Case study: How delegating benefits my business

WHO: Duncan Green, managing director of Green Locations Ltd.

WHAT: South London-based independent residential lettings and property-management company.

THE ISSUE: How to deal with a demanding workload.

THE SOLUTION: "I started my business from scratch and was used to being the main decision-maker. I wasn't too keen to let much of my work be taken out of my hands, but I began to realise that I was too busy to focus on the more important strategic decisions about how to develop the business.

"It became apparent that my employees were capable of doing some of my work themselves. Whenever I was away, they dealt with things effectively.

"The company had reached a critical stage and I realised I needed to offload some work. Now, with my good managers, everything runs smoothly and I'm happy to give some of them full autonomy.

"Trust is important when delegating, but some employees will be more comfortable with it than others. You have to be prepared to take a risk sometimes, for example if the employee hasn't done the work before or doesn't have the necessary experience. Sometimes we have to throw people in at the deep end, but we always provide assistance and never abandon them to tasks they can't do.

"I am always there to support my employees and want to be seen to be available if they are overloaded. You can't just walk away from a task, even if you've delegated it to somebody else. I monitor my employees' workflow and we have systems in place to guard against them becoming too stretched, either by sharing work around or by me taking some of it back.

"Communication with employees about tasks they're taking on is important. But this means explaining what you need, rather than telling them how to do it. My employees might do something differently to the way I would, but providing they carry out tasks ethically and get the same or a better result, that's fine.

"There has been a learning curve for me in the delegation process, partly because some of my team lacked experience. Becoming confident enough to delegate regularly didn't happen overnight, but my employees developed with me. As I became more confident, I gave them more of my tasks. There's always a limit, though. Owners of a business will always take on a greater workload than an employee, because it's always hard to let go.

"I've had a very positive response. My working day tends to be less stressful now, because there's less on my plate. I have a bit more thinking time, while my employees enjoy having more responsibility and with it a greater sense of achievement. There's even a bit of competition between them about taking on more.

"Learning to delegate has definitely made the business more productive, as well as improving my working day and providing added motivation for my employees."

LESSONS LEARNED:

"Because I was so busy, but wasn't delegating, my employees thought I didn't have faith in their abilities. Have trust in your employees and make the most of the skills that they have. Your delegating will improve their skills and they will become more motivated and productive.

"Force yourself to recognise which tasks are crucial for you to carry out, and identify ones which could be completed by somebody else.

"It might be a slow process to start with, but in the long term you will free up time for yourself to concentrate on the strategic progress of your business, rather than the day-to-day running of it."