Lesson in Delegating Authority to Get OFF THE LADDER!

 keywords

leadership, delegation, authority, home service business, team management, trust, competence, business growth, effective leadership, contractor advice


 summary

In this episode of the Off the Ladder podcast, Branden Sewell discusses the critical importance of delegating authority rather than just tasks in leadership. He emphasizes the need for trust and competence in team members, sharing his approach to hiring and onboarding. Branden advocates for a leadership style that empowers employees to take action and make decisions, fostering a culture of autonomy and accountability. He draws parallels with successful organizations like SpaceX and Blue Origin, highlighting the necessity of hiring competent individuals and allowing them the freedom to execute their roles effectively.


 takeaways

Delegating authority is essential for effective leadership.
Trust your team until they give you a reason not to.
Set your team up for success, not failure.
Hiring should be based on competence and capability.
Empower employees to make decisions in your absence.
Focus on core objectives rather than micromanaging.
Create leaders by delegating authority, not just tasks.
A strong onboarding process sets clear expectations.
Successful organizations hire experts and trust them.
Delegating authority quickly can lead to better results.


Titles

Empowering Leadership: The Art of Delegation


 sound bites

"Set them up for success, not failure."
"You need to delegate authority fast."


Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Leadership and Delegation
01:56 The Importance of Delegating Authority
10:05 Building Trust and Competence in Teams

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.074)
Good morning, everybody. I'm Brandon Sewell. I'm the owner of Seal Pro Painting and the host of the Off the Ladder podcast. We exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live a life off of the ladder. This episode is one of our daily shorter episodes, 15 minutes or less. These episodes are meant to give you some quick, actionable leadership advice to help you get off the ladder. So whether you're listening to this

on your drive into a job, on a job site, or on your drive home. the hope is that this just gives you a quick takeaway that you can go ahead and get implemented into your business right away and just give you some really actionable advice. Something in a small enough dose that you can get something from it really quick and then put it to work. I know a lot of us live, you know, busy lives and are running and

Doing stuff. So we do longer episodes on Wednesdays. those are usually, you know, anywhere from 45 minutes, some episodes longer, hour 15, hour and a half. and I know not everybody can tune into one of those. so these are shorter and hopefully give you some good takeaways really quick. so I've been reading from a devotional called The Leadership Promises for Every Day by John Maxwell.

And today's topic let's go ahead and jump into this. It says share the burden. Moreover, you shall select from all the people able men, let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. Exodus eighteen twenty one.

through twenty two. John Maxwell goes on to write, easing people into delegation is important. You can't simply dump tasks on people. Not if you want them to succeed. Delegate according to the following steps. One, ask them to be fact finders only. It gives them a chance to become acquainted with the issues and objectives. Ask them to make suggestions.

Branden Sewell (02:25.292)
This gets them thinking and it gives you a chance to become acquainted with their thought processes. Sorry, that was point two. Point three, ask them to implement one of their recommendations, but only after you give your approval. Set them up for success, not failure. Point four, ask them to take action on their own, but to report the results immediately. This will give them confidence.

And you will still be able to perform damage control if necessary. 5. Give complete authority. This is the final step. What you've been working toward. Alright, so this is going to be kind of controversial because I agree with this to an extent, but I take a different approach and it works well for me. And I'll give my reasoning. so

What I will say is that I I pretty much give complete authority from from the beginning to the people that are going to be delegated tasks too. and what I mean by that is I I take this approach to delegating is that I trust until you give me a reason not to trust. Secondly

If I am hiring somebody to do a job, I am hiring them with the expectation that they are competent to do the work and that they can do it without me having to babysit them. And I make that really clear in my interview and onboarding process that hey, you are going to be hired from this for this job.

Branden Sewell (04:24.852)
And here is what is expect expected of you. And I need you to be competent and capable of running with these expectations from the day you are hired. And if you are not competent and capable of doing XYZ, then you are not the person for the job, or if you are really great at interviewing and make me think you are.

that I do a 90-day trial hire, and within that time frame, you'll be obviously let go. but what I've found, and this is just my own thought process theory on hiring people and you know, leading an organization. I try to think of the biggest organizations out there. Like let's, you know, the ones that I like to use just because they're in my backyard.

I live here on the space coast of Florida. Kennedy Space Center is right across the river. Literally, if I opened up the window in my office in front of me, I could see rockets launch right in my window. so I think a Blue Origin and SpaceX. Obviously I have two of the richest men in the world who are building organizations that are changing our our world as we know it right here in my backyard.

So SpaceX and Blue Origin. So what I think of is these guys are literally hiring rocket scientists, right, to build these rockets. There's a lot that goes into that. There are numerous professions and expertise, different types of engineers, different types of laborers, contractors.

trades, everything. Like there's everything you can imagine goes into that, right? the reality is that Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk does not have the capacity to know every single one of those professions and to do each one of those jobs to the level of expertise

Branden Sewell (06:48.626)
of the person that is trained in that profession or expertise, right? Or that trade. So the way that I think about this is they have to do a pretty in-depth, I would assume, screening process to select a candidate for whatever position they're hiring for. And then they hand them over like the work. And I would assume

That they treat that person almost like a consultant on whatever their expertise is, right? So it's almost like they come to Jeff Bezos, well, indirectly to Jeff Bezos, probably through their team leaders or project managers or whatever, say, Hey, here's what we're gonna do, this is how we're gonna do it, this is why, and this is what it looks like. And it's probably a crazy process, really detailed.

incredible complexity and they say this is what we're gonna do. now Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, I'm sure they give the vision and the direction that they want to go, right? And here's the parameters, but the those workers that are brought on are they have to be competent. And if they're not, then I'm sure they'll can them and find somebody else who is. And so my approach to this is like I don't

I don't have the the time right to bring someone on and make them a fact finder only. I don't have the time to ask them to make suggestions. I mean, yes, they will. I will give them that expectation, like, hey, I'm looking for you to make suggestions. but I'm going to delegate and then ask them to give me suggestions.

implement one of their recommendations after they have my approval. Like 100%. And actually a lot of times I will give them the freedom to implement even without my approval, as long as it's within the expectations of like the job has to get done on time, on budget, and the customer needs to be extremely happy. and like and with like finish the job within our values and our mission, right?

Branden Sewell (09:13.358)
if we do meet all of those things, like you don't I I don't have to be a micromanager and approve the way like what you're going to implement. and then the other thing, take action on their own, but report their results immediately. like I want my guys to have the freedom to know that I trust them and you can take action. Like I'm delegating authority to you.

out the gate. And that's really the part that I like the last point is what I agree with the most. Give complete authority. I'm not really working towards that. I'm starting from that. That's my approach. And it works for me. So I'm delegating authority because I want my the people that I've onboarded and trained to understand: hey, here are the

Parameters of like how we do things, right? So in my onboarding, that's what they're really getting. Here are our company values. Here's how we do things. This is what we do here at SealPro Painting. This is why we do it. And if you do what you do within those parameters, like we're good, right? So if I'm trying to get a lot of projects done at once, I just

I don't like the way that I look at it is I don't have the time to n to not give authority and trust to somebody. I have to start with that. And that's worked well for me. I have four amazing crews right now, amazing team leads on those crews.

doing great work, making clients happy and delivering on delivering results. Like, some of my guys do some things differently. And I try not to babysit those things. I just try to focus on like, hey, are we are we accomplishing our main core objectives? And like how each one of you guys do those things might be a little bit different, but I'm not there to micromanage like how each person does everything. It's like, can you

Branden Sewell (11:28.806)
execute on the objective. And if you do that, then you're not going to hear from me. Now, if you're not doing that, then yes, you will hear from me. But that's really the ultimate goal. So anyway, I think the main takeaway from this is whether you're gonna be slow to delegate authority or quick to and take my approach to it. at the end of the day, that's the goal is you've got to get to delegating authority.

Again, not delegating tasks, delegating authority. I say this all the time. I heard it from Craig Groschel first, I believe, on his podcast. Delegate authority, don't delegate tasks. If you delegate tasks, you'll create followers who need you to approve and tell them what to do. And you you're gonna you might as well do it yourself. Or you can delegate authority and that's that's creating leaders. Those are people who take action and make decisions in your absence.

knowing that they have the freedom and the autonomy to do so as long as it aligns with the company culture, values, and mission. Right. That's it. So anyway, I hope that was a good takeaway for you today on your leadership and helping you get off the ladder. You're gonna have to delegate. And if there's anything that I can recommend, it's delegating authority fast. I hope that this was helpful. If it was, please like this, share it.

rate and review. send this to somebody, a a contractor that you know who might benefit from this and enjoy it too. as always, down in the show notes I have some resources that can help you get off the ladder, things that I use personally in my business to help me remain off the ladder and to lead my team well.

if you use the links, I do get credit. So I'd really appreciate it if you use my affiliate links to help support me and the show. and as always, I hope that you guys will come back for another episode. In the meantime, I will talk to you guys next time on the next episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast.