Maximizing Performance: Delegation and Managing Expectations

In our recent Catapult Groups Webinar on “7 Methods for Maximum Performance,” Catapult Groups Leader Doug Beckley touched on the importance of delegation as a critical tool of leadership. Delegation doesn’t come easy to a lot of self-starting and “A Type” business leaders. Some believe only they can do things the “right way.” Some micro-manage and never relinquish control. Others offer lip-service to the idea of delegation but don’t make things clear or actively empower those who work for them.

Until business leaders let go of these misguided notions, their companies can’t really grow. Stop managing and start leading. The job of running a business is just too complex and widespread for leaders to insist on doing everything themselves.

In a previous Catapult Groups blog post, Group Leader Fred Kroin suggested dividing up the tasks you as CEO or business owner might do into four categories:

• Those only you can and should do
• Those you could or should be delegating (and for which you already have someone on your team who can perform these tasks or be trained to perform them)
• Those tasks no one else on your team is equipped to do and for which you should hire someone specifically or consider outsourcing
• Those that no one should be doing, tasks and activities that we allow to sidetrack us (phone calls, irrelevant emails, etc.)

It’s absolutely imperative to develop your key people and use them to get important tasks done. Your job is to stay focused on strategy and the long-term prospects for your business.

Managing Expectations

As Doug noted, before you can delegate or manage someone, you have to be very clear about expectations. When assigning a role or empowering a key direct report, effective CEOs articulate a crystal-clear vision about what needs to be done. (By contrast, ineffective leaders emphasize methods and tactics, rather than outcomes and results.) Effective leaders make sure the person to whom they delegate responsibility knows precisely what’s expected of them.

Employees need to know why they’re part of a company’s larger mission. There must be ongoing dialogue with people, so that everyone understands both their roles and the larger objectives of the organization.

Business leaders who delegate effectively and manage expectations run businesses that outperform those that don’t. It’s as simple as that.

To hear the entire Catapult Groups Webinar on “7 Methods for Maximum Performance,” I invite you click here and learn more about maximizing your performance as a business leader.