Combat exhaustion with the 'D' word

As a business owner, are you exhausted at the end of the workday? Are your team members unwilling to make decisions and do they keep coming to you for even the smallest problem?

Most business owners who become skilled at just about every task in their company struggle with a key concept that can make a big difference: Delegation.

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It may seem practical to stay lean and mean and do everything yourself. However, a business owner needs to realize this is not a formula for growth; even worse, it is not a formula for enjoying life outside of the business.

Evidence has shown that very few people make a fortune running the business, but a large percentage make their fortune by selling the business.

If the business owner is the business, it rarely will have the value that the business owner thinks it has; however, when a business can run without the business owner being there, through the process of delegation, the value of the business is increased exponentially.

So how does a business owner go about delegating? First, recognize that most owners tend to be perfectionists, they don't really trust their people to make the right decisions and they are unwilling to give up control.

The business owner needs to look in the mirror and admit the need to change.

The second action is to do a time study of their daily activities in half-hour intervals. The business owner should spend at least two weeks tracking work-related activities ? including evenings and weekends. The next step is to rate each activity as high, medium or low in terms of the skills it takes to complete those tasks and also high, medium or low in terms of the owner's personal interest to complete those tasks.

All of the activities plotted in the lower left-hand section should be examined. These are the tasks that take medium to low skills and have medium to low interest from the owner's perspective.

The third action is to systematize those tasks that fall in the lower left-hand section. This involves defining exactly what it takes to perform each task. Then an employee in the business should be asked to perform each task after reading the functional description. If it takes intervention from the owner to explain how to perform that task, the function has not been described in enough detail. The task should be able to be completed without the owner having to explain it.

This action should then be completed for every task that has been identified in the lower left section of the grid. This is the process of developing a "systems manual" for the business.

The fourth action is to assign these tasks to people within the company. Or outsource the tasks to service companies that can do them at a lower cost, and more efficiently, than having specific on-staff employees. (For example, bookkeeping, payroll and related benefits services.) Periodic follow-up tracking should be done to make sure tasks are being completed. The business owner is now the "reviewer" and not the "doer."

The next action is to look at the decision-making processes within the business. All the decisions need to be examined. Determine what decisions can be made by staff other than the owner and give these staff the criteria to make the decisions. This is called delegation of authority.

An example would be how to offer discounts to customers. If the deal is of a certain size, a sales person can offer up to a 5 percent discount. However, any deal above the base size will require approval by the sales manager, who can give a discount up to 10 percent. More than a 10 percent discount will require the owner's approval.

This written process establishes the set of criteria, and the staff simply need to follow these criteria to run the business effectively through delegation of authority by the owner.

The owner will quickly find that he or she has more time for other things. What to do now? Go market the business and prospect for new clients! Meet with and spend more time with existing clients. Find out what clients need and want regarding improved customer service. Make further changes to increase transactions per client and average dollar revenue per transaction. The owner is now working more on the business rather than in it and may have more time to play some golf and "smell the flowers."