How to Delegate Effectively Without Losing Control

So welcome to today's episode of Black Belt Startup. Thank you for tuning in. What's new in the world of entrepreneurship? Delegation. How to delegate effectively without losing control. Here's what hit me like a truck: CEOs who master delegation grow their businesses by over 1,700% in just 3 years. 1,700%. Let me tell you something, I wish I had learned this sooner because trying to make it or to do it all by myself almost broke me. So if you're anything like me, you've poured, or maybe about to pour, everything into your business, like time, your energy, your passion. And I know you want things done right, so it feels easier To just handle it yourself. But here's the hard truth I had to face: no matter how much grit you've got, you can't do it all alone. And I thought, why not me? What am I doing wrong? Then that's when I realized delegation isn't just about handing off tasks. It's about trust, clear communication, And this is the tough one: letting go without losing control. I've been, I've been to where you are. I've been where you are—frustrated, overwhelmed, and scared that letting go means things will fall apart. But here's what I found: when you get this right, it changes everything. So today. I want to share what I've learned about delegation, the good, the messy, and promise life-changing, the life-changing lessons that made all the difference for me. So if you've ever felt like you're carrying the world on your shoulders, this episode is for you. And before we dive in, a couple of housekeeping items. Always, always, always doing a quick technology check, but whether you're watching or listening live or tuning in later, I would love to hear from you. Leave me a comment, send me an email, direct message me. I'd love to know about your, your big wins, your small wins, your struggles, your challenges, questions that you have, whether it's about just starting a new business and you're not sure where to start, how to start. You're looking to have a business partner with you and you're not sure about the pros and cons. You haven't done any marketing any sales, you want maybe some tips on how to get started, or maybe you've grown your business and you're running into bigger challenges. So let me know. I'd love to hear from you because in these episodes on Thursdays at 3:00 PM Pacific, 6:00 PM Eastern, we answer questions that come to us from our community. So make sure you follow us here or on whatever channel here on YouTube, on LinkedIn, or whatever channel you you, uh, you consume your content. And if it's something maybe a bit personal, you don't want to share it publicly, feel free to direct message me on LinkedIn or go to startupwithferas.com. Feras spelled F-E-R-A-S like my first name. And email me there and I will make sure to get back to you. We do get back to everyone who reaches out to us and we keep your, your information all confidential. Excellent. So Let's jump right into it. So what is delegation for those of us maybe who are new to management, to managing people, managing a team? If you're a business owner, you're starting to hire contractors maybe or full-time people. So what is delegation? Why is it important? Well, delegation is really— it's not just, hey, do this task for me. Hey, can you go and take care of this client? Is more than just assigning tasks. It's, it isn't, it's not about giving people work to do. It's, it's a way of running your business. It's a strategic way to first save yourself some time, free up your time, and also empower your team to do the work that you hired them to do. So that's, that's what delegation is. And then why does it matter? Because Simple. Effective delegation is the key to scaling. Without delegation, you risk burnout and then also miss opportunities because you're so busy in doing everything, and then you will stall your growth. So you simply cannot do everything alone, and the sooner you accept that fact, the The sooner you accept the fact that you can't do everything by yourself, the faster you'll be able to grow the business, the faster you'll see results. And there are tangible benefits of delegation. So for— and it's— the benefits are for you, as I mentioned earlier, also for your team members. So for you as a business owner or even as a manager, when you start to delegate and you delegate effectively, you can then focus on high-impact work. So instead of spending your time on routine tasks, you can concentrate on strategy, on building relationships, and everything and anything else that is related to growing the business. You can also improve time management. So delegating tasks means you get your time and energy back. So instead of juggling everything, you can focus on the things that truly move the needle. And I'll go over some examples in a bit. Now, for you, the benefits for your team members: you are empowering your team because you are giving them the chance to grow, take ownership, and show you how great they are and how, how can they take care of your, of your project initiatives and your customers. So this builds their confidence and allows them to contribute to your business success in so many different meaningful ways. In addition to that, when you delegate and you delegate effectively, you start to foster creativity and innovation. So you're giving your team the freedom to approach tasks their way. And, and, and that leads to fresh ideas, to things you haven't been, been thinking about, opens up opportunities and solutions that you might not have considered Previously. So with all these benefits, with, with all, you know, we answered the whys and we, and we answered what delegation is. For those of you who are just joining in, we talked about what delegation is. It's beyond just assigning tasks. We talked about the why, and we talked about the benefits to you as a business owner, as a manager, and also the benefits of delegation, effective delegation, to your team members. Now, why is it so hard to delegate. Many of us struggle with delegation because it feels risky. What if things just don't go, uh, don't go right, don't get done right? What if it takes more time to explain than to just do it yourself? But the reality is holding on to everything doesn't protect your business. It holds you and it holds the business back. Delegation is a skill, and when you master it, you really unlock a huge potential for, for your growth. Now, the other thing that is really important, that delegation requires a change in mindset and behavior. So if you follow our content, you follow me now for a while, you know that I always talk about business owners, especially in the early stages, They have to do everything. They have to learn the various aspects of the business: sales, marketing, operations, hiring, accounting, right? So we have, we have this Black Belt principle that is learn, implement, then, then seek help, then seek advice. So, so I'm all for business owners learning every aspect of the business because if you don't learn the various aspects of the business, how are you going to discern how and when to hire someone who will do a good job in that aspect. You cannot outsource sales to someone else. You as a business owner have to learn sales, have to do it, have to be out there hitting the pavement. And once you figure out a sales process that works for you, you can bring someone to amplify your work and, and maybe become really, really help you grow the business. So, so, so you're hearing these messages, you as a business owner have to do everything and learn everything and, and, and do it right and set up processes. And then now we're saying, well, you got to delegate to growth. And that is, that is how— that's— this is the art of, of, of growing the business, which is my next section here about the science and art of delegation. So on one hand, I want you to do everything to learn what's involved, but as soon as you've set up a process, as soon as you figured out how to onboard a client and you have a list of things to do and you have a presentation to share with the client on onboarding them, as an example, you can and you should look for someone to help you in that process. That could save you 2-3 hours that you can go out and you can be out there selling, marketing, building relationships. So there's that balance, that mindset. It's, it's a shift that has to happen in the mindset that initially I'm learning and I'm doing everything, including me hitting the mic here. But at one point, routine tasks, things that maybe I'm not great at but I had to do to figure out, then maybe I can bring someone to amplify the work and help me grow the business. So it's a mindset shift, and it's something that I think you have to conquer the new territory yourself as a business owner. And then as you figure things out, you can bring people in to help you grow and expand in these areas. Good. So which again, this is leading me to my next point about the science and art of delegation. So delegation is a mix. There's a bit of a structure and there's finesse. And when you get both right, you'll see results that really go beyond your expectations. And the science of delegation is the structure. It all starts with a structure. You need to define tasks clearly. What needs to be done? Why is it— why it is important? When you expect this task to be done by? And what success looks like? And then you match the task with someone who has the right skills and experience to execute the task. So that's the science part of it. So let me give you an example. Let's say you have a junior team member and you ask them to assign a task for them, maybe to design a logo for you. You've seen them do things maybe in Canva, but they haven't done any logo design before. So, so you're asking them to do a task that they're not ready for, especially if you need this tomorrow or the day after. So that's going to create stress for everyone. And the results, the outcome, the outcome will not be what you are looking for. So, so you want to set them up. You want to— whoever you're assigning the tasks or the projects or the initiatives to, you want to set them up to succeed by aligning tasks to their strengths. So that's, that's the science part, okay? The structure, the task matching, the task with the person who has the talent, the experience to complete that task. Now, the art of delegation, the art part of delegation is, I think this is where most people stumble. It's because they think it's just handing over a checklist or maybe I can just give them this task and disappear, come back in a week and they're done. So there's managing this process or keeping an eye on it without micromanaging. You want to monitor the progress, maybe set some micro milestones. Let's say there's a milestone to deliver a document to a client in 2 weeks. So instead of waiting 13 days, like 1 day before the deliverable is due, and checking on, checking on, on your team members whom you assigned the task to, maybe you can have 3 milestones. One 3 days after you assign the task, one next week, and one the day before. This way you are checking on your, your team member, and then you're making sure if there are issues, you're providing feedback. If they're a bit off track, you get them back on track. If they misunderstood the request, you have time to show them what you mean, what you intend, what you intended to communicate, and what the client's expectations are. So So this is, again, there's no formula for this, but the larger the task, the larger the initiative, the larger item that you are delegating, the more attention you want to give to this art part of it, that you are there for your team members. You might, they might not have all the resources they need. They might be waiting on you to give them maybe certain budgets or other resources. So you want to have that that support, that oversight without micromanaging. And in a way, you're building trust with your team members because you have given them a task and you're there for them when they're stuck. So keep that in mind. Again, there's the science part of it, structure, task, what skills, what experience they need for this task, and you map that with the with the person you assign the task to, and then that support, you know, keeping an eye on the progress that's made and being there for your team when they are executing on what you have delegated. Now I'll share with you an example from a team member. This is from a few companies in the past where we were doing— we're selling business to business. We have these significant 5 and 6-digit— 5 and 6-figure bids, and, and, you know, every proposal was almost— it was like a masterpiece. We would look at every, every, every paragraph, every sentence, that the sequence of, of the proposal, the client logos, the testimonials, the scope of the project, the deliverables. So, and I had gone through a lot of sales training and came up with a very nice winning proposal template that we were using with our clients. So I used that and then I had a mid-level salesperson. So we went through the onboarding process. They shadowed me. They figured out what we do and how we sell, and they started to sell on their own and they started to send proposals on their own. And part of our process, they would send, you know, before they send a proposal to the client, they would send me the proposal, the draft, the final draft for me to review it. So I would approve the pricing and the scope and all that, but then I was making a bunch of edits every time they send me a proposal. I would be looking at the— the pricing was fine and the scope of work was well-defined, but I kept making all these cosmetic changes to the proposal because I'm used to a certain flow of what we want to include in this document. My friend, my colleague, friend, still a friend, When he was pitching, when he was speaking with clients on his own, he, he followed a different formula and he wanted whatever he was pitching, whatever he was sharing with the clients and walking them through, he wanted to follow that same flow in his document. So he was changing the format of my proposal template, my winning proposal template, to his template. And every time he sent me this for weeks, I would make a lot of changes to the, to to the cosmetic part of it. So, but he was closing deals. So then he came to me and said, hey, Feras, I appreciate your feedback, especially about the scope of the project and the budget and the milestones. This is like what's really core, the essence of the proposal, but why do you keep changing the format on me? And it sort of hit me like, this guy is doing well. He's closing deals. He's using a different format that's working for him. I don't want to dictate how the document is going to look like. I mean, I want it to be professional, but if you want to move sections around and reposition things, and we ended up actually standardizing our proposal based on his template because it was better than my template. So when you are working with other folks in your company, if they're mid-level and senior, you would drive them nuts if you are micromanaging and dictating things. And they might just leave or they might just develop apathy. If you're working with junior people, junior folks, naturally they would need more handholding, more support. But at one point also, you want to let go and have them do things on their own and then check with you, agree with them on a process where they check with you when they're stuck or when there's a bigger task, you know, they maybe check with you more frequently. So that is on the art and the science of of delegation. So let's see if we have— again, if you're— thank you for those of you who are listening and watching live. If you have a question, leave us a comment. We'll be more than happy to address it at the end of this session. If we don't get to it this session, we can definitely address it next week. So how do— what I want to cover, a couple more sections here, and we'll wrap it up maybe in about 10 minutes or so. How to delegate effectively. So we talked about the science and the art. So the first part is identify what you want to delegate. So look at your workload, you as a business owner, as a manager, as a leader, where is your time spent? What tasks take up too much of your time? And they really don't require those tasks, these tasks, they don't require your personal input. So it could be admin work, scheduling. It could be some follow-ups on sales events that you attend. So some of those tasks you can package, set up a process for, and then you can hand off to someone else. So the other thing is match the tasks. As we said different times in this episode, you have to match the task to the right person. So you have to understand your team's strengths and weaknesses. And if you don't have a team yet, that's okay. You're probably relying on contractors, part-timers, interns, whatever the case might be. Make sure that tasks you assign to people is in line with their experience. And if it's not, if they don't have experience in this and you have time before the task needs to be done, then allow time for them to research, to learn, watch some videos, and come back to you and you help them learn what you want them to do. That's totally okay. But don't overlook experience. So the other thing to also keep in mind is that clear communication. So you want to, you want to clearly communicate expectations, exactly what you need to be done, when you want it to be done. Um, maybe if you have a specific way you want things done, sometimes it's okay to do that. But don't just say, write a report for me. Give me a report on your meeting with this client. That's very, very broad. You can be more specific. I need a 1-page summary of client feedback to present to the rest of the team members tomorrow morning. So, and I want it at least 1 hour before the meeting so I can review it and maybe chat with you about some of the feedback we received. So Not just go and do this, give them details. And the other one is, the other step here is to provide support and resources that people need. I've alluded to this earlier, but it's not delegation, it's not just throwing tasks over to your team and hoping for the best. Just make sure they have the tools, the training, assign a budget, tools, systems, whatever they need. They have to have access to it. So if, for example, you're delegating, let's say, a social media campaign, a social media campaign, you want to make sure they have access to the scheduling tools if you're using Zoho or something else. If you have some brand, you know, brand guidelines, your brand style guide, make sure they're aware of it. And if you have to say images that you use and these are approved images, make sure they have access to it. So without access to to these elements, it's going to be really hard for them to produce something that is in line with your brand and your messaging and what you have maybe doing things on your own. And the last thing here is about setting deadlines and milestones, and I think that's, these deadlines and expectations, they create accountability. So you should be very specific. You say, I need the first draft by Friday. So this way you have time for revisions before the final deadline next Wednesday. And again, if you're in a crunch, maybe you're tempted to do things on your own, understandable, but at times you can maybe delegate part of the deliverable so this way you can have more time to maybe get the input from the team member bundled all in and that will make up your final deliverable to the client. So, so that is, uh, those are steps will help you delegate effectively. And then in terms of accountability and tracking, uh, definitely you hear me say this all the time, I want you as a business owner just to use systems and processes, inexpensive systems initially. So using task management tools like Asana, Trello, We use Notion, Basecamp, whichever one you have. I think it doesn't matter early on. Eventually, as your needs evolve, you might need different, different tools, but use a tool to manage your task. This is the task. We have 10 tasks. I'm doing 3, you're doing 7. Here's when they're due. Here's who owns what. That helps a lot, especially as your company gets larger. Now the other thing is schedule a regular check-in, especially if you're doing a lot of delegation. Make sure you have, you know, 15 minutes a week or maybe 30 minutes a week where you speak, review progress, address questions, and offer guidance. And then when you provide feedback, as I always say, the way you as a business owner, as an entrepreneur The way you behave, the way you communicate with the clients, with your team members, that sets the tone for the entire organization. The way you deal with team members when there are issues, when they make a mistake, that's culture. So feedback isn't about just pointing out mistakes. It's about showing your team how to improve. It's something So if something goes wrong, explain what happened and why it matters. So you can say, for example, this section of the report did not address the client's main concern. This is going to lead to confusion. So next time, please focus on highlighting the top priorities, you know, upfront. Again, depending on the service, depending on what you're delegating, things won't be done the way you did them. It just— that's just how we're all different, right? But you can follow— everyone can follow a specific process. The outcome might be slightly different than maybe your own outcome, but if it gets the job done, if clients like it, if your clients are happy, then, then that's better. It doesn't have to be done your way exactly, you know, the same your way all the time in the exact same The same format. So, and then as always, in terms of reviewing, adjusting as needed, if a team member is struggling with a task, especially if it's like every time you give them a task, they're just struggling with it. Again, no pointing fingers, just sit down, not in the heat of the moment maybe, but a day later and say like, okay, we've been having these issues. I've been expecting you to deliver, you know, with this frequency at this time, and this is— these are the deliverables. Like, what's going on? Okay, so, so maybe, maybe they're just very busy. Maybe they're not clear. Maybe they didn't think it was that important to you to, to, to do things at a certain time. Maybe they, they, they have their own interpretation of, of what's important from a, from a maybe, um, their Let's say like when you launch your— when you schedule your social media post, maybe you want it to be done 9:00 AM and they had a reason to do it at 2:00 PM. So again, before we jump to conclusions, talk to these folks, talk to the people, understand what's going on, and then address the issues and encourage them and support them. So as we wrap up the episode today, remember, Delegation. Remember that you're building a business. Remember that you're building systems. You remember that you're setting the tone for your teams. This is the culture that you're creating. So delegation isn't just about lightening your workload, although this is one of the benefits, but it's also about scaling your impact. So when you let go of the right tasks, you create space for— you create mental space and actual physical space and time-space for you to think and execute on bigger opportunities. And you create a culture where people feel motivated. They want to deliver. They want to do their best work. And when your team knows you trust them, they'll take ownership and they'll strive for excellence and make you proud. And at the end of the day, help the bottom line. So start small. To summarize, start small. Choose one task. week to delegate. If you haven't done this before, use the steps we talked about earlier in terms of building trust, clarity, and accountability, and build this muscle of delegation. It's a skill you can master, and when you do, the possibilities are endless. So start today. You've got this. So again, thank you so much for being with us here. I do want to say a couple things. If you are liking this content, If you're whichever platform you're on, hit the like button. Leave us a review. If you're listening to the podcast, if you're on YouTube, check out our channel Startup with Feras Feras that is, and share share what you're hearing, share what you're listening with those who would benefit from it, and click the like button and leave us a comment. We would appreciate it. And we we have our Black Belt Startup. Program. You can go, you can check it out at blackbeltstartup.com. It is a training and coaching program. We have a complete curriculum from vetting the idea all the way to growing the team, you know, sales, marketing, business planning, hiring people, all of that available content, over 50 or so modules. And then part of that program, we have weekly office hours. So if you're stuck, if you're getting stuck in your business, you can come to the office hours and I'm there to help you and assist you overcome the challenges, and then we also provide with an individualized roadmap, so check it out at blackbeltstartup.com, and then as we always say this with my background in martial arts, we've, you know, things that have helped me grow and taste some of the success is these principles, these time-tested, time-honored principles both in business and in martial arts that help us, help me grow, and I hope to pass those on to you. And then last but not least, there's no annual obligation. This program is month to month, so check it out. I think you'll get a lot of value, and then if it's not something for you, then there's no long-term commitment. That's it for today. Again, leave us a question, leave us a comment. Let us know what you think, and we appreciate you and appreciate the community all the time. See you next time. Bye.