More success by doing less: The art of delegation
Napoleon Bonaparte knew a thing or two about leadership. From humble origins, he rose to become the emperor of France, and eventually brought most of Europe under his domain.
“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself,” Napoleon once quipped, with characteristic self-confidence.
Believing in our own abilities is important for success. But, unlike the diminutive emperor would have you believe, it’s impossible to do everything ourselves. We all need to delegate.
Delegating seems fairly straightforward, but it can be easier said than done. We’re often protective of our work. And sometimes we don’t trust our team members’ capabilities. Or, maybe we just love doing a certain task.
But in order to grow a business and become a more effective leader, delegation is crucial. It’s essential to free ourselves up to focus on higher-level issues — like growing the business itself.
In the early days of JotForm, I spent full days tackling support issues. Once I hired reliable people to share the workload, I could devote my attention to other things, like improving our product and developing new strategies.
I’ve also learned that proper delegation is an art. And once you strike the right balance, the result is usually happier employees, more…
