Successful Blog

The Importance of Delegation in Business

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By Kayla Matthews

 

Delegation happens when you give at least one task to other people to handle. Many business professionals are reluctant to delegate because they want to remain in total control of their responsibilities. It’s natural to feel that way at first, but once you learn about the importance of delegation and the benefits it can bring to yourself and others, you should be more likely to engage in it.

1. Delegate in Ways That Maximize Your Value

When thinking about things you could do that could help you earn more, the things that come to mind are likely self-development or making sure your superiors know you’d be an excellent candidate for an upcoming promotion. Those things could help, but a 2016 HBR study that quantified the returns of delegation found that earnings capabilities go up when people delegate.

The research examined the payoffs from delegation occuring at law offices with partners and associates. It showed that, on average, a partner could earn 20 percent more by delegating, and top lawyers increased their earnings by as much as 50 percent through delegation.

Delegating enabled lawyers to spend more time with clients and handle complex tasks instead of routine ones. Then, the clients were willing to pay higher rates for the services.

You could apply this tip to whatever you do by thinking about which tasks you handle are most valuable to the company and the people you serve. Then, ponder which responsibilities prevent you from doing those things. By taking this approach, you should be able to see which duties are best left up to you, and how you could free up your time and excel by delegating.

Bill Gates is a well-known person who knows how to delegate. He did so by tasking his staff with going through his emails and determining which ones were most important. Gates recognized that reading emails wasn’t a valuable way to use his time, and you could do something similar.

2. Always Give Feedback

Distributing responsibilities to others can be a way to empower your employees. Delegation is an art, and you can do it better by offering both positive and negative feedback. Delegation itself can be a morale booster because it shows people that you trust them. Plus, positive feedback lets individuals know they’re doing well.

Negative feedback is just as essential, as long as it’s constructive criticism. Instead of merely telling a person what they’re doing wrong, be specific about how they could do better. Then, the worker can take action with your feedback, growing as a person and helping the company via improved performance.

Also, don’t wait to provide feedback until the person does something outstanding or makes a huge error. Continually providing feedback removes doubt that people will likely feel if they fear not living up to your expectations.

3. Take Time for Person-Task Matching

Delegation doesn’t mean assigning any task you’d rather not do to the closest person within earshot. You’ll be able to recognize the importance of delegation by carefully choosing tasks to delegate that align with the skills or goals of those who ultimately perform them. It’s also crucial to be aware of things like a person’s workload, how they handle pressure and if they work well on teams.

When people do handle responsibilities that fit them well, they’ll feel motivated and well-equipped. On the other hand, being asked to do an ill-suited task could make the person feel like you’re dumping things on them. Be aware of how certain tasks may cause a person to realize their potential and step outside of their comfort zone, too.

4. Provide Employees With the Resources They Need to Succeed

Handing a duty over to someone else requires you to give them all the authority and other resources necessary for doing the job to the best of their ability. As such, you may need to let relevant workers in other departments know that someone other than you is handling a particular responsibility.

Delegating correctly by providing resources as well as responsibility could make your company more productive overall. That’s because people spend less time waiting for you to make decisions and devote larger portions of their workdays to tackling the tasks you’ve given.

5. Give Guidelines and Ask for Input

Demonstrating effective delegation skills means setting a framework. People who delegate should be clear about what they want and need, as well as any associated timeframes. Also, if there are things a person taking care of a task absolutely must or must not do, those things should be spelled out at the start.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to ask the person receiving the task if they have ideas to improve what you outlined to them about the responsibility. The information they chime in with could make you realize that process improvements exist that could make the job less expensive or time-consuming. Seeking feedback also reminds the person that you care about what they think.

Delegation Can Provide Mutual Benefits

Psychological barriers often cause people to resist delegation and not recognize its importance. For example, you may assume you can do a task faster and better than anyone else without being open to letting someone else do it. But the information above highlights why delegation could help you and your employees alike — and in turn the whole company.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

 

Featured image credit: Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

How to Deal With Four Pressure Points Most Entrepreneurs Face

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By Kayla Matthews

Amidst the growth of successful startups and the fame of their owners, many young people are finding entrepreneurship an increasingly attractive option. While it’s certainly possible to build an impressive business from scratch, it’s not as easy as it may seem.

Entrepreneurs face many challenges that affect not just themselves but also the overall success of their companies. Learning to manage these challenges is a crucial part of being an entrepreneur. However, if you’re not prepared for them, they can feel overwhelming.

To increase the likelihood of your business’ success, you need to be familiar with the common problems entrepreneurs and their businesses face so you can plan to handle them ahead of time. With that in mind, here are four pressure points entrepreneurs commonly encounter and a few strategies to tackle them.

1. A Lack of Funding

Starting a successful business requires a substantial financial investment. Most entrepreneurs don’t have access to the kind of capital they need to fund their businesses on their own. Even so, 80 percent of entrepreneurs use their personal funds to start their companies.

Though it’s good to invest your own money into your business if you can afford to do so, other financing options are available. To protect yourself from potentially life-shaking financial losses, you need to plan ahead and make the most of potential sources of funding. Loans, crowdfunding and money from investors can all help you launch your business without putting your family’s security at risk.

In addition to seeking out sources of supplemental funding, entrepreneurs worried about financial security should set aside money in personal savings in case the business’ budget tightens down the line.

2. Chronic Stress and Overworking

Because they tackle so much every day, entrepreneurs are at risk for chronic stress and other mental health issues. Not only is this a concern for the health and happiness of entrepreneurs, but it can also negatively affect their businesses. An overly demanding, negative or competitive attitude can permeate a company and bring down other employees, as well.

If you’re one of your business’ only employees, you’ll be tackling a huge portion of all tasks. If your entire financial and professional well-being relies on the success of your company — that’s a lot of pressure. Entrepreneurs in these high-stress roles should use some relaxation hacks to avoid burnout.

To prevent additional stress, pay attention to how much you work. Limit your work week to a reasonable number of hours and entirely separate your work and home lives. If you can, delegate tasks to another employee so you can spend your time as effectively as possible.

3. Irresponsible Scaling

Startups can grow fast, which is exciting. However, fast growth requires an entrepreneur to be extra conscientious, as irresponsible decisions made during the scaling process can sink a business equally fast.

Most businesses should grow steadily not swiftly. Though your startup may need to increase its size quickly, decisions made about hiring, firing and spending should all be made thoughtfully.

As you grow your business, think about the company culture you want to foster. Hire highly qualified candidates you want to stick around and fire employees who are causing difficulty as soon as you notice a problem. Spend frugally — even when it seems you don’t need to — to assure your company’s ability to continue growing a year or more into the future, when things might not be going as well.

4. Poor Ethical Choices

Another often overlooked problem faced by entrepreneurs is the temptation to skew from ethical practices and founding missions. Because startups and small businesses are personal affairs grown from scratch, entrepreneurs sometimes struggle to draw the line between what is ethical and what is not.

Nepotism, failure to accurately report income and co-mingling of business and personal finances are all common ethical conundrums entrepreneurs face. Though one misstep here and there may seem insignificant, they can come back to haunt the company in the long run.

To avoid ethical problems in your company, it is best to establish procedures and codes of conduct at the very beginning. You should always consult with an accountant or lawyer to ensure all of your business’ finances are being properly handled.

Running a business is difficult, especially if you’re doing it on your own. Luckily, by preparing for these common challenges, you can start your business on the path to success.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash

Traits of a Great Founder – Being Your Own Brand Evangelist

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By Tim Brown

One of the most important traits of a great founder is learning how to be a brand evangelist. Not only is this vital when you are growing a new business and trying to attract customers, but it’s also crucial once you start looking for funding or liquidity events with investors.

At all points throughout your business journey, you will need to ignore the naysayers and continue to trump the benefits of your company which is why you must be an evangelist. If not, you will struggle to attract new customers, the talent for your workforce or investors to fund your dreams.

What is a Brand Evangelist?

An evangelist is somebody who believes in everything that your company stands for and who is willing to dedicate their time to helping your mission without any personal gain. Therefore, by being your brand evangelist, you should be vividly telling everybody possible about your business and trying to further your progress.

How to Be a Brand Evangelist

The first step in being a brand evangelist is dedicating yourself to sales and marketing. You don’t have to be engaging in minuscule campaigns actively, but you should be focussing your time on figuring out how to further your reach through sales and marketing.

Most of the great founders of our time have been extremely involved in marketing, and that’s what’s allowed them to succeed. In many cases, the sole reason why customers choose to buy from the brand was that they believed in the evangelist and their mission.

Creating Something Truly Brilliant

However, if you’re going to learn how to be a brand evangelist, then you must entirely buy into your own business and your mission. But to do this, you must create something that is truly brilliant because it’s impossible to buy into something entirely if it’s low quality.

After all, there’s only so much you can do to convince people to follow you if you’re leading them in a terrible direction. Instead, part of being a brand evangelist is being exceedingly obsessed with the quality of your products and services, so that you create something beautiful so that it’s easy to be an evangelist.

Telling a Great Story

Thirdly, you must learn how to tell a great story, the same way that the mystical Steve Jobs did. Perhaps his best skill was his ability to tell a compelling story that made people attached to Apple, making them want to join in with his mission which was far greater than just his company.

As a business founder, you will have to convince everybody that you meet to join your mission and the only way that you can achieve this is by learning to story tell.

In most cases, the best way for a small business to tell a story is by identifying a mission that is far greater than just the reach of a company. Steve Jobs did this with Apple; he would often talk about bringing fantastic design and software to the world, he wasn’t only interested in growing his sales revenue.

Then, you must learn the basics of public speaking so that you can craft your story and tell it in an efficient and compelling way that keeps people enthralled and amplifies its effect. Most likely your business idea isn’t that exciting to most people, but that’s only because of the way that you are telling it and the direction in which it is spun.

Building Your Audience

Unless you are already famous, then it’s vital that you build up your audience so that once you know how to be a brand evangelist it has an impact on others. You could tell everybody around you about your company, but if that’s only ten people, the effect will be tiny.

In this day and age, there is no excuse to have a reach less than a thousand people. Networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram make it easy to build a following, people who will listen to you and who in-turn could become brand evangelists of their own.

Why Must a Great Founder Be an Evangelist?

It’s easy to hire salespeople, and it’s often not difficult to find competent CMO either, so, why is it vital that a great founder must be an evangelist? Primarily, all organizations take the lead from the person at the top and if you as a founder aren’t energetically and passionately telling every person about your company, nobody else will, and you won’t attract the right customers, employees or investors.

Being an evangelist is critical in the early stage of your company when you have little to no capital and must convince people to take the risk of joining your rocket ship. This statement includes customers who will often have a more established alternative and who are taking a chance by purchasing from you instead.

Every step in the right direction will be difficult, you will have to force people to do everything, and unless you are an inspiring evangelist, this will never change. If you look at Steve Jobs, the greatest brand evangelist of all time, people chose to move across the world to work for him, they paid more for his products and investors fell over themselves to join in.

Why? He told a compelling story about an incredible story to his growing audience that got them excited about his mission and the vision that they could be a part of.

About the Author: Tim Brown is the owner of Hook Agency- Web Design Minneapolis, and is a web designer and SEO Specialist out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tweet him at @hookagency

Featured image: Photo by Marcos Luiz Photograph on Unsplash

8 Key Traits of Fantastic Project Managers

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project-management-2061635_640The key to successful project portfolio management revolves around dynamic project managers.

The pivotal role of the project manager is to plan and execute a project from start to finish, overseeing (and motivating!) a team of people in the meantime to set all the pieces in motion at the right time.

Successful project managers are a rare breed.

If you’re curious about making a career move to project management or you are trying to pick out the best match from a slew of candidates, these 8 key traits set the good project managers apart from the lousy:

  1. The Ability to Delegate. Good project managers know that their role is to manage, not do, the project. The project manager should have a high-level overview of the project and the tasks that need to be accomplished in order to achieve the end goal. Then, he or she should delegate those tasks to the best employee for the job.
  2. Motivational and Coaching Skills. A poor project manager might get frustrated after delegating tasks and seeing that the work has been done substandard. Such a project manager might say, “Never mind, I’ll just do it myself!” But in the long run, this strategy will backfire over and over again. The same problem will crop up until the project manager coaches the employee(s) in how to do the work to meet expectations. Good project managers recognize weak areas and bolster their employees to help them grow, not tear them down for their honest mistakes.
  3. Enthusiasm for the Project. Enthusiasm is contagious, and a positive attitude has to start with the project manager. If the manager is bored with the project, the employees will be too. If, on the other hand, the manager exudes optimism and fully supports the work of his or her team, then employee satisfaction is more likely to be high.
  4. Excellent Communication Skills. There’s no room for a wishy-washy or vague project manager in businesses that value efficiency. Managers need to communicate well not only with the employees they manage, but also the higher-ups. Frequent and very specific communication is key. Action items should have clear due-dates and assignees, for example, and negative feedback should be delivered with tact but never avoided altogether.
  5. A Knack for Organization. This is where a project portfolio management tool can make all the difference. When there are multiple ideas and projects that require attention, project managers need to know what’s happening at all times. Even the most focused and organized individual can lose track of important information. Successful project portfolio management hinges on a dynamic organizational system and an ability to use such a tool to its maximum potential.
  6. The Ability to Stay Level-Headed. When conflicts or problems inevitably arise, it falls to the project manager to work out a solution. Knee-jerk reactions have no place in the meeting room. A level-headed response to challenges helps keep projects moving ahead while also maintaining employee morale.
  7. Persistence and Perseverance. As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” A project manager should be the last person to back down to a challenge. When emails are ignored, the manager should pick up the phone or arrange to speak in person. When product testing feedback is negative, a solution-oriented mindset is necessary to revitalize the project. In short, a good project manager naturally has a “never say die” attitude.
  8. The Ability to Creatively Problem Solve. A persistent and persevering person is also a problem solver. When a bump occurs in the project’s original road map, the project manager smoothes it out. It does not matter if this problem relates to funding, human resources or any other aspect of the project; the manager’s mission is to see the project to completion (and to uphold the highest standards possible).

Being surprisingly hard to come by, successful project managers are worth their weight in gold.

They have a track record of high-quality projects on their roster and are respected by the people who work with them—both above and below them on the corporate ladder.

If you’re looking to promote a current employee to the position of project manager, their leadership skills may have already bubbled up to the surface; if not, look for these 8 traits to pick a great candidate.

Photo credit: Pixabay

How to Get Back on Track When Your Coaching Habit Slips

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By Michael Bungay Stanier

A company’s success lies in its employees, so it’s no surprise that good leaders are always looking for ways to help their employees learn and develop at work. The best practices have changed over the years, but arguably one of the best things you can do for your employees (and for yourself, in the end) is coach them.

We all need to coach for performance when issues arise, but I’m talking about coaching for development — the kind of coaching that benefits everyone involved, as it helps employees learn, it encourages managers to step back and it allows us all to do that great work we set out to do.

The best way to do this is to create a new habit and start coaching on a daily basis.

The Key to Coaching

You’ve probably already attempted to coach your employees in one way or another, but did you know that the key to coaching is asking questions? In my book The Coaching Habit, I explore how asking more questions is what really helps drive employees.

It’s simple, really: Stay quiet a little longer, offer less advice and ask more questions.

Perhaps you’ve already noticed this approach works and you’re trying to implement it as a new coaching habit. Good for you! You’re looking for ways to better your work environment and encourage those around you, while also eliminating your tendency to jump in and take over.

At some point, you will stumble. You might accidentally take over a project with the good intention of helping. Or offer advice before asking an employee for their thoughts. Or start fixing an issue that isn’t the actual challenge that needs to be addressed. It’s okay, you’re human. And hey, you’re likely just trying to help.

When that happens, all you’ll need is to have a plan for how to get back on track.

Make Your Habit a Resilient System

The secret to building a resilient system is to build in a fail-safe so that when something breaks, it’s easy to recover from it. You can do just that with your coaching habit: build in your own fail-safe. That’s the first step to creating a habit that’s hard to break.

Chances are, if you’re trying something new, you’ll encounter some resistance. If your employees usually come to you for advice and you start asking questions instead of offering answers, it might take them some time to adapt to your new coaching style. It might take you time to adapt also — asking questions instead of offering advice when we’re used to the latter can be difficult!

Make a Plan

To make your habit a resilient system, create a plan to get started, one which includes a way to circle back when the road gets bumpy. Here are some ideas for getting going:

Try out your new habit on someone who you think would make a good guinea pig, or on someone with whom you’ve run out of ideas, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Start small. You don’t need to change everything all at once. Maybe you begin by asking a few questions here and there and then gradually incorporate more as you gain confidence in your system.

Get someone else involved. Tell a colleague what you’re trying to accomplish and ask them to do it too. You can encourage each other and hold one another accountable, and even practice together.

Deal with Setbacks

These strategies are all part of a great plan, but even together they won’t always do the trick.

You might feel awkward when you first try to implement a new habit at work; the resistance you encounter might make you feel incompetent or you might revert back to old habits without meaning to. These types of setbacks are bound to happen; you just need to know how to deal with them.

When you feel like surrendering, remember why you committed to making a change in the first place. This will remind you of the payoff and encourage you to not give up. Concentrate on what you’re really committed to doing, and then decide what you can let go of in order to refocus your energy.

Learn to adapt. Maybe you’ve fallen off track because you’re having a hard time rolling with the punches. You’re asking the questions, but they aren’t being well received. You’re talking less, but your employees aren’t jumping in more. That’s okay — everyone operates differently and there are many ways to approach people. Be ready to adapt and work with your team’s differences. Ask yourself what is working and what isn’t, and figure out what you should stop doing and what you can do more of. Build in time to reflect as part of your plan for getting back on track.

Connect with people. If you’re not immediately successful in creating your new habit, check in with those you’ve been trying it on. Check in with your accountability buddy and ask for feedback.

You’ve made the choice to build a new coaching habit. Be bold, don’t be afraid to keep trying — and don’t add more to your plate. Focus on what’s essential and keep practicing. Get back on the horse and keep on with your original plan.

The same goes for any habit you’re trying to build — this doesn’t apply just to my suggested coaching habit.

Regardless of the behavior you’re trying to change, remember that people make mistakes and that you just need to persevere. Eventually, if you’re committed, the new habit will stick and you’ll worry less about it and focus more on how that habit is positively affecting your workplace.

 

 

About the Author:

Author of The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier is Senior Partner of Box of Crayons, a company that helps organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work. It is best known for its coaching programs, which give busy managers practical tools to coach in 10 minutes or less.

Download free chapters of Michael’s latest book, The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, here.

What is the difference between a boss and a leader?

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By Keith Tully

Richard Branson has a well-earned reputation for putting his employees first, and is seen by many as the archetypal leader rather than simply ‘the boss.’ This distinction between a leader and a boss is an important one, as lack of effective leadership impacts strongly on team morale, productivity, and overall profitability.

A strong and effective leader motivates their team, encourages high performance, and creates a happy working environment, so what does a boss do in comparison? Often
viewing themselves as a figurehead and no more, they tend to remain on the fringes of the team, causing bad feeling and a sense of disillusionment.

So how might a leader’s outlook and style contrast with that of a boss on a practical level?

Being part of the team, not just overseeing it

A leader will play an integral part in the team, understanding how different characters interact, and playing to their strengths. They’re involved in the minutiae of a working day, helping out on a practical basis when necessary in order to get the job done.

In contrast, a boss will ‘lead’ from the outside, being reluctant to get to know or understand what makes their team tick. This generally results in poor performance from individuals who feel misunderstood and unappreciated, but even when results are good, they are often achieved at the expense of team morale.

Motivation and encouragement, not driving results through fear

A culture of fear and unhappiness can lead to high staff turnover, a lack of cohesion, and no continuity within the team. This general sense of malcontent easily passes to customers and other departments, and can affect ‘brand appeal.’

True leaders motivate their team within a supportive and good-humoured environment, using their ‘soft skills’ to get the best out of people.

Leading by example

Rather than criticising members of staff for being late on occasion, a leader will set a good example by arriving before anyone else (and probably being the last to leave). This sets the expectation for everyone else, and motivates those with poor time management skills to improve.

An inclusive approach that doesn’t ostracise those who occasionally fail to meet the company’s expectations will be more effective than punitive action, and a totally negative message.

A leader doesn’t apportion blame – they help people learn from mistakes

If you make a mistake at work, are you fearful of the consequences or motivated to get it right next time? Learning from our mistakes is a key part of life, and when a boss becomes angry they’re failing to nurture and develop their staff for the future.

Part of being a good leader is accepting that none of us is perfect, and we are bound to make mistakes at some point. How it’s dealt with can have a lasting effect on those involved, and if it’s a positive message, instill greater self-confidence.

They take responsibility for the team when things aren’t going well

A true leader will take full responsibility for the team’s performance when it is sub-standard, and no credit when the results are good.

It’s this humility and generosity of spirit that distinguishes a leader from the boss who would distance themselves from the team in times of trouble.

Leaders appreciate individuality, inspire enthusiasm and instill confidence

Everyone brings something unique to a team, and knowing how to develop each person helps the company to succeed. Getting the best out of everyone as individuals, at the same time as creating unity, demands strong leadership qualities but also emotional intelligence and understanding.

It’s draining to work in a hostile environment where conflict with your boss is the norm. Rather than simply not caring whether their employees are motivated, a true leader will ensure their staff are happy and fulfilled, providing the right training and development opportunities that encourage engagement and loyalty to the company.

 

Author Bio: Keith Tully from Real Business Rescue is leading corporate insolvency specialist. He knows what it takes to keep struggling businesses afloat and what qualities are required of company directors.

Featured image via Flickr CC: David Sanabria