Why Entrepreneurs Should Learn to Delegate

For many aspiring entrepreneurs and new business owners, establishing their own business offers the opportunity to pursue their passion, be their own boss, and have greater autonomy. However, many entrepreneurs often times do not have experience managing various aspects of a business, including managing people. As such, as they attempt to scale their operations and grow their business, they often encounter challenges.

As someone who has served as consultant to entrepreneurs and small and mid-sized organizations (SMEs) across different countries, I have learned that people decisions are the most crucial to the success of any enterprise. A small business can potentially develop and offer the ideal product or service that meets the needs of the market. But in the long run, if the entrepreneur or small business owner does not learn how to manage people, may that be 5 or 25 staff members, the organization will encounter critical issues that will impede its growth and development.

Entrepreneurs tend to be passionate individuals who are committed to achieving success and offering value to their customers. Many entrepreneurs also enjoy the sense of being independent and having autonomy to decide what is best for their business. And as founders and owners of organizations they certainly have the right to choose how to manage them. But in the pursuit of independence and autonomy lies the danger of potentially not including others in the organization in critical decisions that affect the organization.

Working with entrepreneurs for several years has taught me that those who are most successful do not try to do everything on their own. They are comfortable delegating some tasks and responsibilities. The most effective entrepreneurs also make efforts to enrich their employees’ knowledge, skills, and understanding of the organization and industry. They assign important projects to them and include them in planning and strategic decisions. Effective entrepreneurs give their people opportunities to comment on processes, activities and systems, so that they are inclined to seek ways to improve them.

In my years of consulting, I have learned that entrepreneurs must learn to trust their people with important decisions and grant them greater responsibilities so as to prevent the organization’s culture from becoming satiated with conformity, inflexibility, and risk aversion. Entrepreneurs must learn to trust their people to take the initiative and introduce change. Promoting trust, delegating responsibilities, and holding people accountable will help develop people into leaders.

In spite of the complexity and rigor of managing the day-to-day operations, entrepreneurs must also make time to plan for the future and unify the team around long-term goals. Entrepreneurs should stimulate critical thinking across the organization, and encourage problem solving and the exploration of multiple solutions. Dialogue should be promoted to give everyone in the organization an opportunity to voice their opinion and contribute to the enterprise. Entrepreneurs should also make an effort to encourage employees to challenge the status quo and think of ways to enhance existing processes, activities, and products.

It is also important that entrepreneurs continually listen to their employees. Valuable lessons can be learned if one simply listens attentively. Asking questions and listening to employees not only will inform entrepreneurs, but will also serve to build employees’ morale, which can then increase motivation, and in turn increase performance. I believe that employees value an entrepreneurial leader who takes time to ask questions and listen. Hence, I would encourage entrepreneurs to make a conscientious effort to listen to their team.

Several successful entrepreneurs I have met followed the motto: “Never ask anyone to do something I am not willing to do myself”. Many of us admire leaders who are not afraid to get their hands dirty and put in the work. Diligence is admirable. However, it is important to realize that the entrepreneur cannot and should not try to do everything under the sun. I have met some entrepreneurs who have tried to handle every task and make every organizational decision from product design to marketing strategy to payroll. And although these entrepreneurs believed they were being productive; they were inadvertently creating a culture where others did not feel comfortable sharing ideas or taking any initiative. Some entrepreneurs unwisely believe that the best way to lead the organization is to do everything by oneself, and thus they are often reluctant to delegate work.

Entrepreneurs need time to decompress and re-energize, and attempting to tackle every issue and manage every task will not allow the entrepreneur to take time to think and reflect, and even get some needed sleep. It is vital that entrepreneurs take time to slow down and contemplate. Delegating some tasks can free up some time to give thought to important questions and issues related to the enterprise. Moreover, entrepreneurs also have the responsibility to lead their team and to model behavior that will be conducive to effective teamwork and high performance. And in order to accomplish this, entrepreneurs need to learn to delegate and model the behavior of entrusting tasks and responsibilities to others.

Every employee has the potential to make a difference. And entrepreneurs can foster an environment where people are able to contribute. Empowered individuals are more likely to generate creative ideas and solutions. As such, innovation and creativity should be encouraged and promoted in the startup, scaleup, and scaler organization because they can become continuous sources of growth and improvement.

Entrepreneurship is complex and demanding. But learning to delegate can help alleviate many of the issues that entrepreneurs and small organizations face. Entrepreneurs can certainly learn to manage people and organizations. And learning to delegate is an important step towards effectively managing an organization, and building a sustainable enterprise.

References

Financial Times. (2020, December 29). Pandemic triggers surge in business start-ups across major economies. Valentina Romei. Retrieved from

U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (2024, February 02) New Business Applications Surge Across the Country. Stephanie Ferguson and Lindsay Cates. Retrieved from

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Formation Statistics.

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