“Find people for whom the work feels like play and you’ll never have to push them.”
– Anna Angelova
As your business grows, one thing becomes clear: you can’t do it all forever. But handing things off isn’t easy. Especially, when you care deeply about your clients, your brand, and your standards.
In this episode, we dive deep into how to delegate without losing control: the mindset, structure, and gradual process that ensures your business doesn’t fall apart when you step back.
You’ll learn:
- Why delegation starts with communicating why the task matters
- How to choose the right person to own a responsibility, not just execute it
- What “gradual delegation” looks like in real life (including team-tested examples)
- The difference between supervision and oversight
- How to tell if someone’s not ready (and what to do about it)
Whether you’re managing your first hire or scaling a growing team, this conversation will help you stop bottlenecking your business and start building leaders who multiply your vision.
Speaking of leaders, check out our Empower360 Leadership Coaching here.
“True leadership is teaching someone else how to carry your vision further than you could alone.” – Jores Minasvand
Transcript for “How to delegate without losing control”
The transcript below was automatically generated. Please ignore any errors or inconsistencies in the text.
Anna Angelova 0:06
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are and whatever time you’re listening to today’s episode of More Than Just Task Management, your favorite daily podcast where we help you build a thriving business with me, Angelova, business coach and consultant, and my co-host Joris Minisvan, the.
Business consultant he sure is.
Jores Minasvand 0:29
Hey Anna, happy Tuesday. It’s a beautiful, sunny Tuesday.
What is the subject today?
Anna Angelova 0:34
What is what?
Our subject today on the last Tuesday of July is delegating without losing control. And as we mentioned, this is a little bit of a continuation of the conversation we had on Friday last week when we talked about removing yourself.
Ultimately, stop being the bottleneck. And because you might be wondering, OK, how do I stop being the bottleneck? How do I actually get people to do what I was doing and even doing do it better? And this is where delegation counts in.
Recreation Council and we have talked about it before, but it’s a good it’s a topic that’s so important that having the conversation once in a while, even if it’s just a reminder for how to do things because we forget like a lot of times, especially when it’s a new skill, we tend to.
Do things for a few days or a few weeks and then we go back, revert back to our old habits. So even if it’s just a reminder, it’s an awesome topic. I love it and I’m really looking forward to sharing some of the things starting with.
Why?
So yes, when you’re delegating, when you let someone else be accountable for and responsible for the work, one of the main things you want to make sure.
This person understands is the importance, the why. Why are we doing this? Like what’s the reason behind this function or or this the role they have the the.
Whatever you’re delegating to them, like why is it important? How is it important? Like really starting with why for them to know not that much about the how and the what.
But why? Like, why are we doing this? Why is it important for the business? Why is it important for our clients or customers? Why is it important for for the team? Why is it important in general for the impact the business has? This is.
One of the first things you want to make sure the person understands.
Jores Minasvand 2:56
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
It’s delegating is one thing, but you need to delegate to the right person with the right attitude. You need to pick and choose the leaders in your team. You you can tell probably by literally by the conversations, even within the teams, they’re the go getter. They jump in.
Do things. I have quite a few of them.
Now I’m at the point where they’re actually coming to me and say, can I get involved into this, this part of your work? Because I really want to learn. I’m like, oh, absolutely. OK, yeah, why not? Whether they can do it. But there are certain things that come gradually.
If the guy asked me two years ago, I would have said no. But now I know he’s ready because he’s learned how to delegate himself. He’s learned how to take his fingers off the keyboard, and he’s learned how to become a leader. Now it’s time for him to take more from my plate. So you have to also do it right personally.
Send the right way gradually delegate overview.
You don’t trust, not micromanage. Once they prove themselves, then you let it go. Slowly, slowly you remove yourself. I’m at a point where I don’t even join any of the meetings. I used to be on every single meeting giving the team a message.
So again, find the right person, do the right thing. And there are some people that will disappoint you or they they’re not even capable of. There’s some people that are would only grow so much. I’ve seen a few of them.
Because the as much as they want to be the leaders, they don’t have the right mindset. Regardless of how much you train them, how much you enable them, they can only think within certain that that box can only expand so much. That’s it. So you have to know even then.
Either you keep supervising them or you bring somebody else to supervise them. Maybe over the years and years and years they will learn, but there are limitations even on on how you delegate and who you delegate it to. But the idea is, again, you don’t have to lose control. There are times that you.
Jumping without even them asking you, you step in and say, listen, I see the team struggling. I step, I’m stepping in. I’m gonna solve this problem and then I’m gonna step back again.
Delegation doesn’t mean you get on a Harley and going up north and come back to a disaster. Delegation is is you’re still there, but you’re doing other things while you’re monitoring the e-mail, the conversations, the customer reaction. You don’t even have to go to your team to ask for an update, you go to the customer.
And ask them how is this working out? Are you good with this? So it’s it’s not just your team side, you also need to make sure your customer is comfortable with it. There are out of all the customers that I have right now, two of them actually I cannot remove myself.
If I actually move myself 100%, the customer will walk away. Regardless of how much I’ve delegated, regardless of the good people that I have, I still have to be there.
Anna Angelova 6:24
Choosing the right person? Absolutely. And this is one of the things where I’ve heard this. Find someone who for them what you’re delegating is a play. Like they love it so much. They’re so good at this that it’s it’s like playing a game for them. It’s like so amazing. And there are people, like there are people who.
Who love spreadsheets, who love numbers, who can spend the whole day behind the scenes, crunching numbers or developing things and programming. And there are other people who are so good at building relationships, so good at sales conversations, so good at communicating.
Everything about your product or service. So finding the right person, absolutely. And then delegating it the right way. We already mentioned the why. One of the things you said, Joris, is gradually, absolutely. And in the beginning what you might want to have is.
So definitely make sure, definitely make sure that the expectations are clear. So knowing the why is one part, but then also clear expectations. Like what does winning look like? Like what it what does it look like? What does it mean? Like what outcome is the outcome we’re looking for? So making.
Make sure the expectations are clear and inspect what you expect. I think I’ve mentioned it before as well, and in the beginning you might need or want to meet with this person every single day as they are.
Especially if this is someone new who just started within your business, you might want to have daily meetings with this person and then this might go to twice a week in the beginning of the week where we talk about OK, so So what are we focusing on this week and then at the end of the week looking back and saying OK.
What worked well, what didn’t work, like what are the wins, the losses and things like this. And one of the other things as you are again, it really depends on what you are delegating and and the team and All these kind of things, but as as.
This person gets more and more.
Autonomous in in doing the work without you, the work becomes bears ultimately you can and you should still keep an eye on even if it’s bird’s eye view on on what what’s going on and this can be weakly.
This can be monthly or quarterly review depending what what’s going on or some kind of a report or whatever it is. But ultimately the idea is that you get yourself out of the daily grind, out of the the operational work and you start only monitoring outcomes.
Only monitoring the direction, the trends and as you said, Joris, keeping the control. And when we say control, it’s not the control of you controlling things in micromanaging, it’s the control of you as the business owner, as the leader.
Many.
Of the team of you knowing that everyone is going in the right direction, the business is going in the right direction. This is what we mean by control. It’s not micromanaging. It’s not telling people what to do and how to do. Because again, the idea is that you find people who love this. They love the work. They are better than me.
You at sales, at financial stuff, at marketing, whatever it is, they’re better than you. And by them being better than you, by them knowing what’s the purpose, what’s the why of their work, they can actually help create better house and better walls. They can help.
Create better processes, better systems that deliver the results faster, that deliver better results, that deliver higher quality. So again, when we’re talking, I really loved what you said, Joris, that it comes down to.
Finding the right person and then delegating the right way and doing it gradually. It’s not something that, oh, here it is today and that’s it, it ends. It’s a process and as long as you trust the other person and do the things like take.
All these different steps in no time. I think Friday we were saying that with someone new it can be in the first three months easily. These people can can get up to speed and that’s absolutely true like in three months.
When you have the right person and follow these steps in less than three months, these people can be up to speed and doing things better than you and achieving better results.
Jores Minasvand 11:23
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And and the reason for the gradual is also an example. I had a a person that started working. First I let her alone with the customer due to funding issues.
I couldn’t afford a PM and and she was she was the only one. So she showed absolutely amazing value, not just in development but also in leadership, customer management. So we took her and we put it in, put her into a bigger role where she managed 4 people.
Well, team of four, including herself and the customer and everything. So six months later she was shining and we said OK, so there was also a second person in the team that was maybe even more senior than her. So we decided to remove that senior person, just leave her.
Her alone with two juniors. First she agreed to it, but the next day she contacted me, said maybe I need the senior person, maybe I I don’t think I’m comfortable enough to without him. And that to me was the most.
Like amazing sign of maturity and leadership where she understood where she will fail and instead of being arrogant and saying, Oh yeah, I can manage this and then three months later I had to, we had a disgruntled customer and I had to bring the other senior back. She was proactive.
I immediately switched back. She stayed there. So she inevitably told me she’s not ready for full leadership, which is fantastic. Maybe two or three years from now she will be. But this is the type of people that you want. This is how the value of doing it gradually.
Because if you just throw her into the deep, yes, maybe one out of 10 people like I learned how to swim will swim. The other nine will will sink and they’ll sink your customers. So you don’t just throw the people into the deep and say swim.
It’s All gradual and I’ve seen the examples of it and there are people who are ready. You put them out there and boom, they, they. And then again, it also depends on the complexity. What I do is quite complex. Maybe if it’s like if it’s a simple.
Part of your business that you’re running. I’m not saying your business is simple. The simpler part of your business, they can become autonomous faster, sooner.
But again, you you need to keep an eye on it. You need to monitor it, not supervise it, just monitor it and then help. We can when you can step back, step forward, help, step back. And eventually the person will start, you know, seeing the Oh yeah, I can see this pattern. I think I can do this myself and she’s actually doing a lot.
A lot of it herself now.
Anna Angelova 14:16
Another great example of how important attitude is and how important it is to have people who have responsibility, people who know themselves like a very self-aware and know.
The value they bring and what the business is doing and find these people. I know it’s not easy and we’ve talked with so many business owners who are struggling with finding the right people, people who want to do the work and people who want to step up. A lot of people just wait for instructions and this is definitely.
I know we’ve shared a lot on what to do, but like giving instructions. If you need to keep on giving instructions to people, to someone like you, you find someone to delegate and you need to keep on giving this person instructions and telling them, oh, this is what you need to do, do this next. Like you don’t have the right person.
If you don’t have the right person, if you need to keep doing this, we want people and you want people who are self-starters, people who really take accountability and responsibility for the work. And that leadership you’re talking about, Joris, like they can lead themselves. Like they don’t wait for your permission, they don’t wait for your instructions.
They get out there, they learn, they ask for help and they do the work. And again, once you master the art of delegation, your life will become so much better and so much easier and your business will.
Keep on thriving and reach newer levels as you as you delegate the work and as you step into more of a managerial and leadership role. And I know we mentioned it on Friday. I highly recommend for you to grow as a business owner and as a leader, as a manager and as a leader.
If you are not working with a business coach right now, I would actually highly recommend checking our Empower 360 coaching program and service. And if you’re interested, book a call with us. Book a call with me most likely.
To see whether you’d like some help in that area, whether it’s like with delegation or any other aspect of being a manager and a leader. Because we know like we know how every small business owner is a leader. It’s just that.
You like 99% of the business owners we talk with. You were never really taught of how to step into your leadership. You never really.
Got the guidance on this and that’s why we have Empower 360 to help you in this aspect.
Jores Minasvand 17:02
Well said, well put. Love it. Very helpful. Hopefully we’ll get again this. We are here to make a change, make a difference and add value. So listen to us. We have a lot of experience to share.
If you don’t, we’re not covering what you want. Just a minute, the DM us, we’ll we’ll have a one-on-one conversation. We’re open to that as well. And yeah, let’s together prosper and build businesses that last a long time. I.
Again, I hate the the statistic that in Ontario 250,000 businesses start every year. 8080% are gone by the first two years, if not the first year, and 95% are gone within the five years.
That is the staggering waste of effort, money, intellect. It’s like and and and most of these people like out of this 6085% or the 95%.
Most of them would thrive if they had the proper guidance. If they knew how to do things like we said, you don’t have to start a business and out of your, you know, rent money, you pay somebody to create a website for you. You don’t need that. These are the stuff that that causes the misconceptions, the.
All this AI crap that’s coming up, you need to have this AI and that AI and technology, this and technology that no focus on what’s so important. And This is why we’re here. Our mission and vision and passion, especially Anna’s. My passion is my Harley, but her passion is more about getting.
The helping businesses become businesses that last. It’s not just to get it, open a business and and make it make money or run or employ 20 people. Something that’s lasting 30 years down the road when you’re my age now.
And you’re or you’re about to think about cessation or or or or selling the Company or whatever it is you want to have something that you pass on that something for 30 years you added value and you want that to to persist and that’s what we want. That’s our goal is I digress but.
Talk to us. We’re here, so.
Anna Angelova 19:25
Oh, I love the the way you digress and it also shows your passion as well. It’s saying that I’m the only one passionate about this is it’s not a yeah, you you are. I and I know that one of the things that you say so many times is that ultimately you want to become.
Not needed in a way, right? Like reach a stage where you don’t need to be there. And this is such a great example for what every single business owner should aspire for. That at some point the business doesn’t need you, it’s it’s own entity.
It’s like your children that at some point you raise them well and they go on their own and they don’t need you. So this is really as a parent or a business owner, isn’t this what you’re striving for? So and I I know we we went into a bit of a tangent.
This is it for today. We covered quite a lot about delegation and tomorrow we will be back talking about a simple system for client onboarding. How to how to create a simple system for client onboarding, especially when you are starting.
But if you have a business, this might actually be something interesting even for you. So if you want to tune in, tune in and enjoy your Tuesday and we’ll be back tomorrow with another passionate conversation to help you build a thriving business that.
Lasts for decades and like Joris, like you said, at the end you you find someone who continues it and it lives past you like it leaves a legacy.
Jores Minasvand 21:09
Absolutely. Alright, Anna, thank you very much. Enjoy your day.
Anna Angelova 21:14
Thanks for this. Bye, bye.
