Business is an exciting playing field for the entrepreneur who wants to build a business that’s bigger than themselves. Yet when trying to delegate effectively there are some little games that it’s very easy to get trapped in playing.
Here are five business games that will demolish your best attempts at delegating.
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Michael Jordan
SHOW AND TELL:
The first is a game of Show and Tell. Now in business, it’s not enough to simply show and tell your team members how to do the work you would like them to do. Effective delegation requires recorded instruction tools, permanently stored within the business resources document. Record task instructions with screenshotted instruction videos, to clearly spell out exactly how the task needs to be done, so it can be done well every single time, without confusion.
DIZZY WHIZZ:
The next business game that business owners often get stuck in, is what I like to call Dizzy Whizz. It’s the game where the business owner dumps too many tasks on a poor team member, so much so that they couldn’t possibly keep up with it all. Instead, you should create a logical progression of tasks that you can step your team members through, and train them incrementally. Support them with your recorded instruction tools so that they are not left with their heads spinning.
HIDE AND SEEK:
The next game is the classic Hide and Seek. If you’re playing this game, it means your people are unable to find the resources that they require to do the work, meaning they can’t work independently. Make sure that all the resources to support the task completion are stored effectively, in very well organised resource retrieval systems. By doing a little bit of work to set this up for clients and staff, you can cut down workplace confusion, and halve the time needed to do a task.
LUCKY DIP:
The next game is called Lucky Dip, it is where your staff are picking tasks at random, hoping they’re doing the right thing at the right time. Now, for delegation to be effective, it’s not only about what to do but when to do those jobs. If your team becomes confused about what actually needs to be done and when, you’ll be frustrated because you’re not getting their best performance. You can avoid playing this game by making tasks and their timing clear for your team.
20 QUESTIONS:
And the last game is a classic in business, a game of 20 questions. This is where you’ve delegated the task but your staff continue to come back with more and more questions because their goal and how to achieve it has not been made clear enough. Here you need to go back to building up the support tools, build out the training workflows that will step them through their tasks logically and sequentially, so that your staff are trained well, and they can perform at their best.
Hopefully, this article has been helpful towards you delegating to empower your team, and if you recognise any of these games being played, now you can avoid them in the future!
