Don’t be afraid to delegate

> Getting Past The Caution

Advisor: This might be something you don’t hear too often, but I think we are having too much success in our practice! I love the sense of growth and progress and, of course, the financial rewards. But I am increasingly feeling as if I am losing control of my business. It is starting to run me rather than the other way around.

I have a support team of two people who have been with me several years; yet, it seems that most of the increased workload is falling on me. In fact, when I suggested we should consider hiring another person, they both disagreed, saying that they could take on more duties instead.

They are both good workers and I am confident in their abilities, but I am not sure I am ready to give them greater responsibility. This is an important period of exceptional growth in my practice. My clients have put their faith in me and what I can do for them; I don’t want to let any of my new clients down. Am I being too cautious or just plain dumb?

Coach says: You are obviously doing a number of things very well to be able to attract so many new clients at this time.

Let me make the point that you are not alone in feeling the way you do. Financial advisory practices go through various stages of development, from startup to succession, and each phase presents its own challenges.

From your description, it appears you have recently crossed over that imaginary line between focusing on growing your practice to focusing on managing that growth.

The good news is that you can apply the lessons learned in the previous stage to your new emphasis. For example, when you first started out, you learned that there are many things to be done to build a successful practice. But when you worked alone, there was a limit to what you could do, regardless of how hard you worked.

Consequently, there were only so many clients you could help by doing these tasks. And, because the number of clients you could manage was limited, so was your success.

So, what did you do about it? You hired someone to help you, and then another; now, you are contemplating hiring a third person.

Here’s the problem, however. Regardless of how many people you hire, if you’re good at your job as an advisor, people will want even more from you personally. That is the pressure you are now experiencing and why you have a real sense of work overload. But you can’t do everything that everyone wants, and that is causing you stress and making you feel that you’re letting people down.

So, what is the solution? You might be surprised to learn that the clues are in your own description of your business today. Let me paraphrase what you said:

“I have an experienced and capable support team; I am taking on more of the increased workload than they are; when I suggested hiring another person, they said it wasn’t necessary; this is too important for me to trust others to help.”

It sounds pretty straightforward to me, without oversimplifying it: you are afraid to delegate.

But take heart in the knowledge that, again, you are not alone. Most of us have a tough time giving up what we feel are critical tasks, due to two basic beliefs. First, no one can do the these tasks as well as we can; and, second, it would take more effort to show others how to do things the way we want than to do them ourselves.

Let’s examine the logic (or lack thereof) behind those two sentiments.

“I can do it better than anyone else.” Of course, you can! Because of your years of experience, there are few things that go on in your practice that you cannot do well.

The obvious question, however, is: how will anyone else ever learn? By meaningfully involving other people, you help to develop their skills and abilities.

As a result, the next time pressure starts to build, you can delegate tasks to them with the confidence that they will be done well, and with much less involvement from you.

“It is easier to do it myself than to teach someone else.” Although, on the surface, it often appears easier to do something yourself than to explain it to another person, chances are extremely good that your skills are better used elsewhere.

Go back to your Economics 101 textbook and reread the section on the Law of Comparative Advantage, which states, basically, that a person has a comparative advantage at doing something if he or she can do it at lower cost. For example, if you are doing $20/hour administrative tasks that take you away from $500/hour tasks, such as developing new clients, you would still be further ahead to delegate that administrative duty to someone else, even if that person is not as effective as you.

In this example, it would have to take someone else more than 25 times longer to perform the task before you would gain comparative advantage by doing it yourself. Having a comparative advantage is not the same as being the best at something. In fact, someone can be completely unskilled at doing something, yet still have a comparative advantage at doing it because the opportunity costs of having someone else do it are so high.

The bottom line is that delegation allows you to make the best use of your time and skills, and it helps other people on the team grow and develop to reach their full potential.

None of this, however, means that you can delegate just anything. To determine when delegation is most appropriate, ask yourself four questions:

1. Am I the only person qualified for this task? For example, if it requires having a license, and you are the only licensed person in your practice, the task falls to you.

2. Is there someone else who has (or can be given) the necessary knowledge to complete the task, even though they may not do it to the standard I would?

3. Is this a task that will recur, in a similar form, in the future?

4. Is this task an opportunity to develop another person’s skills and help them grow in their job?

If you can answer “No” to the first question and “Yes” to the other three, that task is probably worth delegating.

That being said, having all these conditions present is no guarantee that the delegated task will be completed successfully. You also need to consider the experience, knowledge and skills of the person to whom you will delegate, as these apply to the delegated task. Be cautious, as well, of that person’s current workload, so that he or she won’t become overwhelmed.

Assuming you have the right person, make sure you take time to explain your goals for the assignment, why you chose that person, what you expect from them and the resources upon which they can draw. You also should agree to a schedule for progress updates.

It is important to give your delegate permission to come to you if any problems occur that might impede their progress or if they want your further guidance as the work progresses.

Also bear in mind that delegation doesn’t mean abdicating control altogether. You have to strike the sometimes difficult balance between giving enough space to people that they can use their abilities to best effect while still monitoring and supporting them closely enough to ensure that the job is done well. At the end of the day, as CEO of your practice, you are still responsible for what is accomplished and how well it gets done.

At first glance, delegation can feel like more hassle than it’s worth. However, by delegating effectively, you can significantly expand the amount of work that you personally can deliver and raise your service to your new clients to a level that far exceeds their expectations.  IE

George Hartman is president of Market Logics Inc. in Toronto. Send questions, comments and opinions on any aspect of practice management to
george@marketlogics.ca.