If you’re going to succeed in business, stay busy and have satisfied people you need to be able to delegate and diversify. Delegating properly and effectively with your people will allow you to work on the things that you’re good at. Becoming diversified and expanding your services allows your company to grow and most importantly stay busy and create more revenue. For your customers, being diversified allows them to deal with you more and rely on your trusted services.
For me, I like to keep things as simple as possible so when I look at delegation we hire the right people, give them the tools to do the job and rely on education and expectations of what and how we want things done,
pay your people well and then get out of their way. Drilling down on that you need to manage different styles and personalities within your team so a one size fits all approach does not work. The best advice I can give you and I have learned over the years is respect your team, treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve.
As you grow your business you really are looking for someone else to do the job you do but remember other people will never do the job you do the way you do it. Focus on what you want and it is the end result that matters. Understand it is about the quality of the job that gets done and ultimately customer satisfaction.
To enable someone else to do the job you must ensure that:
– They know what to do
– They know how to do it
– They have the authority to achieve it
Empowering your people makes your organization stronger. Leaders cannot be everywhere and the last thing you want is for your people constantly looking for approval. Some more tips for effective delegation:
– Be clear on what you want accomplished
– Set clear outcomes, objectives and agreed upon timelines
– Your team needs to understand how much support and feedback they can expect and consistency here is paramount
– Make it clear so that the associates understand the customer is their responsibility
– For projects, make sure there are regular updates. If things need to be fixed or changed you do not want to wait until the end of the project to fix it
– Manage and communicate the vision of what you want and what you’re looking for
Things you’re working on as a team will not always be smooth. There will be times when you need to step in. At times your associates may be incompetent, is this their problem or yours? People must be educated as to what and how you want things done. Step up to the plate, be there for them. At times it is tough for your team to manage their workload and they don’t speak up because they don’t want you to think they’re complaining or unable handle the workload. Keep an eye on your people and most importantly, communicate. At the end of the day, you don’t want your people, business or customers to suffer.
For us, at KRTS, it is always remembering Our Core Value Is People. When we talk about our brand it is about Quality, Service, Reputation. When our people understand that, is when we are at our best.
When we talk about diversification and you bring on more services that your customers can consider make sure you take the time to get it right. Most importantly don’t take on too many new service offerings at once. Under our group of services the Richardson family offers have been three decades in the making and the most important ingredient to the success of diversification is focusing on the quality of service being offered and make sure whoever is the point person or individual who is managing that sector of the business is qualified. If a customer asks you to deliver a service and you or your team is not qualified to do so recommend someone to them who can. Don’t loose a customer by being greedy.
As 2016 comes to a close I want to thank everyone who has trusted and supported us the past year. It has been a great year and we look forward to another one in 2017.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours.
Be safe, all the best.
Kim
About the Author
Kim Richardson has been in the transportation industry for 34 years. Currently he is the President of KRTS Transportation Specialists Inc. a multiple award winning family owned and operated business. Under the KRTS group of Businesses is Transrep Inc. and The Rear View Mirror. Kim is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Truck Training Association of Ontario (TTSAO), Board of Director of the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI). He is the past Chairman of the Board for the Allied Trade Division of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) and a Board of Director with Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC) representing the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO). Kim is a proud husband, dad, grandpa and loves his community, Caledonia, Ontario. www.krway.com or phone 1-800-771-8171
