The Power of Delegation

Like most business owners when I started my business I did it because I was passionate and good at what I did. I thought “I should work for myself”.  I really liked working with teams on performance development and culture. I am very compliance focused – I like to make sure things are done properly. I liked all of the HR functions from document development, performance and productivity. I enjoyed working with risk management matrix to identify hazards and risk controls. I loved developing continuous improvement systems and conducting audits. I got a real kick out of those things and thought, just maybe I could help other family businesses with the challenges that I had experienced when I was the GM of our family transport business. Continue reading to learn more about the power of delegation in business.

Like most business owners I became frustrated with those tasks that all businesses operators have to, do but don’t like doing. For me it was things like, invoicing, BAS, Bank Reconciliations. As time progressed the list got longer and included payroll, social media, marketing, advertising, sales, networking.

There were lots of reasons for not liking these tasks. Most importantly, they suck! Really though, I could do the task, but it took me so long to do them because they are not my core skill. They took so much time either at night, or on week ends, when I should have been spending time with my family. I came to really resent those tasks. I then avoided them, making the problem worse because the task got bigger.  Ultimately, doing those tasks took the shine off the whole business. It became a job that I no longer enjoyed.

Thankfully I talked to a really good business coach. They reminded me that I had fallen into the E-Myth trap. If you haven’t heard about the E-Myth by Michael Gerber, get a hold of the book and have a read. The E-Myth (or Entrepreneurial Myth) is that I am great at my job, a great technician, therefore I will be great at running a business. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. So many businesses fail because the business owner is not a good business manager. Business owners fall into the trap believing that this is my business, so I have to do it all. I need to manage my business and all the tasks within it. The reality is that you can’t do it all, and you don’t need to either.

At Bramwell Partners we decided to practice what we preach and took a step back and conducted our own workforce planning review. We reviewed every task that was done or, needed to be done. Who was doing that task? We conducted a time cost analysis. How much time was it taking for that task to be done by that person? Time is Money! How much was it really costing for that task to be done?

At the end of the review we were able to identify those tasks that could potentially be delegated either by outsourcing or recruiting. We then employed someone to do the things we wanted to retain in house and, engaged a provider to do the tasks that could be outsourced.

What happened?

Firstly, We saved money! Because the tasks were not our core skill, it was taking so much longer for us to do them. When we delegated the task to someone else either internally or externally. That person could do the task much quicker because the task fell within their core skill set.

Secondly, We made money! Now that we were not consumed with non-billable tasks we could focus on billable or income generating tasks. In the year that we learnt this valuable lesson, our turnover increased by 47%. Since that time, we are continually reviewing our workforce and have increased our turnover, year on year by 20%.

That’s all very well for you, I hear you say, but that won’t work for every business.

Using delegation in business, we believe that it is possible for everyone to achieve similar results.

We worked with a client this year to conduct a workplace review. We identified the tasks that the business owners wanted to do, and those they didn’t. We now support that client in their People and Culture Management.

Best of all everyone loves coming to work every day because they get to do things that they like to do.

Would you like to get back to enjoying your work in your business?

Would you like to take some time to work on your business?

Would you like to get between 10 and 47% business growth in 2020?

We can help you conduct a workforce planning review to embrace the power of delegation in business.