Team Management

Why Aren’t You Delegating?

(Stop Being a Control Freak in Business)

How comfortable would you feel about asking your friends and family to do a favour for you? How about asking a stranger on the street to help you with a task?

Now you might or might not feel comfortable with asking other people for help. But most entrepreneurs are very reluctant to delegate tasks. And it’s usually because of two reasons.

One possible reason is that you’re the type of entrepreneur who is a control freak. You don’t want to give up your authority. Another possible reason is you are afraid the person doing the task will make a mistake.

As a result, you become a one-person business doing all of the work yourself, working until exhaustion, with no time to reflect on how to move your business to the next level.

However, the sooner you start delegating, the sooner you can grow your business.

You don’t need to be a CEO or the boss of a couple of employees before you start delegating. Sharing the work will ease your workload and free up your time for other tasks, like planning out the direction of your business.

You can start delegating as soon as you’re ready. You don’t even have to wait until you’re rich.

Have a look at my business for example. People tell me because I’m rich, I can delegate. But the opposite is true. It’s because I delegate that I’m rich. It’s a chicken and egg thing.

So if you have your own business and you aren’t delegating, start now.

Here are some tips to motivate you to be less controlling and more at ease with delegating to other people.

Watch this video on why you should be delegating more for your business.

Start With The Right Mindset

If you don’t have the habit of delegating now, you won’t be making the money to maximize your time. And if you don’t have the habit of delegating now, you’re not likely to be delegating when you have more money.

One reason why you’re not delegating is because you’re thinking about saving. You want to wait until the future when you can afford to start paying other people to do tasks.

The opposite is true. You’ll start saving money when you can afford to put money aside. To make enough money to put some aside, you need to free up your time to work on generating more revenue. You can’t do that if you’re saving money by doing all the routine tasks yourself.

You need to start developing a millionaire mindset now.

Right now, for every dollar that comes in, you want to set aside ten cents. You’re cultivating a habit early on. Then when you have a hundred times more money, you’re already used to saving a bit of everything you earn.

So start the habit and delegate small tasks. Let your less important responsibilities go gradually and as you get some good experience working with others, keep delegating more from there. If you’re still reluctant, it might be because you have limiting beliefs.

Why You Aren’t Delegating

What’s holding people back from delegating? They can come up with enough reasons to last a lifetime.

For example, they think they can do the job better themselves. They don’t trust others to do it because the other person might make a mistake. Or the other person isn’t qualified to do it or they already have enough to do.

Or they believe they are the only person on this planet who can do it so they can’t ask anyone else to do it.

All of those reasons are nothing more than limiting beliefs. None of it is true, and having those beliefs doesn’t help your business. You don’t get anything done, and you stay on the hamster wheel.

There are some tasks that you can delegate to others.

  • Responding to emails
  • Responding to customer service
  • Scheduling business and personal appointments
  • Writing to new prospects
  • Bookkeeping, graphic design, website development
  • Travel arrangements

All of these tasks and more, you can delegate to other people. If you aren’t delegating, there are four big fears that are holding you back.

1. Fear Of Losing Control

You fear what could happen if you lose control. Maybe the other person will make a mistake and it will cost you time or money to fix.

You fear you could be rejected if you ask someone for help. You’re worried that this person will think you’re incompetent because you’re not doing the task yourself. Or you’re inadequate.

This is especially true of men. Women are more willing to ask for help. Men are taught to be strong and macho so if you don’t do something, you’re incompetent and you might lose your sense of honour.

Maybe you don’t fear losing control, and you’re not afraid to ask for help, but you like to watch every dollar you spend very carefully.

2. Fear Of The Cost

Sometimes entrepreneurs think the cost is too high and they can’t afford it. They want to save money. However, you need to think about how much your time is worth.

If you want to make a million bucks a year, your work has to be worth $1700 an hour. If you don’t delegate, then you’re losing $1700 an hour. Isn’t your time worth so much more?

Even if you think you can’t afford to delegate, start the habit and free up your time. You can’t be afraid of losing money, or having a bad experience.

3. Fear Of A Bad Experience

You may have tried to delegate in the past and it turned into delegation hell because the person you trusted and paid didn’t deliver as promised.

To avoid that, create a document. Provide your consultant or assistant with the information they need, the steps they need to take, and your expectations. They are less likely to make mistakes when expectations are clear.

If they still manage to make mistakes, then hire someone else. Or delegate to three people and see who does the job the best. Keep the good one and let go of the rest.

Another way to think about it is this: Have you ever had a bad meal in the past? Did that stop you from eating ever again?

For that same reason, don’t let a bad experience stop you from looking for the right person.

4. Fear Of Not Finding The Right Person

Hiring the right person is a numbers game that you won’t get right every time. In the big scheme of things, it’s not going to matter. Six months to a year from now, you’re not going to remember the minor errors. You just need to get better at filtering out the bad matches.

Here’s an example. One of my business partners had a business for 15 years. He wasn’t good at hiring or managing people.

One day, I asked him to fire everybody. He didn’t want to do such a thing because he considered his employees as friends.

The experience turned out to be a business lesson for him. All the people my business partner thought were his good friends tried to get to every last dime when they were fired. One even kept the iPad he had been given.

Employees are employees.

Hiring people is a skill. There are so many steps to choosing the right one, from filtering to coaching them to training them to develop new skills.

The way I hire people and run my company is a bit unusual because I run this virtual empire. I choose to work from home. I don’t want to commute or go to an office. When my mentees call me, I’m in my underwear, not my suit. I like to be at home.

I get up, do my morning routine, and get to work. It saves me a lot of time. But that’s a personal preference. It also means because I don’t see my team face-to-face most of the time, so I need to trust them to do their responsibilities. So when I hire, I choose people who can work independently.

Why You Need To Delegate Now

If you want your business to grow, you need to learn to get comfortable with delegating now, not in the future. Your time is valuable, so overcome your fears and start finding tasks you can ask other people to do for you. Most importantly, establish a hiring system so you create a team of people you can trust.

What tasks do you delegate to other people? Comment below.

SUGGESTED ARTICLES:

8 Golden Rules of Effective Delegation And How To Delegate To The Best People

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How to Hire the Right People: Lessons From A Future Billionaire

How do you hire the right person so you can build a highly successful organization?

The choices you make are critical. Like a great marriage or a bitter divorce, hiring or firing an employee affects everyone. If the new person is the right fit – harmony for you and the team. If it’s a bad fit, like a bad divorce, not only do you lose time and money, it affects the morale of your team.

So how do you know if a person is the right fit for your company? And if they seem like a good candidate, but lacking in skills, how much should you spend training them if they still need to develop their skills?  

Before you answer those questions, understand the marketplace. The best people are trying to decide amongst several opportunities at once. If you want to get their attention, you have to cut past all the noise of all the recruiters and ads.

When it comes to building a company and organization, having the right people in place is most important. In business, the best team wins because they will find a solution no matter what happens to the market or the economy. The right team and right culture will be resourceful and will always be able to solve problems.

My hiring philosophy and my leadership style are very different from most CEOs and business owners. Most companies hire based on resumes. My company does not. Not a single person on my team has ever submitted a resume. Even though we are a rapidly growing global organization, no one on my team has done a traditional kind of approach.

Watch this video about how we hire the best talent.

Do you want to hire the right people? Click here to talk to one of the leaders on my team who’s an expert in this area.

 

Hire For Attitude And Train For Skills

There’s a saying, “Hire for attitude and train for skills.” Even for the leadership positions within my organization, not every single person was “qualified” for the job. None of them “have the training” for their particular position.

They might join the team to do a certain task and from there when I see they’ve got potential, I give them more and more responsibilities. They rise up the ranks depending on their attitude, their skills, their capabilities, their desires, and their loyalties.

I don’t believe in resumes because anybody can write a good resume. A candidate can give a very good interview but when you actually hire them, they’re terrible. The reason they are good at giving interviews is because that’s what they do. When it comes to getting the work done, they cannot do it.

So I like to make people jump through a lot of hoops. Not the traditional hoops in which you submit a resume and go to multiple interviews and take personality tests or complete certain tasks to see how you perform. Talk is cheap.

The people who apply to my organization send me a video resume. I get a better sense of their personality on video. After they send me a clip, I give them a series of projects to see how they perform. I watch their attitude and I always give them different opportunities and chances to excel. Then I ask for feedback from my team.

If the candidate does well, then I give them more and more responsibilities. I always look at a person, not their skill set because skill set and knowledge can be acquired later.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, also looks beyond the resume. A question he likes to ask during the hiring process is “What didn’t make it onto your resume?” Candidates can talk about their personal accomplishments… anything that would show their resolve, empathy toward others, or ingenuity.

Hire People For Your Company Environment

Everyone is different. Some people thrive in a more quiet and calm environment. Some people thrive in chaos while others work better when everything is very systematic.

My organization moves so fast that when something doesn’t work, we change direction immediately. So if a new hire is not used to that kind of environment, they might crack under pressure. We are very nimble, flexible and quick.

If there’s something I want to implement, we just do it. If there’s something we need to change, then we change direction like the flick of a switch. It’s very very fast. Most people are not used to that kind of environment.

The people we bring in like the challenge and this kind of pace. They are at home. Others may find this speed way too stressful. Then they will leave because it’s not a good fit. Or they quit because they don’t have the right energy with other team members and they don’t get along with the team culture. It’s an organic process.

Hire Young People To Keep Up With Trends

People have asked me why there are so many young people in my organization. They ask, “Why is a kid responsible for millions of dollars of marketing budget?”

They think I should hire someone with 10 years of experience. But I don’t believe in that because at the end of the day, my team is in the online education business where things move incredibly fast.

I need to be on the pulse of what’s happening day to day, hour to hour. I hire millennials so that I know what they’re thinking, even if they make me feel old. They always bring in new ideas about what’s hip and what’s trending. If I want to know what young people are thinking, I need to have young people in my organization.

Hire a Team of High Achievers

I love the Russian Doll Principle. When it comes to hiring, a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs and CEOs hire people who are smaller or worse than they are.

A CEO who is hiring a manager will look for someone who is less skilled, and then that manager will hire a team leader who is less skilled than the manager. Then what you will have is a company made of dwarves.

On the other hand, if that CEO hired a manager who has better skills, and the manager hires a team lead with better skills than the manager… you end up with a company of giants.

The CEO or manager hires people that are smaller than them because of their insecurities. They are afraid that if they hire someone with better skills, they can’t manage them or get their respect. If they hire someone less skilled, then they can more easily control them. This type of superior/inferior thinking is common in Asia.

The problem is when you hire less skilled people, the organization doesn’t grow. Hiring people that are better than you will get you that company of high achievers.

Russian Doll Principle: Hire the Right People

Hire a Team of Specialists

As the leader and CEO of my company, my job is not to make sure that directors, department heads and executives can’t do their roles better than I can. That’s not what a CEO does.

Each person in the company has their own area of expertise. As the visionary, my job is to come up with the strategic plan for each of them to execute. My job isn’t to outperform them at certain tasks.  

Think about the book, The Art of War. In military terms, the general is not necessarily the best horseman or archer, or even the best soldier. The general is the one that sees the big picture, such as how to mobilize the troops and where to allocate resources. Similarly, the big picture is the CEO’s job.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, wanted a team that liked to create and explore. He didn’t want people who were only skilled in management, so he devised a test as part of the interview process. Those who asked questions and showed excitement and showed promise that they were A players made the cut.

So, to hire a team of specialists, find people who are experts at what they do. They should also be creative A players who are very motivated.

Hire Motivated People, Then Get Out of Their Way

I think it’s very difficult to motivate people. The better solution is to find people who are already motivated.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” That means, instead of trying to motivate people with motivational quotes and all that stuff, find people who already have the fire and desire within them. When you find good people who are already motivated, then all you need to do is create the culture, and give them responsibility, authority and power. Then get the hell out of their way and let them do their thing.

Drew Houston, founder of Dropbox, says that one way to find out a person’s motivation level is to ask them about who they admire. You will quickly find out who is there for the paycheck and who really cares about their work depending on their answer.

Motivated people will make stuff happen. They will want to help you grow, not because it’s an obligation, but because they have that desire.

Myself, I’m a very motivated person. I don’t need people to motivate me or pump me up. I am motivated. I’m driven. So I want people with the same desire in my organization.

If you spend so much time trying to motivate your people, then you’re not spending enough time getting work  done or moving forward. So find motivated people and get the hell out of their way.

Hire People Who Will Pay for Their Own Training

In this very competitive business, the key to thriving in any economy is constant learning. It doesn’t matter how much success you had in the past. What matters is where you’re going in the future and what you’re doing now.

As the leader of a global education organization, I believe constant learning is extremely critical. I invest hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in my own education and I expect my members to do the same. My training policy is very different from most organizations because I don’t pay my team to attend workshops. My team members invest in their own education.

They pay for their own flight, their own hotel, their own workshops and courses. I don’t want them to do it because it’s an obligation or it’s required for their promotion. If I invest in my own education, they should do the same. When they upgrade their skills and perform better, they will get compensated.

The other reason is if they invest in their own education, they will pay more attention and get more out of the training. I lead by example. I’m always learning, reading, and attending workshops. When it comes to education, I don’t take shortcuts. I’m a good leader because I’m a dedicated student, and that’s the culture a successful company should have.

If you want to hire the right people, you must hire people with a desire to work hard and excel at what they do. It does not matter if they are more talented than you, or younger than you. When you have a team of high achievers, you will have a powerful team.

 

Do you want to hire the right people? Click here to talk to one of the leaders on my team who’s an expert in this area.

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How Building A Virtual Team Lets You Build A Successful Business Without Leaving Home

Virtual teams are the future of sustainable businesses, as this is integral to building a successful business from home. The remote business model dramatically reduces your needs for costly office space and office supplies, while increasing the range of talent. Any successful business leader understands the importance of limiting their overhead in order to be more profitable. Building a virtual team is one of the most effective ways to reduce your overhead, and with the right kind of people, your business could become unstoppable.

A virtual team is a remote team that is often geographically dispersed. Without face-to-face interaction, a virtual team relies on organized digital communication, with information being shared and distributed electronically. This type of remote business model can be extremely successful.

A 2017 report by Gallup found that employees who spend some time working remotely have higher engagement than those who don’t ever work remotely, and remote employees reported having a clearer job description and more motivating metrics. The report also noted that the percentage of employees who work remotely is rising each year, and that the desirable flexibility to work-from-home is consistently a major factor when talented employees are deciding whether or not to accept a job offer.

Another factor that virtual employees consider is the flexibility to work the hours during which they feel most productive. It’s not just about having the freedom to work from home – it’s also about being freed from the confines of the traditional 9 – 5 work schedule. For example, it’s very common for millennials to have a late chronotype, where they’re more productive and creative at night. It’s therefore undeniable that giving virtual team members the freedom to choose their own work hours will only increase your team’s productivity.

Now, you might assume that building and managing a virtual team will come with dicey challenges. However, it’s all about who you hire and how you motivate them. It all comes down to hiring exceptional people, because the best team wins in business. The quality of your team is more important than the quality of your services, as even a great business model can fail if its team is lousy. If you want to know how to successfully build a virtual team full of awesome people, start with deciphering the types of employees you should be seeking.

What Should You Look For In A Virtual Team Member?

Who you hire matters, and that’s why I’m going to tell you about the three types of employees to watch out for. Maybe you’ll be able to guess which type of employee is the type you want, but either way, let me explain each type:

  1. The Grunt
  2. The Mercenary
  3. The Patriot

The Grunt

The Grunt is the type of employee who does the bare minimum, and they’re okay with being a mediocre employee as long as they can do their job and go home. Doing the bare minimum is doing just enough work to collect a paycheck – just enough work to not get fired. In other words, they just barely meet your expectations. It would never cross a Grunt’s mind to go above and beyond, or to exceed your expectations.

You’ll know you’re interviewing a Grunt if when it’s their turn to ask questions, all they do is ask about money instead of demonstrating an interest in the company. They’ll ask how you calculate overtime, how many vacation days they get, and how many hours they’ll have to work.

Some types of businesses have certain very basic positions that are okay to hire a Grunt for. But you don’t want too many Grunts on your team. It’s easy for an employee to do what they’re asked, but you want someone who does what they’re asked and more. That’s why you don’t want to hire Grunts.

Mercenary

A Mercenary is very transactional employee. They work for money – that’s it. Money is their main motivator. So much so, that if they ever got an opportunity to make more money elsewhere, they wouldn’t think twice. They’d take the other job regardless of what type of company it was. There’s rarely any loyalty with mercenaries.

You’ll know you’re interviewing a Mercenary because they’ll mainly be interested in how the bonus structure works and how much money they will make. Some business leaders are okay with having Mercenaries on their sales team. A lot of sales guys are Mercenaries, and because money is their motivator, you can count on them to go in for the kill. While it’s fine to hire a Mercenary for a sales role, there aren’t many other positions you’ll want to hire a Mercenary for.

Patriots

Patriots are motivated by greatness. This means that they’re motivated by something greater than money. Yes, they want to make money, but being part of something they can be proud of motivates them much more than money does. Having a sense of purpose and being part of an inspiring mission excites them more than their salary ever will.

You want the most amount of Patriots on your team as possible, because Patriots will help your business be its most profitable. They’ll want to contribute to your company’s growth, because being part of something remarkable makes them feel remarkable. They don’t just want to get paid and go home – they want to make a difference. Having a team of Patriots ensures your business maintains a growth-oriented culture.

You’ll know you’re interviewing a Patriot because instead of asking what the compensation structure is, they’re more likely to tell you about an idea they have that could take your business to the next level. When you hire a Patriot, they’ll consistently bring you ideas on how to improve the business, as they’re driven by achievement. Patriots share the company’s goals, and they find fulfillment in being be part of something larger than themselves.

When a Patriot feels proud to be on a winning team, they’ll be loyal and passionate about the company’s growth. They’re the dedicated and dependable type of employee who actually cares about the success of the company. Yes, some employees actually care about the business’ bottom line. This is a quality you must seek out, because it can’t be taught, and most employees don’t care very much about the company they work for. Patriots truly care, and are proud of what they’re part of. They get off on doing great work and making the company better. They’re hungry for greatness, and any way they can associate themselves with it.

Patriots are much less likely to nickel-and-dime you. They do expect a fair compensation, but they won’t make a point of mentioning that they worked 15 minutes overtime.

At the end of the day, you’re looking for a team of people who are loyal to the brand, and care about your company’s success as much as you do. Those types of employees do exist, so it’s all about finding them.

How Do You Find Patriots?

Be very specific in your job description. Make it clear who you don’t want. Explain the results you’re looking for and the exact qualities you’re looking for. Paint the picture of a Patriot in your job description.

You can find Patriots by paying attention to the questions asked in the interview, by noticing how passionate they are about your company, and by trying out what’s called a “Difference Test.”

A “Difference Test” is when you ask the candidate to do something out of the norm, to test their dependability and their loyalty. Pretend you want to do an initial phone interview at 4:00 AM their time. See what they say. Tests like these can really help you to weed out the flakes and find the Patriots.

What’s The Best Way To Reward Virtual Team Members?

You want to reward great work in order to keep it coming, but your virtual employees will respond differently to different types of rewards. Mercenaries and Grunts want tangible rewards such as extra pay or a cash bonus. Patriots feel most rewarded when an idea they came to you with actually improved the business, and they’re recognized for it.

In general, recognition and acknowledgement are the best ways to reward your employees. You can still implement tangible rewards such as bonuses if there is a clear system in place. Bonuses can’t be handed out at random. It should be very clear exactly what is expected of their performance to get the bonus.

Managing a Virtual Team

Virtual teams are often the most talented, and with the right people, your business stands to benefit greatly from a virtual team. The talent pool grows when your search for the perfect candidate is no longer restricted based on the talent available in your area. No matter how talented your team is, however, structuring your interactions is still crucial. Communication tools can be used to maintain order and systems.

Managing a virtual team doesn’t have to be complicated, even if each team member lives in a different part of the world. You can use digital tools such as Trello, Loom, Asana, Telegram and Slack to delegate and manage projects.

It’s not difficult to build trust and loyalty with a virtual team, either. The team will be loyal if they genuinely love what your business is all about, and they’re proud to be part of it. To maintain commitment, you can video call and chat with team members one-on-one over the phone. During these one-on-one chats is when you will give them recognition and positive acknowledgement.

Building a devoted team requires that you hire for roles – you don’t hire for tasks. When someone has a ‘role’ it means they’ve been entrusted with a ‘part’, and that’s how you instill passion. That’s how you encourage a more meaningful contribution.

Are you going to build a powerful team? What questions do you have about team building or hiring the right people? Comment below.