Latest / The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson / The Delegation Dilemma: When Control Holds You Back
Transcript
- 0:38Jennifer Johnson: Today, we're going to chat about one of the most emotionally challenging aspects of growing a business.
- 0:44Jennifer Johnson: Learning to trust other people with something that you've poured your heart, soul, and every waking moment into your business baby.
- 0:52Jennifer Johnson: I want to start with a moment that perfectly captures this struggle.
- 0:56Jennifer Johnson: A few years ago, I was getting ready to take my first real vacation in many, many years.
- 1:01Jennifer Johnson: And I was, as I was preparing to leave, I found myself writing all these detailed instructions for my team about everything, how to respond to emails, what to do if this came up, that came up.
- 1:11Jennifer Johnson: But even with all that preparation, I spent the entire first day of my vacation checking emails and taking calls, basically working.
- 1:21Jennifer Johnson: My family was frustrated.
- 1:23Jennifer Johnson: My team was confused about why I was still involved when I was supposed to have delegated everything to them, but I was stressed.
- 1:31Jennifer Johnson: That's when I realized the problem wasn't my team or that my business was too complex to run without me.
- 1:40Jennifer Johnson: The problem was me.
- 1:41Jennifer Johnson: I couldn't let go.
- 1:43Jennifer Johnson: I created the business that I love that represented my vision and values.
- 1:47Jennifer Johnson: And I felt like that was an extension of myself.
- 1:49Jennifer Johnson: And it was.
- 1:51Jennifer Johnson: But it was really hard to trust someone.
- 1:54Jennifer Johnson: If you've ever felt like nobody else can handle your business the way that you can, or if you've struggled to delegate responsibilities because you're afraid of people will mess things up, I'm talking to you.
- 2:07Jennifer Johnson: I want to talk about this trust issue.
- 2:11Jennifer Johnson: And it's so common in entrepreneurs and it's limiting your business growth.
- 2:17Jennifer Johnson: And we're going to talk about how to gradually build that kind of trust that allows other people who actually care about your business and have the same dedication that you have to run with it.
- 2:28Jennifer Johnson: So, unlike employees who can leave the job at the office, entrepreneurs invest everything: their time, money, reputation, dreams, everything into their business.
- 2:40Jennifer Johnson: You probably worked nights and weekends, made a lot of personal sacrifices.
- 2:46Jennifer Johnson: And this level of investment creates an emotional attachment that goes far beyond your professional interest.
- 2:51Jennifer Johnson: Your business isn't just how you make your money, it's a reflection of your visions and values.
- 2:57Jennifer Johnson: And when someone else handles part of that, it feels like you're handing off part of yourself.
- 3:02Jennifer Johnson: Now I remember the first time that I had to let somebody else do a lot of the work.
- 3:07Jennifer Johnson: And even though my team member was fully qualified, watching them represent my business felt incredibly vulnerable.
- 3:16Jennifer Johnson: What if they said the wrong thing?
- 3:17Jennifer Johnson: What if they didn't say what we really do?
- 3:20Jennifer Johnson: Or what if they didn't connect with the customer?
- 3:25Jennifer Johnson: Now, most entrepreneurs started their business because they had the vision for doing something better than what already existed.
- 3:32Jennifer Johnson: The commitment to quality often becomes a source of anxiety when trusting other people because they're afraid that other people will not maintain those same standards.
- 3:42Jennifer Johnson: And many entrepreneurs worry that clients won't receive the same level of service or attention from other team members that they would have if they were personally involved.
- 3:53Jennifer Johnson: Now, my friends, when you handle everything yourself, you have the illusion of complete control about certain outcomes.
- 4:02Jennifer Johnson: You know exactly how things are going to be done because you're doing them, and you know what standards will be applied because you're applying them.
- 4:09Jennifer Johnson: But the problem is there's a lot of hidden costs to that.
- 4:14Jennifer Johnson: One is growth.
- 4:16Jennifer Johnson: When you can't trust other people with significant responsibilities, your business growth is capped by how much you can actually do.
- 4:24Jennifer Johnson: You can only handle so many clients, you can only oversee so many projects, and that creates a hard ceiling on your business growth that can only be broken by leveraging other people's capabilities.
- 4:38Jennifer Johnson: Then you have the innovation stagnation.
- 4:41Jennifer Johnson: When you're involved in every aspect, you're too close to see the opportunities.
- 4:46Jennifer Johnson: Other people bring fresh perspectives and different approaches that you may not have been able to bring.
- 4:55Jennifer Johnson: Not to mention the founder burnout, because that is such a true thing.
- 5:01Jennifer Johnson: You work long hours, you handle things more, you have stress and more stress than one person should carry.
- 5:09Jennifer Johnson: And it's very real.
- 5:11Jennifer Johnson: You you stun your team development, or stunt, I should say.
- 5:15Jennifer Johnson: You stunt your team development.
- 5:17Jennifer Johnson: When you don't trust other people, you prevent them from developing the skills and confidence that they need.
- 5:22Jennifer Johnson: And guess what?
- 5:23Jennifer Johnson: That's a vicious cycle because they never get the opportunity to learn anything new because you are always jutting in.
- 5:32Jennifer Johnson: And then there's the last part.
- 5:35Jennifer Johnson: The value of your business is significantly less than that is if you were to create your business and then be able to teach other people how to run your business.
- 5:47Jennifer Johnson: It definitely limits the value and the attractiveness to your business.
- 5:51Jennifer Johnson: So, how do you go about this?
- 5:53Jennifer Johnson: Jennifer, you've talked a good talk here.
- 5:55Jennifer Johnson: You've convinced me, but how do I do this?
- 5:58Jennifer Johnson: Well, I'm going to give you a few, a few tips.
- 6:01Jennifer Johnson: Start with low risk, high visibility things.
- 6:04Jennifer Johnson: Okay.
- 6:05Jennifer Johnson: So things that are important enough to be meaningful, but low risk, that that you may be client check-ins or managing social media posting, things like that.
- 6:15Jennifer Johnson: Things that you are completely comfortable delegating to someone, then you're going to actually document that and train them on how to do all of it.
- 6:25Jennifer Johnson: Create checkpoints and feedback loops.
- 6:56Jennifer Johnson: So creating checkpoints and feedback loops where you can review their work to make sure that they are doing what you've asked of them because that gives you confidence that they're doing what you're asking them to do.
- 7:08Jennifer Johnson: Progressive responsibility.
- 7:10Jennifer Johnson: Gradually increase the responsibility that you give them because someone might start handling a routine, maybe it's client communications, and then you can move them to managing the entire client relationship.
- 7:23Jennifer Johnson: Different aspects of your business require different approaches to building the trust because they involve different levels and of risk and different types of skills.
- 7:33Jennifer Johnson: Client uh relationships and communications.
- 7:36Jennifer Johnson: This is uh another great spot.
- 7:39Jennifer Johnson: Start by having team members handle routine client communications.
- 7:43Jennifer Johnson: Will you handle the more complex things?
- 7:46Jennifer Johnson: As long as you give them clear guidelines about when to escalate that.
- 7:49Jennifer Johnson: That's the key here.
- 7:51Jennifer Johnson: Giving them the ability to escalate something if they feel they can't handle it.
- 7:57Jennifer Johnson: Financial management and decision making.
- 7:59Jennifer Johnson: Now, this is probably one of the hardest because it could have serious consequences if not done correctly.
- 8:07Jennifer Johnson: So start by delegating routine things like invoice processing, or maybe it's expense tracking before moving to more significant responsibilities like budget managing and that kind of thing.
- 8:19Jennifer Johnson: Then you have your operations and your quality control.
- 8:22Jennifer Johnson: Operational trust involves ensuring that work is getting done according to your standards and that quality remains consistent.
- 8:30Jennifer Johnson: So start by delegating specific operational tasks, but give clear criteria around it.
- 8:36Jennifer Johnson: That's probably one of the most important things is to have clear goals and you know, these are the metrics that I expect.
- 8:45Jennifer Johnson: Then you have strategic planning and business development.
- 8:49Jennifer Johnson: That's usually the highest level of trust that's required because it involves decisions that really impact the direction and the future of your business.
- 8:57Jennifer Johnson: So start by including team members in strategic discussions and planning so that they understand how you think and how you approach things.
- 9:05Jennifer Johnson: Then you can gradually delegate specific strategic projects while still, you know, maintaining that oversight.
- 9:13Jennifer Johnson: There are a lot of barriers that prevent entrepreneurs from developing this trust with their team.
- 9:20Jennifer Johnson: So when you recognize what they are, it is crucial that you pay attention to them because it's what's going to help you get past that.
- 9:28Jennifer Johnson: So one is perfectionism.
- 9:30Jennifer Johnson: Nobody can do it just like me because they are not perfect.
- 9:33Jennifer Johnson: Well, you know what?
- 9:35Jennifer Johnson: If people can do it 70 or 80% of the accuracy or the how you perceive is the best way, in my opinion, that's good.
- 9:47Jennifer Johnson: Then the communication and feedback avoidance.
- 9:50Jennifer Johnson: Some entrepreneurs can't give direct feedback because they don't want to hurt people's feelings.
- 9:55Jennifer Johnson: But avoiding that prevents that trust from developing because problems don't get addressed.
- 10:01Jennifer Johnson: And then there's the whole time factor.
- 10:03Jennifer Johnson: Well, I don't have time to train someone.
- 10:05Jennifer Johnson: There's no way.
- 10:07Jennifer Johnson: How can you not afford to?
- 10:09Jennifer Johnson: Look at how much time you're investing in helping them.
- 10:13Jennifer Johnson: It's going to get you further down the road and growing faster than you ever imagined.
- 10:19Jennifer Johnson: And then another one that's really hard is the identity and purpose confusion.
- 10:23Jennifer Johnson: Well, they're going to take my job.
- 10:26Jennifer Johnson: If you own a business, hopefully you don't own a job.
- 10:31Jennifer Johnson: Now, what I mean by that is if you are working in your business every day, you have a job.
- 10:37Jennifer Johnson: If you have been able to grow your business to the point that you're not working in it every day, not saying that you can't work in your business, but working in your business every day can indicate that you bought yourself a job or you created a job for yourself.
- 10:52Jennifer Johnson: You want them to be able to manage without you because that is very important.
- 10:59Jennifer Johnson: Now, there's some tools and things that you can use in order to make sure that you're creating the systems that support that trust.
- 11:07Jennifer Johnson: You can the clear standards and expectations, document what you want done and document, document, document.
- 11:15Jennifer Johnson: Come up with frameworks for making decisions.
- 11:20Jennifer Johnson: So, what does that look like?
- 11:22Jennifer Johnson: It may include criteria for evaluating options, guidelines, all of those things.
- 11:27Jennifer Johnson: And then come up with communication protocols.
- 11:30Jennifer Johnson: Establish regular communication routines that keep them and yourself informed, maybe weekly reports or monthly, however, you want to do it, however often you want them to check in and you want to check in with them.
- 11:43Jennifer Johnson: Then you need the monitoring and feedback systems.
- 11:47Jennifer Johnson: What kind of system are you going to create that will allow you to monitor their work?
- 11:52Jennifer Johnson: Remember, these things are created once.
- 11:55Jennifer Johnson: So you're creating these mechanisms and you're going to have them for everything that you do.
- 12:04Jennifer Johnson: Now, the other component that we haven't talked about yet is building that trust-based culture.
- 12:09Jennifer Johnson: It requires intentional effort.
- 12:11Jennifer Johnson: It absolutely does, but it supports accountability and autonomy with your team, which is such an important part.
- 12:20Jennifer Johnson: And a huge part of that is that psychological safety.
- 12:24Jennifer Johnson: People want to know that they're in an environment where they're not going to be judged or yelled at or fired for that matter for creating a mistake.
- 12:33Jennifer Johnson: Create an environment where it's okay to make a mistake.
- 12:36Jennifer Johnson: It's a learning opportunity.
- 12:38Jennifer Johnson: Recognition and appreciation.
- 12:41Jennifer Johnson: That is something that is so crucial as well.
- 12:44Jennifer Johnson: It's very, very important because people want to know that they are appreciated.
- 12:56Jennifer Johnson: They are your greatest asset to your business.
- 12:59Jennifer Johnson: They are your business.
- 13:00Jennifer Johnson: Without them, you would not have a business.
- 13:03Jennifer Johnson: Autonomy and authority balance.
- 13:06Jennifer Johnson: Give people enough autonomy to do their jobs while still maintaining appropriate oversight and accountability.
- 13:12Jennifer Johnson: Don't just set it and forget it.
- 13:14Jennifer Johnson: This balance requires clear authority levels and good communication.
- 13:18Jennifer Johnson: And it also includes regular feedback.
- 13:22Jennifer Johnson: Now, how do you measure this?
- 13:24Jennifer Johnson: How do you measure if this is actually you're actually getting somewhere?
- 13:29Jennifer Johnson: Well, how do you feel?
- 13:31Jennifer Johnson: Where are you spending your time?
- 13:33Jennifer Johnson: Is it you're delegating uh all these responsibilities?
- 13:37Jennifer Johnson: Awesome.
- 13:38Jennifer Johnson: That's what you're supposed to be able to do.
- 13:40Jennifer Johnson: So you can focus on strategic work.
- 13:42Jennifer Johnson: Are you working less hours?
- 13:43Jennifer Johnson: You're working more hours.
- 13:46Jennifer Johnson: And then your team member satisfaction and engagement.
- 13:49Jennifer Johnson: What does that look like?
- 13:50Jennifer Johnson: How do your how does your team feel?
- 13:53Jennifer Johnson: Is your business growing?
- 13:56Jennifer Johnson: Have you seen any growth in your business?
- 13:59Jennifer Johnson: Those are all questions that you need to ask yourself.
- 14:03Jennifer Johnson: And then there's the inevitable.
- 14:05Jennifer Johnson: What happens when trust needs to be rebuilt?
- 14:08Jennifer Johnson: Someone, someone did something and it went off the rails.
- 14:14Jennifer Johnson: Well, you assess and address your issues directly.
- 14:19Jennifer Johnson: And do it immediately.
- 14:21Jennifer Johnson: Don't let time go by.
- 14:23Jennifer Johnson: Clear communication about what went wrong or what needs to change is essential for rebuilding that trust.
- 14:29Jennifer Johnson: And sometimes trust issues arise because expectations weren't clear, because people didn't have the right support or they didn't have the right direction, training.
- 14:41Jennifer Johnson: So make sure that you know what they know what the expectation is going into it.
- 14:48Jennifer Johnson: When rebuilding trust, return to lower levels of responsibility initially, and then rebuild it gradually, just as you would for building trust for the first time.
- 14:58Jennifer Johnson: This approach to doing it gradually allows confidence to be rebuilt on both sides.
- 15:04Jennifer Johnson: So as we wrap up today's episode, I want to remind you that learning to trust others with your business isn't about caring less about your business.
- 15:11Jennifer Johnson: It's about caring enough to help it grow beyond what you can personally do.
- 15:17Jennifer Johnson: Your business baby will always be precious to you.
- 15:20Jennifer Johnson: And that protective instinct isn't something that you need to eliminate completely.
- 15:24Jennifer Johnson: But when that protectiveness prevents others from contributing to your business and it limits your growth, that's when you realize, hmm, I need to make a change.
- 15:37Jennifer Johnson: This doesn't happen overnight.
- 15:39Jennifer Johnson: The change doesn't, and it doesn't happen by accident.
- 15:42Jennifer Johnson: It requires intentional effort to build trust gradually and create those systems that support the excellence in their team and developing that communication and feedback that allows trust to flourish.
- 15:56Jennifer Johnson: Remember, the goal isn't to become uninvolved in your business, it's to become involved in the right ways.
- 16:01Jennifer Johnson: Instead of being involved in every operational detail, you become involved in strategy and leadership.
- 16:07Jennifer Johnson: Your business will always be your baby.
- 16:09Jennifer Johnson: But even babies need to grow up and become independent.
- 16:13Jennifer Johnson: The entrepreneurs that build truly valuable and sustainable businesses are those who learn to let go gradually.
- 16:20Jennifer Johnson: They're the ones who build trust systematically and the ones who create environments where other people can care for their business with the same dedication that they bring to it.