Want Your Startup To Grow? Delegate
Most people like to think of themselves as doers, which oftentimes translates into a do-it-yourself mentality. As self-defined hustlers, entrepreneurs know they can count on themselves to complete tasks efficiently and effectively. Why ask your peers or colleagues to carry out an action item when you know you can count on yourself to complete it, right? Wrong.
Resistance to delegate has a cost. According to a study by Thomas N. Hubbard, Elinor and H. Wendell Hobbs Professor of Management and Professor of Strategy at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, when median partners delegated legal work to associates they were able to earn more than 20% more, and top lawyers earned at least 50% more. While we’re all probably using Drake’s lyric, “Workin’ hard girl, everything paid for,” for our recent IG captions, who really wants to work overtime?
Check out these three areas entrepreneurs need to focus on in order to delegate in a structured, beneficial way, from Emily Morgan, founder, and CEO of Delegate Solutions:
- Start small, build confidence: Large goals can be intimidating, which makes it no wonder why handing them over to others to accomplish can seem daunting, if not impossible. However, if we think about them in smaller sections or categories it becomes easier to delegate and/or automate.
- Get comfortable with 80%: Initiation can be a huge barrier to getting something off the ground. We make excuses for ourselves and others that keep us from accomplishing what we are hoping to. Allowing another member on the team the opportunity to get it going with a basic framework for expectations can bring the process to life and result in you getting the project over the finish line by only handling the remaining 20%.
- Commit to “boring stuff”: Everything isn’t always going to be exciting and undoubtedly makes up a large amount of your work. The “boring stuff” is what allows for a high-quality deliverable and outcome. Busy work isn’t necessarily interesting but with a clear vision can create a solution and happy medium to scaling your business.
Delegation can be difficult but committing to lightening your workload will free up your time to grow a sustainable business. Leah Busque, Founder of TaskRabbit puts it best when she writes, “Entrepreneurs have a natural inclination to go at it alone. While this do-it-yourself spirit can help you move forward, adding an element of collaboration into the mix can make you unstoppable.”
The moral of the story is, a little collaboration, and entrusting others to carry out your daily tasks, can go a long way. Choose to be unstoppable.
