{"id":10002,"date":"2018-12-10T11:08:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T18:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/?p=10002"},"modified":"2018-12-10T11:08:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T18:08:15","slug":"small-business-owners-should-delegate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/general-business-advice\/small-business-owners-should-delegate\/","title":{"rendered":"Delegation Equals Liberation for Small Business Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Product shipment preparation is one task that could be delegated. Article by Sandy Nelson.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sooner or later, an entrepreneur has to know his limits and acknowledge that some tasks can and should be done by others to allow him to focus on the bigger picture. That requires delegation \u2014 trusting others, whether subordinates, partners or independent contractors, to complete an assignment as directed.<\/p>\n

As obvious as that sounds, an entrepreneur can have a hard time trusting others with his \u201cbaby,\u201d ultimately defeating many business objectives and stunting the company\u2019s natural growth.<\/p>\n

Many businesses in New Mexico start small, with the owner doing all the work that\u2019s required to get off the ground. Success only increases the workload, and the owner who doesn\u2019t delegate eventually will find her attention pulled away from mission-critical decisions into fussing with day-to-day minutia \u2014 answering phones or emails from clients or vendors, filing, blogging \u2014 or running in place trying to accomplish tasks outside her expertise.<\/p>\n

For example, keeping track of revenue and costs is essential to knowing how a business is doing, but the owner doesn\u2019t need to do the bookkeeping and tax preparation.<\/p>\n

For the business owner, delegation involves letting go of some aspects of her creation and trusting others to do the job competently. It\u2019s not the same as \u201cdumping\u201d a project and forgetting about it. Successful delegation involves communicating expectations and monitoring results, intervening only when necessary for course correction.<\/p>\n

What to delegate<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some jobs should be delegated, but others require direct involvement of the business owner. To decide which duties are appropriate for delegation and which belong on his to-do list, the owner should identify every task that\u2019s involved in operating the business, from sweeping floors to pursuing equity investors. His goal should be to reserve for himself the strategic activities that affect the company\u2019s long-term direction and growth.<\/p>\n

For example, entering contracts, acquiring competitors and developing a new product are higher-level challenges that demand an owner\u2019s attention, but restocking empty shelves is a routine task that any employee can do with proper training and direction.<\/p>\n

Once he\u2019s decided what\u2019s appropriate to delegate, the business owner should identify how each task should be done and communicate clear directions and expectations to those who will complete the task. Some tasks \u2014 such as accounting or wiring a home for electricity \u2014 require strict procedures for safety or legal reasons, but other tasks allow for creativity and can be accomplished just as effectively using a variety of approaches.<\/p>\n

Knowing when the process is critical and when it isn\u2019t separates managers from micromanagers when it comes to delegation. Mistakes will be made and instructions will be misunderstood, but the business owner should see poor outcomes as an opportunity to improve his delegation skills \u2014 not as an excuse to fall back on controlling behaviors.<\/p>\n

With time and practice, the business owner will become more comfortable with the art of delegation, and his team will respond positively and productively to the higher level of trust.<\/p>\n

Finance New Mexico article 584 by Sandy Nelson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sooner or later, an entrepreneur has to know his limits and acknowledge that some tasks can and should be done by others to allow him to focus on the bigger picture. That requires delegation \u2014 trusting others, whether subordinates, partners … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[53,375,19,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10004,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10002\/revisions\/10004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}