Delegation is a critical component in the development of a business, but it must be balanced and inclusive. It will help you to discover the natural place for yourself, your colleagues and/or your staff.

If you keep doing the small tasks you’ve always done, you will never free up time to work on the bigger picture. If letting go of these daily tasks is daunting, and it can be, then take gradual steps:

• Identify a task you want to delegate
• Document the correct way to perform this task (or just the outcomes, depending on the task). This is the beginning of an Action Plan, which can be put together by you or by the person you are delegating to
• Clearly specify the expected results (success measures) of the delegated task. Outline the what, why, when, who, where and how
• Put the Action Plan into place. Don’t micromanage, but make sure you are kept in the loop on progress. Give feedback on the results and outcomes
• Jointly revise the document until you are both comfortable with it. Train the person how to run this new system successfully and insert a copy of the process document into your Operations Manual or SOPs
• Repeat on the next task.

Successful delegation will always require your input. Delegated tasks that fail usually do so because the person given the task does not understand it; the task is done incorrectly; instructions are given too many times, or the person is not motivated enough to do it.