Finally, you found someone to replace you and perform a specific task. Maybe it’s even a task that you never liked doing and you cannot wait to get this off your plate.

You set up a meeting, start training the person, and then… you find yourself wanting to nudge them aside and take over.

You feel they’re not doing it right. You try to explain. You demonstrate. But nothing seems to be working. You’re tempted to just forget the whole thing and take the delegated task back.

Will that really serve you?

Unlikely.

So what can you do when struggling to train someone on a delegated task?

Was the task the right one to delegate?

The first thing to look at is ask yourself was the task the right one to delegate? Sometimes there's this desire to get rid of tasks because we don't like them. It's something that we can't stand doing. It's something that drains us. It's something that we drag our feet on because it's just miserable. And we try every trick in the book,...

It’s quite typical for organizations to promote from within. You may have identified an extraordinary team member that has demonstrated leadership qualities in a variety of situations.

And that is certainly a great start.

But it is a start.

Although they may possess deep expertise executing tasks and collaborating with colleagues, obtaining positional power changes the dynamics.

So what can leaders do to help ensure that newly appointed managers have been provided with the basic essentials to also be effective?

Choosing the role model mindset

The very first thing is choosing the role model mindset.

Yes, I know. We hear it all the time. The leader as a role model. Although not exactly new, it is essential. And, it's one thing to know about it. It’s another to actually be doing it.

Leading by example is absolutely one of the fundamental pillars of effective leadership. It’s the infamous “You need to walk the talk.” You can't just say one thing, then...

To truly unlock a business's full potential requires addressing two complementary aspects in parallel.

The first one is the business side: understanding the strategy, financials, planning, operations, product services, marketing, etc. Basically, all that comes together to make a business functional.

The second one is the people side: the individuals that make the systems work together and fulfill the organization's purpose.

Because many entrepreneurs frequently start out by themselves, they typically will focus more on the functional side of things to build enough of a profitable business to, let's say, start paying themselves.

But what happens is, as the business starts to grow, they still heavily favor the functional side to the detriment of the people side.

So what can micro-business owners do to ensure that they are growing the people at the same time as the business?

Understanding how leaders make the difference

The first thing is to understand how leaders make the difference....