Editor’s note: This 9 part series is specifically designed for coaches, consultants, strategists, and service-based business owners who are in the scaling phase of their business. The JoyFueled™ Journey success path graphic will serve as your visual anchor and teaching tool for this content series. The EXPAND™ Method is our unique process we use to help our clients expand their already-working-business without burning out or imploding. All 9 parts of this series are linked at the end of this post.
You’ve been told delegation is key to business growth. And it is—but only if you do it correctly.
Delegation is a necessary part of your business’ evolution. But it’s also a place where so many of us crash and burn. Why? Because we focus on hiring people to help with the NOW instead of partnering with team members who are a 100% match for your future-focused business and vision.
Common Delegation Mistakes
I want you to think back to the last person you brought onto your team. Did any of these thoughts cross your mind:
- Which of these applicants is the least expensive?
- Who can help me get tasks off my plate?
- How many jobs can I actually have this person do?
I get it. You’re drowning in work, and you need help—NOW. But these are low-quality questions. And we all know what happens when we spend time with low-quality questions—we get low-quality answers.
Answers that won’t move your business forward AT ALL.
Delegation is a tricky beast. Do it wrong, and you’ll find yourself in the same place (or worse) a few months down the road. There are 3 main mistakes in this part of expanding your business that usually happen here:
- Continuing to partner with the wrong type of team members who slow your growth and waste precious time, energy, and resources. They are not a match (for any number of reasons), and when they inevitably leave the team, you’re left scrambling to pick up the pieces once again.
2. Not knowing how to truly delegate to your team. So you are constantly in the middle of things, checking on projects, people, processes, or progress—the four deadly Ps that keep you stuck!
3. Failing to build team culture, communication, and morale (even when you have the right team in place). You and the team often feel lonely and isolated (at best) or like “taskmasters” completing endless lists of to-do’s without working towards a bigger vision and mission, TOGETHER.
My colleagues and clients often say to me: How did you find Amy (our rockstar sales team lead and community curator)? And I’m very upfront and honest: it took me three times of crashing and burning with other salespeople to find Amy.
I didn’t have the right systems in place for sales to be effective if I wasn’t the one doing it. I continued to hire people who said they loved sales, but actually didn’t love relationship-building, which, as we all know, is a huge part of sales.
The mistakes I made cost me two years of heartache, wasted time and money, and lots of frustration and second-guessing myself. When I slowed down to figure out all the pieces that were needed and all the places that I had neglected in prior attempts, things shifted for GOOD!
If you truly want to delegate in your business—and not just be a manager of people and projects—then there are three areas of “D – Delegate” in The EXPAND™ Method that you must focus on when it’s time to bring on new support.
Highly-Specialized Skills & Roles
It’s time to partner with specialists, not generalists. For example, if you use Ontraport for your CRM/Email Platform, bringing on an Ontraport Specialist who knows the tool and tech inside and out will help you monetize your marketing and automation beyond your wildest dreams.
It will always pay off to partner with specialized help because these individuals will SEE things that you never thought of and add valuable insight to your vision for growth–often insight and information you didn’t even know existed.
Vision Match
When your 3-Year Vivid Vision is properly written (see part two of this series), you will know exactly WHICH specialized team members you need to bring on—and WHEN—based on where you are growing.
Hiring becomes a strategic move, not a knee-jerk reaction to being overwhelmed and overworked.
Culture & Values Match
Because you have identified and defined your brand values and culture (see part four of this series), you can use this information to find team members who share the same values and have a strong buy-in to the overall vision and mission of your company.
You’ll use these aspects during the interview process, which will make it a million times easier to partner with a rockstar team that is invested in the culture of the brand.
Find Your Rock Stars
When you understand that delegation actually means empowerment and ownership for each and every team member, things shift rather quickly. That’s why we help our Joy Fueled™ clients understand the difference between “hiring” and “partnering” and how to partner with a team that is actually doing the thinking for you.
Let me say that again:
When you learn to SCALE THE THINKING (not the to-dos) of your team, your brand is going to reach heights you’ve only dreamed about – and this is what being a JOY FUELED™ Leader is all about.
Your next level of business growth is going to require something different from you.
Do you know what that “something different” is? You might be thinking this “thing” is elusive to you–but not on my watch!
I’ve created a tool to help you you determine which part of your business needs your focus now, so you don’t burnout trying #allthethings at once.
The Business Expansion Scorecard will help you score your business as it is now–so you can celebrate what’s working–and identify your current blindspots.
Part 2: E is for Energy in The EXPAND™ Method: Understanding the Energetic Capacity of Your Business
Part 5: A is for Alignment in The EXPAND™ Method: Who does your brand want to be when it grows up?
Part 7: D is for Delegate in The EXPAND™ Method: Avoiding the Delegation Trap That Will Keep Your Business Stuck
