Ep #129 Three reasons why small business owners struggle to delegate

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Most of us started our businesses not being masters at managing people or masters of delegation. We were really good at the one thing we wanted to start our businesses for…and then got into a position where we don’t know how to lead, manage, or have people support us effectively. 

As small business owners, we need to learn how to delegate effectively  because it is one of the most impactful activities that will help to remove you as the bottleneck inside your business.

If you’re the only one who can make decisions, you are the bottleneck, which is stunting the growth of your business.

In today’s episode I am going to share the three reasons why delegation feels so hard and how you can shift your perspective and master the art of delegation.

The first reason why delegating can feel like you’re taking three steps back for every two steps forward is because as small business owners who have been doing everything from sweeping the floors to updating our books and everything is between…

We think we can do it better ourselves. 

But because we are taking on so much of the day to day, our focus is scattered. We’re constantly shifting our attention from one area in the business to another in an attempt to keep everything running smoothly. 

And this means that we’re never focusing our attention fully on just one thing. Even when we are focused on one task or activity, we always have a long list of things that also require our attention in the back of our minds. 

The more hats we wear inside our business the more we dilute our focus. Which means that whatever we’re doing in the moment actually only gets a piece of us. Not all of us.

When we delegate to the right person we now have someone else who can take ownership of a few of those hats. The person you’re delegating to will have less to focus on. Which also means that they will be able to focus better on their specific role. Better focus will improve the quality of the work done. And the more you get off your plate the more space will open in your mind and your calendar so that you can focus on the areas of the business where you can make the highest contribution.

The second reason why delegation feels very hard is because we don’t value designing our business as much as we value doing.

Designing is the strategy, future thinking, vision of where the business is going. The more we do, the less we spend time designing.

We value doing. Putting in the work. Pulling up our sleeves and getting things done. When we aren’t doing, we think we aren’t valuable anymore. Doing is important. It is how we deliver to our clients and it does require our attention to do it well. But…doing is not YOUR most important task in your business. Designing is. Spending time planning and designing the future of your business is where you can make your highest contribution in growing your business.

The third reason why we struggle to delegate (or don’t delegate) is that we don’t know how to delegate so we fail to do it (we think it’s just about telling people what to do…and then they should go and do it! Simple…but you notice that you delegate and then things bounce back onto your table). It’s easier to do it myself. Feels hard…they’re not doing it properly. 

Inside my program The EffortLESS CEO I give you delegation tools, a system that you can plug into your business that will assist you to delegate effectively. To reduce the stress that comes with building your team. You will feel confident hiring and empowering your team because you will know HOW to do it in a way so that things don’t bounce back onto your plate. So that you can spend more of your time on the business, in that valuable design time rather than stuck in the day to day of doing all the things.

The next round the EffortLESS CEO is opening soon. Apply to join HERE.

You can watch the video of this episode HERE

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