As a business owner, are you exhausted at the end of the work day? Are you tired of doing everything yourself? Are your team members unable or unwilling to make decisions and come to you for even the smallest of issues? The truth is that most business owners are skilled at just about every task in their company, yet struggle with the one thing that can make the real difference...DELEGATION. It may seem practical to stay lean and mean and do everything yourself. However, sooner or later, you'll learn it's definitely not a formula for business growth or enjoying any kind of life outside of your business.

The reality is that most business owners own just a JOB, not a BUSINESS. They spend so much time working IN their business that they never get the chance to work ON their business. As such, the business will not grow and reach its full potential. The business owner is effectively caught in the "current" of the business and it's very difficult to get out. We define a business ".as a commercial, profitable enterprise that runs without you." When a business can run without the owner, its value increases exponentially.

So how does one learn the Art of Delegation? This is a daunting task, as many business owners are perfectionists and don't really trust their team to make the right decisions or don't want to "give up control." So the first step to learning effective delegation is to take a good look in the mirror and admit that you need to change!

The second thing you will need to do is a time study. Track everything you do in a given day. Next, record the time spent on each task, then rate your activities high, medium or low in terms of the 'skill' it takes to complete those tasks and the level of 'interest' you have to complete those tasks. An effective way of to do this is to create a simple grid with nine cells, Skill on one axis and Interest on the other (with high, medium and low headlining the three cells on each axis). Next, plot each task into the appropriate quadrant, based on the appropriate skill and interest level. Then note those tasks that are medium to low in both skill and interest level.

The third key is to systematize those tasks, starting with the low/low skill & interest tasks. Do this by writing down exactly what it takes to perform each task; then ask someone in your business to perform each task after reading the description. If your intervention is needed complete the task, then you have not described it in enough detail. Keep doing this with all the tasks you have identified. You are now on your way to developing a "systems manual" for your business.

The fourth key is to now assign these tasks to individuals within your company or outsource the tasks to service companies that can do these things for you (ie, bookkeeping, payroll, etc). Periodically, track results and be sure things are getting done properly. You are now the "reviewer" and not the "doer".

The final area is to review the decision making processes within your business. List all the decisions that are made in your business on a day to day basis. Determine what decisions can be made by other people and give them the criteria to make those decisions. An example would be offering discounts to customers. If the transaction is of a certain size, a sales person can offer up to 5%. However, anything more will require the sales manager, up to 10%. Anything over 10% will require the owner's approval.

By learning the Art of Delegation, you will soon find that you have more time on your hands to do what you, as a business owner, should be doing - working ON your business (marketing, strategy, team building, systems, financial analysis, etc.) and not IN it. Plus, you can use some of that extra time to get back some well-deserved personal and family life and resurrect some of those of those hobbies that have fallen by the wayside. Remember, systems run the business; people run the systems; and business owners manage the people.

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