As a business owner, you’re familiar with the concept of delegation. You can’t be good at everything, so you hire people to help you do what you don’t like to do, or those things that aren’t the best use of your time. There is a fine line to be tread though. There are two extremes to avoid.
The extreme that we’ve seen more often is where the business owner doesn’t delegate at all and tries to do everything himself, or he does delegate, but then breathes down everyone’s neck. People don’t get anything productive done if they’re under constant pressure. It’s also a waste of time to be hovering over someone.
The other extreme is potentially more dangerous. Abdication is when the business owner hands over responsibilities to someone and never checks on them. I use the word abdication because the owner actively gives up his authority and lets someone else completely control a part of his business. In dentistry, the person the dentist often abdicates authority to is the office manager. A good office manager is worth their weight in gold, but even the best office manager needs to be monitored. This position is often the one where opportunities for embezzlement are found.
True delegation is when you hand over responsibilities to someone else, but you have checks and balances and both parties understand what those are. The point of delegating is the take stuff off your plate, so don’t put it back on by being controlling. In order to avoid abdication, have a process in place so you can monitor how everyone is doing. An easy example is with your finances; you may not reconcile and do stuff in Quickbooks, but you should regularly look at your bank statements and review your financial reports to make sure there are no anomalies.
Delegation is the key to a healthy business and a healthy life balance, just be careful to avoid the extremes.