Importance of Delegation

August is a busy time of year for business – especially small business – more specifically a landscape business. The heat is getting to the plants, the days are hot and long for the work force, and customers want their stuff repaired, fixed, or completed ASAP! I don’t know about you, but the stress and workloads seem to peak for me right about now.

The focus of past articles has been topics like securing and retaining quality employees and the value of marketing and team building. What we haven’t yet talked about is the importance of delegation.

If you don’t delegate, you overload yourself. Being overloaded leads to inefficiency. That’s where stress steps in, and often takes over.

So, How Do You Delegate?

You start by finding the right person. Seek employees with the skills for the task(s) you are delegating. As a leader, you should understand the weaknesses, strengths, and interests of your employees. Next, provide clear instructions. Supply important information with detailed instructions. Finally, train and empower them. Effective delegation happens when you ensure that the people being tasked with a project or responsibility have everything they need to succeed. Make sure the desired result is understood and let them come up with ways of reaching it. The key is to provide, train, and then let them loose. This encourages autonomy.

How Not to Delegate

About 25 years ago I had a masonry crew of five workers and one foreman. I would check in on the job daily to track progress. When I wasn’t seeing any, I inquired with the foreman about his training strategies and delegation practices. He assured me he had it under control and told me I was stressing him out by pressing him. I gave him space – I didn’t want to micromanage him – but I continued to watch from afar. I needed to find out what was going on; why they weren’t making progress on the project. I quickly learned that the foreman’s idea of delegating was having the workers fetch the materials for him and he was the only one doing the work. This was not efficient. His delegation technique not only kept him from focusing on higher-value responsibilities, but it also prevented the workers from being engaged and invested in the project. I removed the foreman and gave the workers new responsibilities, training, and guidance. In turn, they were efficient, productive, and happy.

Bottom line: It doesn’t matter who you are, you can’t do everything yourself. You need to recognize that you are more efficient if you spread the work out to other people. Learn to delegate efficiently and everyone, including yourself, will be less stressed.

~ Dave Horton, 2024 CLCA OC Chapter President