I recently talked to the owner of a comic book store. His original plan was to open a second store three years after his first, and continue to open stores over the next ten years or so. Well, he had been open for five years and he felt so tied to his first store, that he couldn't even imagine opening another store!

On the other hand, he desperately wanted to grow and even had the opportunity to open that second store in a great location. He was very concerned that opening this second store would risk the failure of the original store. I don't know about you, but while I'm driving, I see these huge companies and often wonder how they got so big, when I find it difficult just to get my staff to dust the shelves, much less manage a store. Fortunately, I have discovered a couple of secrets to delegation and holding people accountable, which are the two major steps to any organization expanding. Why "I Can Do It Faster and Better" Doesn't Work

First, if you think you are the only one who can get things done, why is it that the people who work for you can't? As an executive, you may be thinking that perhaps they don't care about the business as much as you do. Or maybe they are not as capable and bright as you are (after all, you're the owner and they work for you). Or maybe you feel it would take more time to teach them to do it well than it would to just do it yourself (especially since you know that you would do it right). The craziest statement regarding delegation that I've ever heard was, "I don't have time for delegation." Does that sound familiar?

First, the reason many owners don't feel as though they have time to delegate is the number of things needing to be handled (paperwork, telephone calls, etc.). Try this experiment: track all the things that come your way during the day. Then add up the time you spend on them and see how productive you really were on that day. You'll be amazed by how much time is really wasted.

Consider the larger company that generally started like you did. The founders had an idea and went for it. The leader was around answering everyone's questions all day and things were getting accomplished. The only things that did not get done were those that the leader wanted to do personally. For you, these might be such things as advertising or buying or creating better displays. You may not even get to some of the trade shows you want to attend, for fear that your business would close down within 24 hours from the time you got on the airplane.

Teach Your People "How to Fish"

The problem that arises when you answer all of the questions or solve all of problems is that your staff won't learn how to do it themselves, and they begin to rely on coming to you. Even if they do know how to handle a situation, they will still come to you because it's easier and there is no way to get into trouble since you made the decision. The solution is simple: Teach your people to fish and they will have food for life, instead of giving them fish so they only have food for the day.

Teach them the specific, necessary behaviors to perform the job as you desire, and they will be prepared to do it right. Behaviors are things people actually do step-by-step, rule-by-rule, clearly laid out and explained. Each job or function in the company must be written up, not as responsibilities, but as specific behaviors. If the behaviors are not written down, it's difficult to hold people accountable.

For example, we tell salespeople to be enthusiastic and friendly when greeting a customer. Enthusiastic and friendly leave a lot of room for interpretation by the salesperson. According to my system, you would have a procedure on opening the sale. The behaviors of opening the sale would be clear and simple:

1. Opening lines must be questions to encourage conversation. 2. Opening lines must have nothing to do with business to establish a person-to-person relationship. 3. Opening lines must be creative, original, personal, etc.

It's the same for the rest of the steps in selling, managing, buying or even advertising. When you give instructions in terms of behaviors, you don't run the risk of people making up how to do things or constantly asking you how. By setting up the behaviors you want people to do in specifics rather than in generalities, they are much more likely to just do things right.

Check for Understanding

The next step in delegation is communicating the behavior to the employees and checking their understanding. The most valuable information I have learned through my research and consulting with retailers are asking, "Do you understand?" and saying "Show me." Even the best attempts at delegation can fail miserably if the manager does not check for understanding with every employee on every aspect of their job. For example, if you have just explained the company policy for exchanges, ask for questions, then have the employee show you by pretending that you are a customer wanting an exchange.

Once you have witnessed their understanding of the behaviors, the delegation process is done and the employees can now be held accountable. The problems and questions will not come back to you if you have taken the time to develop the ability within someone else. In addition to this, you now have, for the first time, objective measures to gauge their performance. You have exact behaviors and standards that can be expected of the employees and against which performance can be measured. Those big companies got big because the employees did exactly what was expected, and because of that, the managers were able to use their time to plan and expand.

If you help your staff develop specific behaviors, ensure that all employees understand the behaviors expected of them and understand the accountability structures of seeing the behaviors in action, you can prosper.

One of the greatest obstacles to success is taking the time to effectively delegate. The rewards are huge if the job is done right, and you, the owner, are able to spend your time planning your continued growth (or maybe just a vacation)!

For more information about delegating and how to run your stores instead of letting them run you, attend The Friedman Group's internationally acclaimed Retail Management Training Camp. For more information call us toll-free 888-611-4304.