Delegate Like A Rock Star?

In the early days of a band, the lead singer is booking venues, pricing merch, hauling the amps, and cleaning up the van after a month on the road. When you don’t have money or resources, you have to do things yourself.

However, imagine if Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon Five, or Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters appeared after a gig with a mop and some disinfectant wipes.

They wouldn’t… because they couldn’t have made it to rock star status without learning to delegate along the way. And the same goes for you.

As a leader, your job is to hand off the day-to-day responsibilities, so you can guide the company into a profitable and successful future.

There’s a great book I read on this subject called ‘Who Not How.” If you’re going to be able to focus on the important activities that get your booking or sales, or whatever help you hone your skill, you have to find who to delegate to so you can practice and rehearse.  You have to get rid of the 80% of busy and distracting things and focus on the 20% that gets you rock-star results.

There are some best practices when it comes to delegating, and learning them will help your business grow.

How to Delegate

1. Understand what you can and can’t delegate. There are certain responsibilities that, as a leader or the face of an organization, you must do. This could be HR duties (before you have an HR department), delivering information to the press or shareholders, or even closing that huge sale. On the other hand, there are numerous activities one of your staff members could do. It’s okay to give paperwork, prospecting, and smaller sales to someone else. You might also want to delegate assignments;
   1. to challenge an employee and see if they step up
   2. because you aren’t the best at doing something, and someone else could do it better, faster, and for less money.

Every task you handle takes you away from something else you could be doing.

2. Choose who will take on the responsibility. If an individual is in distress and you approach them to give CPR, you are to point at a specific person and instruct them to call 911. What you can’t do, is say, “Someone call 911!” Why? Because “someone” isn’t in the room and everyone will assume someone else is handling it. The same goes for delegation. Don’t say that “someone” needs to take the work off your plate; choose the best person for the task at hand and then communicate who that someone is.
3. Clearly communicate what you need to be done and the desired outcome. Notice I didn’t say “how to?” Responsibilities should be delegated to people you trust. There’s often no need to helicopter manage how they go about the task, especially if you are delegating because they can do a better job than you. Let them know what needs to be done and what you’d like to see as a finished product, and then trust that you’ve chosen the right person for the job.

Leading an organization or even a department can be exhausting and a time suck. Take a cue from rock stars that know, and surround yourself with great people. When it’s time to delegate, understand what can be passed off to an employee, or team member and choose a specific person to complete the task, and clearly communicate what needs to be done and how it must turn out.

You’ll empower your team members, build trust, keep them engages, give them purpose and hope, keep them in the band, and take the weight of the world off of your shoulders. Rock On.

If you happen to be looking for a keynote speaker in Nashville, book a call with Marvelless Mark today.