The Art of Delegation

“If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.”
– John C. Maxwell, American author

Delegation is the hardest shift a leader has to make in his way of working as the company scales. The journey from doing it all by yourself to delegating it is not easy. It's hard to resist the temptation to just get on it and finish off a task yourself in 5 mins, instead of explaining to someone for 30 mins on how a task has to be performed. But over time those 5 mins can compound and cost you hours.

Delegation is a skill to learn. And a hard one at that.

Let's hear from Seb Dean, Managing Director at Imaginaire, on the problem of delegation and how he counters it:

"Delegation is a hard skill to master. Say you have a 5 min task. If you want to delegate it to someone you'll need to spend at least 15-20 mins to teach someone how to do it. Or if you choose to do it yourself it'll only take 5 mins.

At the moment, doing it yourself will make sense. But since that task will keep arising in the future, and every time you'll need to do it yourself, over time it'll cost you a lot of time. So it's always worth spending some more time in the beginning, to save more time in the future. That's the art of delegation. It's all about long-term thinking.

Plus, as your company grows, it becomes your responsibility as a leader to deliberately practice delegation. Because if you don't, and try to do things by yourself, it can communicate a lack of trust in the team you've hired. That's just unhealthy for the culture. So after a point, you've to force yourself to delegate tasks how much ever you may want to get your hands dirty, and that's the only right thing to do."

That is a very valid perspective on delegation. I believe all builders and makers would struggle with learning this neat skill, as they always want to do it themselves. But if you're looking to scale your work, and help many more people, you'll need to learn to delegate.

In this episode, Seb shares his beginnings, how he started Imaginaire, how exactly he practices delegation at his company, having a "Must Achieve" list, following his energy instead of pushing himself to work, going for runs post-work, how he kills time and much more.

Let's dive in!

Seb introduces himself

Hi! I'm Seb, Managing Director of web design and marketing agency, Imaginaire Digital. We specialize in the home interiors industry, so we work a lot with architects, furniture makers, and people like that. I've another company called Optml. It is a health supplements company that helps you do more, optimize your health and improve your quality of sleep.

His beginnings

My early career was in sales, I sold some very boring products, like carpets and stuff like that. Then I got disillusioned and disinterested in doing that, so I went back to university to study business. While in university I kept thinking of ideas I could execute on, that's what I always loved doing. I used to code websites when I was fourteen but for some reason, I stopped doing that later. Imaginaire was my way to get back to building things.

Fostering creativity in business ideas

Business is where my creativity blossoms. Coming up with new business ideas, managing my own businesses, and I even have stakes in some local businesses. My creative brain keeping running thinking about all different kinds of businesses. I enjoy doing that.

The thing about creativity is you can't force it. For me, it comes naturally and very randomly. I get business ideas when I'm driving, or doing something very random. You can't time your creativity. Whenever it pops, you just make sure to capture (write) it somewhere so you don't forget later.

A typical day

I'm not really a big believer in being productive at all costs. There are people who get up at 5 and go for a run, I don't do stuff like that. I wake up at around 7:30 in the morning. I take it very relaxed and easy in the morning. Have my breakfast and a coffee. Then I drive and get to my office between 9 and 9:30.

Once I get to my office, I tend to the boring tasks first. That's because if you take up the creative tasks first then it's very easy to get sucked into them. So I just try to get done with the boring tasks before I get to the exciting stuff. Then I catch up with my team, just to make sure everything's moving on track.

Sometimes a client can come over to the office to talk to us, so I do that kind of thing in the afternoon, plus any other work. I usually wrap my day at around 5 PM, get home and go for a run or something like that, and then relax in the evening.

Must Achieve list

I have a "Must Achieve" list that comprises of tasks that only I can do, and no one else can. Hence, I need to do the tasks in the "Must Achieve" list, else I'll become a roadblock for someone or miss something important. That's why this list is called a "Must Achieve" list because I have to do these tasks as they're so important and non-delegatable.

While making my "Must Achieve" list I'm very careful about which tasks I can't delegate and why. Sometimes you think you're the best person to perform a task, but that's often not true.

The Art of Delegation

I always do a certain analysis to ascertain if a task can be delegated or I'll have to do it myself. All non-delegatable tasks come down to lack of training, lack of documentation, or just that you can't delegate the authority with a task as it's so important.

Delegation is a hard skill to learn. Say you have a 5 min task. If you want to delegate it to someone you'll need to spend at least 15-20 mins to teach someone how to do it. Or if you choose to do it yourself it'll only take 5 mins.

How to practice delegation?

At Imaginaire, we've our documentation center called "Genius" where all our processes and important discussions are documented.

Besides, Loom has been a game-changer in helping with delegation. Whenever a task needs to be delegated, I'll simply record a screen share video showing exactly how the task has to be performed. This way the task can be delegated without even the need to get on a call.

Anything that happens more than once and is repetitive is documented and made into a process.

For regular small tasks, we simply use a project management tool called Teamwork, and there you can simply assign tasks to different people with a due date and that just works.

Following my energy

I'm a believer in following my energy. I work in sprints. If I feel excited about an idea, I can start work at 9 in the morning and end at 10 at night. I just try to harness that energy into maximum output. Rather than, trying to split the work over a span of days and then forcing myself to follow it even on days I don't feel the energy to work on it.

There's this utopia that every business owner is always productive. They work like a machine. But I don't believe that, I think you're better off when you're feeling the energy than trying to push yourself to be productive.

Going for runs post work

Going for runs after work helps me both physically and mentally. It's a good way to clear out my head, get some fresh air, and let some amazing ideas pop in my head.

It's also great for getting clarity of thought in everything I do.

Consuming information

I don't read nearly enough books as I want to. But I do listen to podcasts and audiobooks. Besides, I step away from my desk during lunch to read some articles on the internet. I try to keep these articles on topics not related to what I'm doing right now, just to open up myself to something new.

On killing time

Whenever I've some time to kill, I just go to Twitter. I'm a heavy Twitter user. I went off Twitter for a while for how toxic and politicized it had become. But now I'm back to it and I don't follow a lot of people to make sure I'm not getting exposed to the bad side of Twitter.

One extra hour

If I had one additional hour in my day, I would spend it with my family. I'm pretty much comfortable with how much work I do and what we produce. So I'll just spend that extra hour with family or playing golf. That's probably it. Keeping things simple.

How to reach Seb?

You can follow Imaginaire on twitter. You can also follow me directly @imsebdean. That's probably the best way to reach me.