When you start out, you're the nexus of everything and you don't want to give anything up. But being the center of everything, while initially the most efficient thing you could do, starts to cross a line as you grow. The more your people rely on you for everything, the less they can do without your direct input. Being at the center of everything means less mistakes, but it also means far less gets done. And eventually, you get through the mistakes part, anyway. I don't want to think of all that as "delegation", a word that seems to me to imply that I'm still at the center of everything, looking for constant reports. What I'm really talking about is the devolution of power. I want people doing some of the things I used to do-- and high level decision-making (within the field I've outlined for each department) is very much part of that. So yeah, you want your departments working with autonomy-- still answerable to you, sure, but no longer reliant on your continual input. And I'd say to any business owner: if you can't do that, then you just can't expect your business to ever become larger than you. How could it? With that in mind, to more directly answer your question: for us, the process of transitioning power was deliberate, and happened one group of tasks at a time. That allowed people to get comfortable with each element before a new one was added, but it also helped to work out a lot of the interdisciplinary kinks that don't cause any problems when it's a single person at the helm. A clear and pretty classic example: it's easy when you're at the center of things to let your production team know what needs doing. But getting your sales team to provide clear work orders is something you've got to work at gradually. And if your production team has autonomy too, and they want to change what they need-- well, somehow, a channel of communication between the two teams has to remain clear and open.
2 years ago (edited) | 3
Daymond John
Business owners: How do you prioritize and create efficiency, teamwork and good communication when trying to scale your biz?
2 years ago | [YT] | 24