When the time is right to delegate in business

In the book of Exodus we read one of the most profound weaknesses in leadership that Jethro discovered in Moses, his son-in-law.

“What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only tire themselves. The work is too difficult for you and you cannot do it alone. “

In this incident, recorded in Exodus 18, Jethro visits Moses in the desert and is impressed by Moses’ success as the leader of God’s people. But he worries that Moses sat from sunrise to sunset, taking care of people’s affairs, with no time to rest.

When he asks Moses why he tormented himself in this way, Moses quickly becomes dependent on himself. ”“ Because people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is presented to me and I decide between the parties and inform them about God’s ordinances and laws. “

Jethro taught Moses the principle of delegation in leadership. He told him to choose assistants to handle most of the affairs so that he could focus on only the most complex and have time for his family and other important things.

In this day and age we have executives like Moses who are in the office all the time, solely managing the affairs of their company. They hardly have any time for family or personal development.

The challenge is in business growth and success is a process, not an event, that you can feel when it lands. Therefore, you may not know exactly when you will need helpers to ease your burden and increase efficiency. But there are signs that should tell you it’s time to let go.

First, you feel overwhelmed and exhausted most of the time. It feels like so much to do and so little time that you are in overdrive mode every time.

Second, managing your farm slows you down. You have to be in the office most of the time, managing things like customer affairs, processing payments, placing orders, booking appointments, and handling personnel matters.

Third, you spend most of your time doing things that others can do at a lower cost.

Fourth, you feel that you are not realizing your strengths and potential; You find yourself doing some of the things that you are not good at but that still need to be done. For example, your strength lies in marketing, but you need to do other things like bookkeeping and procurement as these are core elements of the business.

So how do you get out of this rut.

Back to Moses and Jethro. One of the reasons why Moses confessed was that one of the reasons he was doing all business was because he was the only one who knew the will and laws of God.

Jethro advised him to teach his agents the basic laws so they could work in his place. Moses focused on writing down the laws of God, which are still the basis of both Christian and Islamic scriptures and traditions.

As a manager, you should therefore document your vision, mission, business processes and various operating manuals and guidelines so that your employees can provide you with good support.

Mr. Kiunga is the author of “The Art of Entrepreneurship: Strategies to Succeed in a Competitive Market”. [email protected]