When you first started your business, you probably handled everything yourself. You were the owner, manager, manufacturer and sales person.
You were probably also the marketing person, the inventory manager, the accountant, and the customer service representative.
You were the jack-of-all-trades, who successfully wore many hats, operating comfortably at 100% capacity.
But as your business grew, so did its daily demands, and the number of hours in a day stayed the same. Soon your comfortable 100% capacity that allowed for a good work-life balance was now clocking in at 120% or 130%.
So what did you do? If you were following the advice of The Entrepreneurial Operating System™, you completed a two-step process called Delegate and Elevate.
What is Delegate and Elevate?
Delegate and Elevate is a process that means passing along some job responsibilities and tasks to someone else (Delegate) so you can do what you are uniquely qualified to do (Elevate) and your business can grow.
Delegate and Elevate are necessary parts of a successful business. If you consistently operate above 100% capacity, you and your business suffer in the following ways:
- Your company will hit the ceiling. Your business can’t realize future growth or break through the ceiling because there are not enough hours in the day for one person to achieve it all.
- You’re holding the company back. Without reorganizing and reprioritizing, your company will not be all that it could be.
- You will burn out. By taking on work beyond your capacity, you are potentially spending time doing things that you’re not great at or love to do. You’ll become frustrated, overwhelmed and tired.
How Your Company Can Be Its Best
If you find yourself or any of your employees operating above capacity, it’s time to take action.
- Call a meeting with your leadership team. Discuss the need for everyone to learn to Delegate and Elevate so the company can continue to move forward and grow.
- Review your accountability chart. Be sure that you have the right people in the right seats. Only then will you feel comfortable beginning the process of Delegating and Elevating.
- Reassign seats. If you have a person who occupies two seats on the Accountability Chart and they are feeling overwhelmed, it may be time to move that person to only one seat.
- Reallocate the workload. If a person occupies only one seat but is operating above capacity, you may need to assign certain projects to other people. You may also need to decide if the work continues to be necessary for the greater good of the organization.
- Frequently visit your ultimate goal. The purpose of Delegate and Elevate is to ensure that every member of the leadership team and your organization as a whole is doing exactly what they are best at, and are becoming ever more skillful. Every decision you make should support this goal.
Exceeding capacity is a good sign – it means your customers are spreading the word and coming back for more. Delegate the excess workload to other capable employees who have the time and talent to do the job, and watch your company Elevate to the next level.
Do you need to Delegate and Elevate your company? If so, contact us. We can help.
About EOS
EOS is a holistic management system with simple tools that help you do three things we call vision, traction, healthy. Vision from the standpoint of first getting your leaders 100% on the same page with where your organization is going. Traction from the standpoint of helping your leaders to become more disciplined and accountable, executing really well to achieve every part of your vision. Healthy meaning helping your leaders to become a healthy, functional, cohesive leadership team.
