BIZ REPORT
POWER OF DELEGATION
Mastering the art of delegation empowers your salon team to grow and thrive. Effective leadership begins when you trust others to succeed, explains Salon Business Expert and Business Coach Liz McKeon.
The definition of delegation is ‘the act of empowering another to act for oneself’. It is basically the process of assigning tasks, responsibilities and authority to an individual team member or to the entire team. By delegating tasks, you can focus on higher-level duties, allowing you to be more productive with your time.
Delegation refers to the transfer of responsibility for specific tasks from one person to another. It is a vital management skill and for some managers, it is the hardest to put into practice.
There are several reasons why managers may shy away from delegating work, for example:
• You might think it would take longer to explain the task than actually completing it yourself.
• You want to feel indispensable to your team by being the keeper of knowledge and expertise.
• You may enjoy completing certain projects and therefore prefer not to reassign them.
• You may feel guilty about adding more work onto another person’s to do list.
• You lack confidence or trust in who you need to transfer the project to.
• You genuinely believe that you are the one who can do the job right.
Whatever the reason, it is important to continue honing your delegation skills, as refusing to learn to delegate can have negative consequences. Not only will you overload your schedule and end up prioritising the wrong tasks, but your team will miss out on valuable learning and growth opportunities.
Delegation of tasks may make managers feel uncomfortable, anxious or stresses because of the fear of losing control or the quality of the work will suffer. Delegating to others may be perceived as an admission of weakness or incompetence as some may be concerned that others will judge them for not being able to handle everything themselves.
DELEGATION TIPS FOR SALON MANAGERS
1. KNOW WHAT TO DELEGATE
Not every salon task can be delegated. For example, performance reviews or any personal matters can be handled by you. However, several other day-to-day activities don’t have to be carried out by you. Wouldn’t assigning certain projects to other team members empower them to be more confident and motivated in their roles?
2. PLAY TO YOUR EMPLOYEES’ STRENGTHS AND GOALS
Every team member needs to have goals they are working towards and within these goals you will find opportunities to delegate. The type of work you delegate could factor into their professional development plan.
3. DEFINE THE DESIRED OUTCOME
You have got to learn to have real clarity about the objective in order to delegate effectively. Your team cannot read your mind. Simply dumping work onto someone else’s plate is not delegating. The projects you handover must come with proper context and a clear tie into the salons’ goals.
4. PROVIDE THE RIGHT RESOURCES AND LEVEL OF AUTHORITY
If the team member you are delegating work to needs specific training, resources or authority to complete the task, it is your role as manager to provide this. Setting someone up to fail will backfire – the person won’t be able to achieve the desired outcome and the job will end up back on your to do list.
5. RESIST THE URGE TO MICRO MANAGE
Telling a person, step by step, how you would do something and then controlling each part of the process won’t enable them to learn, gain new skills or feel confident. Instead focus on what the desired end goal is, why the task is important and how to help address any gaps between the expected outcome and their current skill set.
When delegating, remember to give credit and praise when it is due. Recognising that success is because your team has the added benefit of making everyone more engaged and your salon more successful. The more you credit those you have delegated work to, the more likely they will want to help more going forward. Never forget the benefit of a well-placed ‘thank you’.
About the author: Liz McKeon is a world-renowned salon business expert, entrepreneur, speaker, author, columnist, business coach, trainer and mentor. She is also the recipient of the ‘All-Star Lifetime Achievement Award for Empowering Female Entrepreneurs.’