WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO START OR GROW A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
To delegate or not to delegate? A founder’s dilemma.
Tip no 5 to fellow and aspiring (social) entrepreneurs, from my lived experience
I often speak to social entrepreneurs. The most common questions they ask me are: What do we need to know in creating our own social enterprise? How did you do it? Where do we start? This is one of a series of articles where I try to answer those questions and more.
If you missed the other articles, my tips so far are: 1) Develop a coaching mindset; 2) Working 12 hours a day only goes so far! 3) Find your Tribe; and 4) How to be an authentic leader.
Dear fellow and aspiring social entrepreneurs,
My tip no5 is to “Delegate meaningfully”. I hope that my reflections and learnings might help you in your entrepreneurial journey.
Like many founders at the start of their journey, I took on almost every task when I created my social enterprise, Micro Rainbow. I thought I could handle it all and that I had enough endurance to do it all as I explained in my “Tip no4”, from the administration to the lobbying, the fundraising, the service delivery, the marketing, the social media, the press, and beyond. There was no stopping me, or so I thought.
In my journey as a founder, I’ve faced periods where I had to work extremely hard and for long hours. I believe most founders do this, either out of necessity or passion, or in my case both. Our finances were tight and we couldn’t afford many employees. We had big dreams and not enough hands-on deck to make them happen. A lot of important ideas remained in my head and not shared with the team.
That was only part of the problem. The more significant problem I later discovered was not knowing when to step back. Over time, I found myself getting increasingly exhausted at work. This pushed me towards wanting to drop some tasks, yet I felt stuck, unsure why I couldn’t let go.
So, what was holding me back?
Why was delegating so difficult?
Well… due to at least three bad habits that I had cultivated during the founding years of my social enterprise.
But first, let me tell you what I mean by “meaningful delegation”. To me, it’s about genuinely caring for the success of those who report to me. This approach goes beyond merely assigning tasks. It’s about enabling team members to truly step into their roles and responsibilities with confidence. Instead of asking myself dismissively, “Who else can do this?”, I consider questions such as:
“Should I be doing this task?”
“Who am I infantilising by not delegating this task?”
“Does this task relate to someone else’s role and professional development?”
“What could someone else learn from the task?”
This shift in my thinking helped me build trust in the team and to align the people I manage with the organisation’s values. For me, meaningful delegation also means sharing the power and the magic we create as a social enterprise with the whole team.
Now, back to the three bad habits I mentioned earlier!
- Thinking we know best.
We (founders) might assume that we can do a task more efficiently and faster than anybody else. After all, “we know best” as we have been there since the inception of our organisations. I certainly fell into that trap. With that thought process I justified doing things myself (and I believed it!). I remember thinking:
“By the time I explain this to someone, I may as well do it myself. It will be quicker”.
Some of the times this is a fact. However, it is also a false economy and a belief that I wanted to shift. As a founder I was so entrenched in every single detail of my enterprise, that this shift required a lot of reflection and personal coaching.
I needed to evolve from the “getting things done” mentality to supporting others in “getting things done together”. This might sound obvious, and I have read innumerable articles on the art of delegation and yet I struggled to do it. I found the transition from “doing it all” to “sharing it all” (or most of it!) difficult.
I have come to realise I do not need to do it all and other people can do it, albeit they may execute it differently. At times “good enough” is “good enough”. I even started to appreciate that it might be a sign of our success if/when I am not needed anymore. Not changing is comfortable. “Meaningful delegation” takes time, a commodity I felt I didn’t have to spare. Don’t be afraid to invest time in your team. In my experience it pays off multiple times.
On reflection, I was short-sighted. I was focused on the time it might take to delegate meaningfully as opposed to seeing it as a long-term investment. Based on my experience I would encourage you to resist the short-lived temptation of doing everything yourself. Be tempted to delegate meaningfully!
2. Let go of founder guilt.
In the initial stages of my social enterprise, I felt guilty to share the workload. I believed my small team was overwhelmed (partly true), which led me to think I should bear the brunt of the work. After all, I was the founder. But guess what? I never asked my colleagues for help. To this day, I find no evidence supporting my original belief that I needed to manage everything on my own.
I recommend making it a (good) habit to talk with your team authentically about your limitations and be curious about your assumptions of yourself and others. For me this is a critical aspect of meaningful delegation. It requires trust, honesty, and authenticity. My journey of being coached enabled me to confront and reassess some of these beliefs, thereby improving my ability to seek help and to offer the same to my colleagues. Alongside my role as CEO of Micro Rainbow, I coach other social entrepreneurs. As a coach, I derive a lot of pleasure in helping others understand similar beliefs and to recognise the positive changes happening in their lives.
3. Let go of the God complex.
When I was in my “let’s get things done” mentality, I also found it hard to move away from the temptation to give colleagues answers to their problems as opposed to asking them to come to me with potential solutions. Another bad habit and an obvious management technique that took time for me to adapt. For years, I was the go-to person for solving nearly every challenge that arose. Moving away from that habit took more personal coaching! Occasionally I still fall into this old pattern. The temptation to save time and to just give the answer doesn’t go away magically.
Lastly but not least, I believe that meaningful delegation is a way to empower our colleagues. It reinforces a culture of respect. I find that my colleagues have the answers to most the issues they are facing. When I practise meaningful delegation, my role becomes more like that of an intermediary; I am there to help them see and believe that too. Often, their solutions turn out to be better than the ones I might have given them. Contrary to the founder belief I mentioned in point 1 (founders know it best), I would suggest a mindset of trusting “the team knows best” about the work they do. For me this is another way to embrace meaningful delegation.
This is a longer piece than usual and if you made it to this point… well done and clap yourselves instead of me! I truly hope my lived experience as a founder helped you in some ways.
With my very best wishes for your social entrepreneurship journey
Sebastian
To know more about me, you can check my profile on medium or connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
