.

• Now start doing column “a” immediately. Things you don’t like to do and things that you’re are not good at.
• Next, start doing column “b”. Things you don’t like to do but you are good at.
• This is where most people get stuck; things they are good at but don’t like doing.
• Column “A&B” is where you should start to develop systems and train people to do these tasks. This way, you can eventually delegate them as well
• Column “c” is where you should focus your time for now and then over time, begin to develop systems and to train people to do these tasks. This way you can eventually delegate them as well
• Column “d” - this is your sweet spot. This is ideally where you should be spending all your time.

Now you are working smarter not harder, you have gotten your business to work harder so you don't have to.

This can only happen when you stop abdicating and learn to start delegating properly.

If this business tip resonates with you and you want to learn how to apply it to your business, discover the Power of Coaching with a Free Strategy Session.

Book a free Strategy Session