The StartUp Blog at PartnerUp

Entrepreneurs sometimes have the tendency to be control freaks. After all, being in control is a common reason they go in to business for themselves in the first place. So when it comes time to start handing down some of the responsibility, many business owners have serious trouble letting go. If it’s not about proving that you can do it all or that you’re the only one who can do it right, then it’s about not having the time to show someone else how to do it.

Delegating work is necessary to managing your own time efficiently. Business owners who instead just spend more hours working as the business grows end up hindering future growth. If you don’t delegate and take the time to train your team, you’re in a sense hoarding all of the growth opportunities for yourself and doing your employees and your business a great disservice.

As your business begins to take off, your role needs to change and evolve. You need to go from doing the work yourself to teaching others to do it and managing the overall context in which the work is done. But in order to do so successfully, there are four important points you need to remember.

Plan ahead.
By preparing a rough timeline of tasks and projects you need done and when they need to be done, you’re providing employees or contractors with adequate enough direction to get the job done.

Realize you’re not the only capable person.
It’s easy to believe that you’re the only person who can do things right, but guess what? You’re not. There are going to be certain tasks that only you can do, but those aren’t the ones you delegate then. Delegate daily tasks and ones that can be taught.

Tell people what to do not how to do it.
You have your own style, and it seems to work, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only one out there or even the best one. You need to be clear as to what you want done, but you also have to allow others to be creative and successful in their own right.

Start slow.
Handing over the reigns is a big deal, so take your time. Do things one step at a time. Start with smaller, less important tasks and move up the ladder from there. No one said you had to do it all at once.