It’s no big secret that something many business owners and entrepreneurs struggle with is delegation and outsourcing.

There are plenty of things about delegating that go against our natural instincts: things like being unwilling to let go or lose control, fear that the job won’t get done right, and worries about how much extra time and money it’ll take if you pass along the task to someone else. And these are all totally fair concerns. Anyone who’s delegated before will have likely heard (or unfortunately ended up in) a delegation horror story or two.

Yet, despite that internal monologue — you have been telling yourself, “If I want it done right, I have to do it myself” — delegation can be a major gamechanger (which is why it’s a major part of my favorite pieces of advice: Work in your zone, eliminate the rest).

So, today we’re going to talk about why so many people are awful at delegation and the easy four-level decision tree model for delegation you can use to make it work.

But first, there’s something we have to get out of the way.

What really holds back people from delegating successfully?

We’ve all heard the phrase “you’re your own worst enemy,” right? Well, this is 110% true when it comes to business owners and entrepreneurs who try to delegate. By getting in their own way, they ultimately end up making their own lives (and the lives of the person they are delegating or outsourcing to) far more painful or stressful than they need to be.   

Here’s how most business owners and entrepreneurs get in their own way when delegating: by forgetting to communicate the decision making authority the person they delegate to has.