Entrepreneurs often have a tough time delegating effectively.\u00a0 After all, the company is their baby. They gave it life and steered it through its formative years.\u00a0 They know how to press all the important buttons and pull all the essential levers better than anyone else.\u00a0 But if they continue to refuse access to those buttons and levers for anyone but themselves, they will be unable to build the sort of team they need to grow their enterprise.\u00a0 Instead, they will be stuck with some errand boys (and girls) who will do what they\u2019re told and nothing more . . . just \u201cgofers\u201d who won\u2019t exhibit any initiative or creativity.\u00a0 If you suspect you\u2019re guilty of hoarding all the fun stuff for yourself and realize your \u201cgofers\u201d won\u2019t help your company reach its potential, please continue reading below for some thoughts on effective delegation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t.\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ~ Anthea Turner<\/em><\/p>\n As noted in our opening remarks, sometimes the problem with delegating is simply that the owner\/entrepreneur won\u2019t let go.\u00a0 But sometimes the obstacles to effective delegation are more insidious and less obvious . . . particularly if the company\u2019s culture enshrines the owner\u2019s right to make all the decisions and to keep a finger in every pie.\u00a0 One of our favorite quotes (although from an unknown source) is, \u201cThe great challenge for any entrepreneur is how to delegate so effectively that once you have gotten a monkey off your back, your employees don\u2019t return it to you . . . with instructions for its care and feeding.\u201d<\/p>\n In an article written for the Harvard Business Review entitled \u201cWho\u2019s Got the Monkey?\u201d William Oncken and Donald Wass contend that assigned tasks (\u201cmonkeys\u201d) often end up full circle, back in the lap of the manager who assigned them in the first place.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not that the employee is trying to pull a fast one.\u00a0 The monkey can leap from the employee\u2019s back onto the manager\u2019s back without either one intending for that to happen or even realizing that it had happened.<\/p>\n Consider this example.<\/p>\n A company is preparing to launch a new product.\u00a0 The owner has asked Bill, his sales manager, to draft a sales plan for the new product.\u00a0 A few days later, Bill and the owner bump into each other at the water cooler and Bill says, \u201cHey Boss!\u00a0 I\u2019m about halfway through that sales plan you asked me to prepare, but before I go any further, I wonder if you would look over what I\u2019ve done so far to make sure I\u2019m on the right track.\u201d\u00a0 The owner responds, \u201cSure.\u00a0 Just put it on my desk and I\u2019ll look it over as soon as I get a chance.\u201d\u00a0 And presto, the sales plan monkey slipped from Bill\u2019s back onto the owner\u2019s back without either of them even noticing.<\/p>\n To understand whose back the monkey is on, all you have to do is understand who must take the next step to move the assignment along.\u00a0 In this case, when Bill met the owner at the water cooler, the sales plan monkey was squarely on Bill\u2019s back.\u00a0 But as soon as the owner agreed to review the half-completed plan, the monkey became his.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the next step is now the owner\u2019s responsibility.\u00a0 Bill can\u2019t do anything more with the sales plan until the owner completes his review.\u00a0 As soon as the review is complete, the monkey will be returned to Bill, but until that happens, the monkey will stay with the owner.<\/p>\n If this were just an isolated incident, it wouldn\u2019t be any big deal.\u00a0 But it probably isn\u2019t.\u00a0 This owner probably has other managers just like Bill.\u00a0 And just like Bill, these other managers will try to park their monkeys on the owner\u2019s back if he lets them.\u00a0 As a result, the owner can become so mired in his subordinates\u2019 monkeys that he has a hard time discharging his own responsibilities.\u00a0 Worse, he becomes a bottleneck where projects stack up until he can return all these monkeys to their proper owners.<\/p>\n The secret to good delegating skills is to make sure that whatever a subordinate is working on, the next step to be taken stays solidly with him or her, not with you.\u00a0 When your subordinate asks for help, you can coach, advise, mentor, teach, instruct, or do anything else to offer your support . . . stopping short of taking responsibility for the next step.\u00a0 In rare cases, a subordinate may have legitimate need for your personal intervention.\u00a0 When that happens, accept the monkey (grudgingly), but then do what you must do as quickly as possible and return the little critter to its rightful owner.<\/p>\n As the quote above from Anthea Turner suggests, you can\u2019t do everything yourself, and if you try, you will only succeed in slowing your company\u2019s growth to a snail\u2019s pace.\u00a0 The more you insist that your subordinates find solutions to their problems that don\u2019t require direct action from you, the more they will grow and the more they will be helpful in moving the company forward.<\/p>\n The Oncken\/Wass article, \u201cWho\u2019s Got the Monkey\u201d is a good read and explores the subject of delegation much more thoroughly than we\u2019ve been able to do here.\u00a0 Below is a link to the full article.<\/p>\n