Delegate what you can’t handle

Roger Byford, co-founder, chairman and CEO, Vocollect Inc.

A simple rule that Roger Byford, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Vocollect
Inc., uses when determining what to delegate is to hand over anything that he can’t
help with.

“For example, my background is a technical one. I’m an engineer. I’ve never been in a
sales organization; I’ve never been in marketing,” Byford says. “So, when it comes to
sales and marketing issues, my suspicion is
that, ‘Well, I’m quite sure that the folks in
those organizations are far better equipped
than I am to make those kinds of decisions.’”

He may ask some pointed questions to get
things on track, but then lets them take over.

“Even on the technical sides these days,
I’ve been out of the technical business for so
long that I can’t usually do anything more
than ask a few high-level questions,” he says.

While trust and delegation are important,
you have to be ready to act when a task is
going awry. Start by talking to the employee
assigned to the task.

“Those are difficult conversations, and it’s
all too easy to put them off or to further
them or not be sufficiently clear when you
are having those conversations,” he says.
“Then you get to the point where there is
just a widening gap, if you like, between the
perceptions on both sides. If you don’t take
the opportunity to close that gap while it’s
still small, it becomes a gulf, and then it’s
very difficult to deal with.

“So, be honest with them.”

It’s also helpful to ask questions and get
their side of the argument.

For example, you can ask employees why
they think their way is the right way or you can ask them if they know the ramifications
of their decision.

“Perhaps, at times, you can ask people to
take the opposite position,” he says. “We’ve
done that on occasion in our internal discussions, which is to ask people to switch
sides. Make the case that you don’t believe
in and see how good of a job you could do
of that. It’s a matter of getting a well-justified
decision.”