Delegation for Dummies

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Delegation is super simple. Yet most people screw it up.

I’m going to give you a quick guide on delegating that you can use for the rest of your career.

I currently am responsible for 100+ employees and none of them live within 2500 miles of me so (trust me bro).

Delegation is predictability at scale. To grow out of the $250k to $3M revenue game, you better learn how to delegate.

You are a chef. Your employees are not.

In a kitchen you have a head chef and you have cooks. The chef is responsible for everything that gets put on the table in a restaurant. A cook may be responsible for pastries, or sauces, or cutting vegetables. When you delegate to a cook, only do so with a well defined recipe. How to do a task. When to do a task. And what to do when you are not able to complete a task. You can use Loom to build great SOPs/Recipes quickly and easily.

Define the “playing field”

What latitudes does your team have? Do they know? Have you even established them?
Defining the “playing field” is best explained by a lesson from Four Seasons. Their front desk staff is authorized to fix any issue for a customer up to $500. This defines what they can and can’t do and also gives them authority and decision making power.

Here is how you define the playing field:

Purpose and Values: These set the overall direction and ethical framework for the company.

Spend: This defines how much money can be spent on the business's behalf without needing higher approval.

Policies and Procedures: These establish clear rules and guidelines for various operational aspects.

Once an employee understands the company values & policies, they should be able to make decisions on behalf of the company. Decisions you can be happy with because they are inside the playing field.

Abhor Authority

Once, and ONLY ONCE you have defined the playing field for your team, you can now abhor authority. This tweet from @XavierHelgesen explains it perfectly.

An empowered team that has an established playing field along with detailed recipes is a team that can execute violently against the vision set by the leader.

I have implemented this in PCS (our facilities management business) as well as Pavago (our global recruiting business) to great effect. It is the most vital concept to understand if you want to become an effective delegator.

Leaders delegate goals. Managers delegate tasks. Front line workers execute the vision.

At Pavago this is how that looks in practice:

Leader to Management: I want to present candidates to clients in 5 business days or less. (This is a goal)
 

Management to Recruiters: Have an intro call on day 1. Post job on all channels within 4 hours. Schedule interviews for day 3 & 4. Aggressively follow up with candidates daily. (These are tasks)

Recruiters: Execute on tasks which in turn executes on the goal.

Note that all this must be tracked and reported up to the leaders of an org in case they want to adjust the goals or vision.

Likely Breaking Points to Delegating Effectively:

Fear of Loss of Control: Feeling like lack of control over tasks will diminish the output of the company.

Perfectionism: Thinking that you can complete the task better or faster than others.

Here’s the thing, both things might be true and you still need to delegate.

Delegation is not a pursuit of perfection. It is simply the pursuit of predictable outputs at scale.

As a leader it is your job to know what is going on in the woods, but it is not your job to work in those woods. A leader needs perspective. A leader needs to talk to customers, vendors, colleagues to see where the industry is headed. A leader needs to allow the cooks to execute on the wonderful dishes their head chef has conceived.

So here’s to you chef. Let’s get started on those recipes!

Additional Notes:

• TRIBE just announced their Jackson Hole, WY retreat along with their book of the month “Purple Cow” which members will deep dive on.

• Access amazing global talent in places like Latin America for just a $500 yearly membership in partnership with Pavago.

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