MBA2615 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Learn To Delegate? I Don't Trust People To Meet My Expectations

Wed Apr 23 2025

Feeling swamped with tasks that only you can handle, like passing them off would end in disaster? Frank posed a great question about how to tackle this—trusting others to match your high standards can feel impossible. But guess what? That doesn’t have to be your reality.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The $100 MBA Show - Episode MBA2615 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Learn To Delegate? I Don't Trust People To Meet My Expectations

Host: Omar Zenhom
Release Date: April 23, 2025
Duration: Approximately 15 minutes

Introduction

In episode MBA2615 Q&A Wednesday, hosted by Omar Zenhom on The $100 MBA Show, the focus is on delegation—a critical skill for entrepreneurs aiming to scale their businesses. Omar addresses the common challenge many business owners face: the struggle to trust others to meet their high standards. Drawing from his extensive experience in entrepreneurship and business growth, Omar provides actionable strategies to transform delegation from a daunting task into a systematized process that fosters trust and ownership within a team.

Understanding the Importance of Delegation

[01:02] Omar Zenholm:
"If you're doing everything yourself, you're building a prison, not a business."

Omar begins by highlighting a fundamental truth about entrepreneurship: attempting to handle every aspect of the business single-handedly creates a bottleneck. This approach not only hinders scalability but also prevents entrepreneurs from focusing on high-value activities that drive growth. He emphasizes that true entrepreneurship involves building systems that leverage the skills and efforts of others, thereby transforming the business into a sustainable asset.

Common Barriers to Delegation

Omar identifies several reasons why entrepreneurs struggle with delegation:

Perfectionism: The belief that no one can perform tasks as well as oneself.
Fear of Mistakes: Anxiety over potential errors and their impact on the business.
Past Negative Experiences: Previous instances where delegation may have led to subpar results.

[02:30] Omar Zenholm:
"You think no one can do it as well as you are afraid of mistakes and failure. You've been burnt before possibly."

He reassures listeners that these fears are common but manageable through the right approach to delegation.

Five Practical Steps to Effective Delegation

Omar outlines a five-step framework to delegate effectively and foster ownership within a team:

1. Identify Low-Value, Repeatable Tasks

[03:15] Omar Zenholm:
"Start by making a list. Write down every task you do in a week. Highlight tasks that generate $10 to $100. I call these $10 tasks $100 tasks."

Action: Create an inventory of weekly tasks.
Criteria: Focus on tasks that have minimal impact on revenue or growth.
Purpose: Free up time by delegating or eliminating non-essential tasks.

2. Create a System

[05:00] Omar Zenholm:
"Before you delegate, the system is actually more important than the task."

Documentation: Use videos (e.g., Loom) or detailed written instructions to outline processes.
Define Success: Clearly articulate desired outcomes.
Feedback Loop: Establish channels for questions and continuous improvement.

3. Start Small and Build Trust

[07:00] Omar Zenholm:
"Start with small, low-stakes tasks that are not going to kill your business if they go wrong."

Method: Begin by delegating minor tasks to test reliability.
Progression: Gradually assign more responsibilities as trust is established.
Outcome: Empower team members to take ownership and make decisions.

4. Hire for Strengths, Not Just Skills

[09:45] Omar Zenholm:
"Hire based on strengths and mindset. Skills can be taught, but attitude and work ethic are innate."

Focus: Look for candidates with the right attitude, adaptability, and passion for specific tasks.
Example: Employ individuals who excel in areas you may dislike, such as calendar management.
Benefit: Creates a team that complements your strengths and compensates for your weaknesses.

5. Let Go and Embrace Imperfection

[12:30] Omar Zenholm:
"Perfection is the enemy of progress. Done is better than perfect."

Acceptance: Understand that mistakes are part of the learning process.
Learning: Encourage team members to learn from errors and continuously improve.
Mindset: Prioritize progress and scalability over flawless execution from the outset.

Building a Delegation System that Fosters Trust

Omar delves deeper into the mechanics of creating an effective delegation system:

Clear Expectations: Define task outcomes and deadlines with precision.

[13:15] Omar Zenholm:
"Clarity and communication is key when it comes to delegation."
Regular Check-Ins: Implement consistent meetings to ensure alignment and address issues promptly.

[13:45] Omar Zenholm:
"Give feedback early and often, just in time."
Feedback Culture: Foster an environment where feedback is constructive and aimed at collective improvement.
Ownership: Empower team members to own their responsibilities fully, making them accountable for both successes and failures.

Key Insights and Strategies

Shift from Self-Employment to Entrepreneurship: Transitioning requires relinquishing control and trusting others to execute tasks effectively.
System Over Individual: A robust system ensures consistency and reliability, reducing dependence on any single person.
Focus on High-Value Activities: Delegation frees up time for strategic planning and business development, rather than getting bogged down in mundane tasks.
Team Building as a Differentiator: Building a competent and trustworthy team can provide a competitive edge in the market.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

On Building a Prison vs. a Business:
[01:02]
"If you're doing everything yourself, you're building a prison, not a business."
On Delegation Ensuring Progress:
[12:55]
"Done is better than perfect. Because when you get stuck in that loop of trying to make everything perfect, you don't progress, you don't actually move on."
On Hiring for Strengths:
[09:45]
"Hire based on strengths and mindset. Skills can be taught, but attitude and work ethic are innate."
On Ownership and Mistakes:
[14:30]
"Ownership means mistakes will happen, but you can fix mistakes. They can be fixed even without you."

Conclusion and Takeaways

Omar Zenhom concludes the episode by reinforcing the transformative power of effective delegation. By implementing the five-step framework, entrepreneurs can build trust, empower their teams, and scale their businesses without being tethered to every operational detail. The ultimate goal is to transition from being self-employed to becoming a true entrepreneur who leads a thriving, independent business system.

[15:00] Omar Zenholm:
"Delegate, give ownership, don’t be greedy and scale your business. And you'll see that this is going to be a pivotal moment in your business where you start shifting things and you start growing, scaling and building an asset that works for you."

Omar encourages listeners to embrace delegation as a pathway to business growth, personal freedom, and financial success. He also invites entrepreneurs to join his Three Things newsletter for ongoing coaching and tools to support their business journey.

Final Thoughts

This episode serves as an invaluable guide for entrepreneurs struggling with delegation and trust issues within their teams. Omar Zenhom's practical advice, underpinned by real-world experience, offers a clear roadmap to overcoming these challenges. By shifting focus from micromanagement to building robust systems and empowering team members, business owners can unlock unprecedented growth and sustainability.

Learn More:
For additional resources and to join Omar Zenhom’s Three Things newsletter, visit 100mba.net.

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Transcript

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Omar Zenholm (1:02)

If you ever thought no one can do it as well as I can, or it's faster if I just do it myself or I can't afford to hire somebody right now. You're not alone. But if you don't learn to delegate and give others ownership, you'll never escape the grind. Today we're going to change your mindset about delegation and give you practical steps. Practical steps that are going to help you start trusting others and give them ownership and start growing your business the right way. Let's dive in. Welcome Back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host, Omar Zenholm, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday to help you start, grow and scale your business. Here's the truth. If you're doing everything yourself, you're building a prison, not a business. You think you're protecting your standards, but what you're really doing is creating a system where you are the bottleneck. The problem is is that a lot of us do this without even noticing. You can't scale. You can't take time off. You're always busy, but you're not moving the business forward. This is not entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs build systems. They leverage other people's time, skills and effort to grow a business. Entrepreneurs know that it isn't a feeling, it's a system. Okay? You're creating an asset, leveraging other people's talent and skills to produce wealth for you, to produce a result for you. If you are the system, you don't have a system. If you want to stop trading time for money and build something that can grow beyond you, you need to make a shift. You need to make a shift from self employment to entrepreneurship. Delegation isn't just about handing off tasks. It's about giving others ownership over those responsibilities. When you delegate properly, you free yourself to focus, to focus on high value activities. You create space to work on your business and not in it. And you empower others to take full responsibility for the results. And here's the real kicker. If you're delegating tasks, you're still in the driver's seat. If you're delegating ownership, you're building leaders who can own the outcomes and the full task and everything around it. So your goal isn't to hand off work. Your goal is to create owners who take full responsibility for the work so you're not needed for every decision. And that's how you build a business that runs without you. I mean, let's get honest. Why don't you trust others? You think no one can do it as well as you. You're afraid of mistakes and failure. You've been burnt before part possibly. But the truth is is that you're right. You are right. No one is going to do as well as you and that mistakes can happen. You got to get over that. You got to get over the fact that somebody's going to do things exactly like you. It's a good thing that people are different, right? Different doesn't mean worse. Mistakes are part of the learning curve as well, by the way. And one bad experience doesn't mean all hires are bad. This is something you have to learn in business over time. When you make a decision and the result is not what you want, it doesn't mean the decision is. It means the result is bad. That's it means. You mean make a few tweaks in your execution of that decision and you'll find a better result. The problem isn't people, it's your system. Because people can follow a system if you give it to them. You need a delegation system that sets people up for success to make sure that hey, my system won't fail me. I know that I created a system that anybody can just implement and do. So I want to share with you five practical steps to delegate effectively and give ownership to your people. So get ready to stop being a bottleneck. And now we're going to start delegating the right way and give full ownership. Number one, identify low value repeatable tasks. Start by making a list. Write down every task you do in a week. You want to highlight tasks that generate $10 to $100. I call these $10 tasks $100 tasks. Think about how much money does this task actually produce for the business? And this is just an estimate. These are the first things you need to delegate immediately. Okay? If the task doesn't drive revenue or growth in a dramatic way, then it's a candidate for delegation immediately. And don't be afraid to cut things out completely. Like, don't do those things anymore if they're not really beneficial. But here is the key. Don't just hand off the task. Give ownership of the outcome. Let them own the result, not just the process. So for example, if you have somebody on our team that's responsible for publishing your weekly newsletter, for sending it out to your email list subscribers, they have to own the result. They have to own the test. They are responsible to make sure that email gets sent at this time every single week properly to every person that's on the list. They got to figure it out using your system to make that result happen. Step two, Create a system. Before you delegate, the system is actually more important than the task. Don't just hand over tasks. Set people up for success. Number one, document the process. Record a screen recording video, use a loom. Or you can use like Zeit, or if you don't want to do video, write step by step instructions. But I think the video is quite easy to use because then there's a visual, there's an audio, and you can transcribe the audio. Define what success looks like. Be crystal clear on the desired outcome. What is the desired outcome for this task. And then lastly, create a feedback loop, giving them a way to ask questions and improve that system. By the way, the creation of the system, once you shoot the video is their responsibility. It's their system. They're the ones who are going to have to use it to get the outcome. A system removes the guesswork and builds trust over time. And then you can look over the system to make sure everything is the way you want it to be. So when they watch the video and document like an SOP in a Google Doc, these are the steps of the task. This is what I have to do to get this out. Outcome. You can review that doc to make sure that it's on point. By doing this, the person on your team that you're delegating to owns the whole process. And when somebody owns a process with a system, they take responsibility for the outcome. Pretty cool. I know we're geeking out on systems and ownership and all that kind of stuff, but this is part of business. Business is a set of Systems.