Start a Successful Business (Inc.)

HOW TO DELEGATE

“The surest way for an executive to kill himself is to refuse to learn how, and when, and to whom to delegate work.”

JAMES CASH PENNEY, founder of the J.C. Penney retail chain

Here’s something many startup entrepreneurs forget: If you truly want to scale your business, you’ll need to learn how to delegate so you can focus on your company’s bigger picture issues.

“As organizations grow increasingly complex, duties and responsibilities across the workforce can become less well defined,” writes Robert Heller in How to Delegate. “Often it seems as though everyone is doing everyone else’s job. Delegation is the manager’s key to efficiency, and benefits all.”

But delegating isn’t the simple, straightforward process it masquerades as; ...