Rob Dube (00:21):
Hello, everyone. My name is Rob Dube, and I am here with Gino Wickman. Gino, what's happening? You're just smiling.
Gino Wickman (00:31):
I am.
Rob Dube (00:32):
I love it.
Gino Wickman (00:33):
I'm looking forward to this episode.
Rob Dube (00:34):
Yeah.
Gino Wickman (00:35):
I'm looking forward to this episode.
Rob Dube (00:37):
Okay, okay.
Gino Wickman (00:37):
I'm ready to get to work.
Rob Dube (00:39):
The episode is the topic Mastering the Art of Delegation, and I love this one. I love this one.
Gino Wickman (00:46):
I'm feeling giddy about this one as well.
Rob Dube (00:48):
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good. So, just to get your gears turning, I'm going to start by sharing a couple of things. First, I wanted to say you taught me to delegate and elevate years ago.
Gino Wickman (00:58):
Yes, I did.
Rob Dube (00:59):
Probably don't remember that. Oh, maybe you do remember that.
Gino Wickman (01:01):
I do, yes.
Rob Dube (01:01):
Yeah. So, thank you for that. The funny thing is I thought I was delegating prior to meeting you, but I realized that I was doing a 50% job at best. So, there's really an art to it.
(01:12):
And one of the things that I've realized, and I hope all the listeners realize and think about this each and every day, is that time is your greatest asset. And delegating allows you to place greater focus on the decisions, and all the tasks, and all the different things that you have going on that align with your unique abilities. And I hope you're 10-year thinking. And when you delegate it from a leadership perspective, you're empowering your team, you're developing your team. That is what great leaders do. They empower and develop. And as a result of doing all this, you end up with more energy, you're making greater impact, and you're doing that with more inner peace, which is what this whole thing is all about. So, Gino, what's coming up for you?
Gino Wickman (02:00):
A whole bunch of things. First of all, that was great that you shared that because I would guess that you were probably one of the very first clients of mine that I taught delegate and elevate to. So, we're going the wayback machine here. Having a kung fu flashback of teaching you that. So, you were probably client number one, two, three, four, or five that I taught that to for the first time.
Rob Dube (02:24):
That's awesome.
Gino Wickman (02:24):
So, pretty amazing, though, that here we are now. What is this? 25 years later, and we're having this conversation. Maybe 24 years.
Rob Dube (02:34):
Crazy.
Gino Wickman (02:35):
So, a bunch of things are coming up. And so I'll just high level run through them to stimulate conversation here, but the first thing that comes to mind for me is mindset. And so if there were an objective for this episode, it'd be that we convince every listener to see so clearly that they must delegate everything in their life that they shouldn't be doing and elevate themselves to their True Self, to the maximum value that they're going to bring to the world.
(03:10):
And so when I say that, I want to start with getting to the reason, getting to the motivation for why you should do this. Because what I realize with most of my clients I've worked with, if they don't see the value, it's just not worth... The juice is not worth the squeeze. Because there's the attitude that says, "If I'm going to delegate this thing and teach this person for the next God knows how many hours, days, weeks, I could do it myself in 30 minutes. Why would I do that?" Well, when you understand the value that's that question, you'll realize how silly that question is.
(03:46):
So ultimately, what we're talking about here is... Let me give you a couple things that are going to happen. There's a bunch of things that are going to happen, but you'll double your income. Is that motivating for you? You'll double your energy. Is that motivating to you? It'll double your impact on the world. The end game, the results, the value, it's undeniable. So, why on earth would you not do this?
(04:09):
So before I get into some specifics, does that prompt anything for you? Because I want to start with mindset, and I want to try to break loose anything out there that anyone is struggling with or not seeing the value. "Why am I going to invest time in that person I'm going to delegate to?" We got to break that free first.
Rob Dube (04:24):
Yeah. Well, one thing that comes to mind for me in terms of mindset is also nobody can do it like me. That's something that I hear all the time in the clients that I'm working with, is, "Nobody can do it like me. I'm concerned the quality's going to go down or they won't be as efficient," and things of that nature. When I was thinking about this in preparing, I was curious what you would say about that, because you must hear that all the time.
Gino Wickman (04:52):
Yeah. So, here's what immediately came to me. Let's pretend they can't. Let's just agree they won't do it as good as you. Now, here's what I know for a fact. You'll find people that can do it better than you, but let's pretend they won't. Okay? Let's pretend they're going to do it 10% worse than you, or whatever number that's reasonable. You have in front of you, hypothetically, 50 things to choose from to do that are going to create value in the world, value in your company, make you more money, grow your business, and you can't do all 50. I mean, it is literally that simple. So, do you choose the 10 that are the highest gain that are going to do all those wonderful things and then delegate the other 40 that are going to get done at a 90% quality level than you would have? Now, again, if you're a perfectionist out there, we'll say 99%.
(05:50):
But, let's just pretend that they can't do it as good as you. So, let that go. Can you live with that? Because that is probably the reality. But the trade-off in the gain on you putting all of your energy into those 10 things that are going to take you and the company to the next level is worth that diminished output.
(06:11):
Now, all that said, my humble belief is of the 40 things, 20 of them, that person's going to do them better than you. They're just not doing it the same as you, and you're just being too much of a control freak. But on the other 20, they're doing it 95% right. That math is easy math. Make sense?
Rob Dube (06:29):
Yeah, hundred percent. You can use this 80/20 rule. You can list out all the things you're doing, like the 50, like Gino said, identify the 20% that are the highest yield for you, highest return, whether that be in revenue, growth, or impact, and then delegate or eliminate the remaining 80% that don't align with your strengths or goals. So, just building off of what you were saying.
(06:52):
Now, another thing that I was thinking about here was about control, like the psychology around people wanting to control things. Do you run into that when you're teaching this to people and things that are coming up?
Gino Wickman (07:04):
No.
Rob Dube (07:04):
No.
Gino Wickman (07:04):
None of my clients are control freaks. I've never been a control... I have no idea what you're talking about. This is all of us. So, here we go again.
Rob Dube (07:11):
[inaudible 00:07:12].
Gino Wickman (07:12):
We're all control freaks. It's how we got here. And so you got to start to let go. And again, it's not ripping a Band-Aid off, but it's baby steps. It's taking it one step at a time, realizing you're a control freak, but, again, understanding the trade-off. You can't control all 50 things. And so let's make the 50 things the theme of this conversation today. You can't possibly control all 50 things, but you can have a relative understanding of what's going on with those other 40 things that you're not doing. And so it's a matter of understanding, "Why am I such a control freak? What do I really want?"
(07:51):
And so an example that's coming to me, I'm going to give the biggest delegation example of my entire life, and that is selling my company. I delegated an entire company. In other words, it was more valuable to me to be on the other side of that sale so that I could make a bigger impact on the world, create more content, put myself out there in a bigger way to impact even more people than it was to stay at the helm of that organization.
(08:19):
And so there was a point in my life where I decided, "Ho, I got to delegate a company. I got to delegate the running of this company." And so, I built an amazing leadership team that freed me up completely to just be an owner. And then I was able to sell the business and walk away one hour after closing and have no responsibility for that business.
(08:39):
The point I'm making is, you want to talk about control, I mean to let go of control of the business that you built for 15 years, that's really hard. But again, mindset, the value, what was on the other side, for me was far more important than staying in control of that business. And here we are seven years later after that sale. They 5X the company. It continues to grow. And so if I went back and tried to control all of that, I mean that wouldn't be worth it to me. And so what's on the other side is far more important to me than hanging onto the past. I want to grow. I want to go to the next level. And so that's more motivating to me than not confronting my control freak issues that stem from all my trauma and my past shit. And so I confront it, and I just learn how to let go and breathe through my control freak tendencies.
Rob Dube (09:34):
So every time you as a listener, every time you see an opportunity to delegate and you find yourself holding back, pause and start to identify what's blocking you. What's in the way? Is it control? Is it something from some sort of trauma or some something-something? And just really go deep with it and try to let go.
(09:55):
One thing that a client shared with me that I thought was really cool... He does this every year. He takes a look at everything he's doing, and he looks at the top three biggest things and picks one of them. In that upcoming year, he decides, "I'm going to delegate that this year. I'm getting that off my plate."
(10:18):
So for example, one thing was he was going out doing a lot of speaking, and he was kind of like the best at it that there was, and he was going to delegate that completely off. And he was really nervous, really nervous about it. What was going to be the impact? Would there be an impact on sales? Because his talks generate a lot of sales. But he was fully letting go, fully committed, empowering the team, empowering the new people that were going to go out and do these talks. And I thought that was really a cool way. We're talking about the art here, and so that's an art. You can commit once per year to doing something like that.
Gino Wickman (10:51):
And let me piggyback on that because my approach for 30 years has always been very similar in that I do one major delegation every 90 days. So every quarter, I delegate something else. And so 30 years, 120 delegations. I keep elevating myself higher, and higher, and higher, and higher and getting all of this value that I'm talking about. So, same Discipline. So, I would prescribe that to everyone out there. Just pick one thing per quarter. Just take it one thing at a time. And if it takes you longer than a quarter, so be it, but just take one thing at a time. That's the real powerful Discipline.
(11:28):
So, we're talking about mindset and these obstacles for doing it. Then there's also just knowing how to do it. So, I'm going to give you a simple three-step track for how to do it. Once you identify the thing you want to delegate, the next step is to... So, step one is to find the person you're going to delegate it to. So find that person either somewhere in your organization or you need to hire somebody. You need to fill a role. Number two is teach that person how to do that job. And then number three, let go. So there's the track.
(11:54):
Everybody overcomplicates it. Find the person, teach them how to do it, and let go. And frankly, and let's say find the right person, where it goes wrong is one of those three things or all of those three things get screwed up. You chose the wrong person. You didn't teach them or you didn't let go.
(12:14):
So, that's it. There it is. Please don't overcomplicate it. Please don't read anything else on delegation and how to do it because that's exactly how to do it. So if you chose the wrong person, it's never going to work. If you don't teach them well to where they have a level of proficiency to do it 90% or better, then you've made a mistake. Or if you don't let go, you've made a mistake. So for what that's worth-
Rob Dube (12:35):
That's good.
Gino Wickman (12:35):
... I just wanted to piggyback on that.
Rob Dube (12:36):
Let me piggyback off.
Gino Wickman (12:36):
Yeah, please.
Rob Dube (12:37):
Because I wanted to talk about setting clear expectations and boundaries, and I have an example. Let's say you delegate the task of managing client follow-up to one of your team members. So what you want to do is do three things here. First, clearly outline the timeline for follow-ups, for example, within 24 hours of a client meeting. Next, what's the desired outcome? For example, update the CRM with detailed notes and any action items. Next thing, checkpoints for review. So together, share weekly summaries. This way, the team member understands what success looks like, and they feel empowered to take ownership of the process. So there's no need for you to micromanage this person. Now you can trust that the tasks will be handled efficiently. So, that's another way of the art of delegate. Yeah.
Gino Wickman (13:27):
And if I may, everything you just said there, that was all step number two that I shared in the teach them. Because hopefully there's a day that you trust them that they can do the job that you don't have to keep checking up on them. So, everything you just described was in the teach step.
Rob Dube (13:44):
Okay. So there's one more thing that was coming to my mind on this topic, and that is I think about a story. I visited the founder of Clif Bar, which is like an energy bar at some point. And he realized very smartly that he needed to delegate being the CEO. And he was hiring person, after person, after person. I think he said he had six or seven failures, and then he found this great person.
(14:17):
But, I asked him about that. I said, "How did you stay resilient going through all that?" And he said, "I don't know. I just had to. I just knew I had to find a person. I didn't mind failing." But, I'm bringing it up because I've worked with several people who have had this same issue, and they wave the white flag and they give up. So, what do you say to the resilience around this, especially when it's a key role, when you're actually delegating an executive role that you're holding?
Gino Wickman (14:47):
Well, a couple thoughts come to mind. It takes time. So, you're a walking example of this right now. We are replacing you as the visionary for this 10 Disciplines company. Right now, the listener is observing us go through this process. We put the stake in the ground on January 1st. We said, "By December 31st, our new visionary's going to be in place." And so that's going to require everything you just described, a complete commitment.
(15:11):
But, let's go back to mindset. Because what we agree, what's on the other side for you, what you've agreed is what's on the other side for you, is so valuable that failure's not an option. So, it takes time.
(15:22):
My succession plan, when I replaced myself as visionary, I think it was a three-year timeline I created with my successor. That was a little overly intense. Not every company has that luxury, but three years of identifying the person, grooming the person, putting the person in place, and coaching the person. So, it takes time, and so you got to have patience. And there will be failures. I think it's probably a 50% failure rate. Imagine that you put all that time and energy into the right person and then they don't work out.
(15:56):
When I look at visionaries hiring integrators, that's one of the biggest delegations for a visionary. There's probably a 50% success rate out there if I look at all of my clients. There's no perfect way to do this. But again, in every case with my clients, and every case with my companies, it's worth it. It's worth bumping your head a few times. But, let's go back to 10-year thinking now.
Rob Dube (16:19):
Thank you.
Gino Wickman (16:20):
Think long term. Three years. I mean, literally, I put the stake in the ground and said, "In three years." So, imagine the peace that comes about that, how much better I did than if I would've said, "I got six months. I got six..." You can't do a big delegation like that in six months, replacing yourself as visionary, finding the right integrator. On the good side, you can find the right integrator in six months, but I'd give it at least a year when I look at all of my clients. Hopefully that sheds a little light.
Rob Dube (16:48):
Yeah, that does. That does. Anything else coming up for you on this topic?
Gino Wickman (16:52):
Yes. Four things.
Rob Dube (16:53):
Yeah. Yes.
Gino Wickman (16:54):
Now we're getting to why I'm giddy. This is the rest of my list. I want to say four things as fast as I can. The first is, if you are a driven entrepreneur, i.e. a visionary, which is most of our audience, if you don't have an executive assistant, I don't know how you're functioning at full capacity. And it's mind-boggling how many visionaries don't have assistants? So, I've had an assistant since I was 22 years old. I don't know how you can function without one. And so, I plead with you, I want to send a passionate plea, that one of the greatest delegations is paying an assistant to do all of your administrative work. Yes, you can book that flight. Yes, you can put that thing in your calendar, but it's a no-brainer in freeing up energy, freeing up your time to create more value.
(17:49):
Number two is let's bring two Disciplines into this. Know your hundred percent, and don't do $25-an-hour work when you know you're hundred percent. And let's hypothetically pretend that your hundred percent is 45 weeks a year and 50 hours a week. There's your work capacity. It's a no-brainer.
(18:07):
Let's go back to the 50 things. If you can't get all 50 things done in that timeframe... It's simple math. And if you can only get those 10, and those 10 well, you've got to delegate the other 40 things, one a quarter. You're 10 years away from fully delegating it all.
(18:24):
And don't do $25-an-hour work. So, what's going on inside of the hundred percent? If any of it is $25-an-hour work, you've got to delegate it, i.e. there's your executive assistant or your administrative assistant opportunity. Anything to say to that? Going to number three.
(18:39):
There's only three things that I do now. And so number one is create content. Number two is teach content. And number three is... I call it navigation, but it's mentoring, guiding, patting butts on the people in my life, the leaders that are perpetuating this content in the world. And so, I play a mentoring, a navigation role for them. And so, that's all I do all day every day. And there's stuff that creeps in, but anything that's not that, it's so glaringly obvious to me that I've got to delegate that to someone else.
(19:12):
And so I would ask you out there, try and get that clear, that what are the one, two, three, four things that you excel at that you need to spend all of your time doing because it makes such an impact on the world, makes you more money, creates an impact for the organization, grows the organization, and then treat everything else, for lack of a better term, like the plague and delegate it. Because if you spend all your time there, you're going to be happier, and everything's going to be better.
(19:40):
In terms of a fourth, the fourth thing was just, again, restating that you are living this real time right now, Rob. And that is you are freeing yourself up as a visionary. I mean, what a great time for this topic because we're watching it happen real time. And I just want to say with that, it's scary. I'm scared because we're partners in this business. I'm scared for you. It's a scary thing, but it's so exciting to know what's on the other side. That's how I stay motivated. That's how I observe you staying motivated to do this, and we're just methodically executing a plan.
Rob Dube (20:14):
Yeah, yeah. And I'm not scared.
Gino Wickman (20:16):
Yeah, that's true.
Rob Dube (20:17):
I really am not.
Gino Wickman (20:17):
Rob doesn't get scared, just everybody knows out there. He doesn't get scared.
Rob Dube (20:20):
I get scared of plenty of things, but that's not one of them.
Gino Wickman (20:22):
Okay.
Rob Dube (20:22):
And I have done that at imageOne. The time piece to this is so spot on. It took time to find that right person to get them in place, do the succession plan, a good three, four years. But now there's somebody at imageOne who's doing a much better job running the company than I ever did. So, it's worth letting go. I speak from experience.
Gino Wickman (20:45):
Hear, hear.
Rob Dube (20:46):
Gino, we are out of time.
Gino Wickman (20:47):
Oh, darn it.
Rob Dube (20:48):
So, are there any last words?
Gino Wickman (20:49):
No, I have no other words.
Rob Dube (20:51):
All right. All right. Well, for all of our wonderful listeners, thank you as always for joining us, and we'll see you next time. In the meantime, stay focused, and much love.
Gino Wickman (21:03):
Thank you for listening in today. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us, and please tune in for the next episode. Until then, if you'd like to see where you are on your True Self journey, go to shedandshinepodcast.com to take the True Self assessment and receive personalized guidance. If you're all ready to begin your inner world journey with Rob and myself, please join us for the next round of the 10 Disciplines Group Coaching Program. We wish you all the best in freeing your True Self. Stay focused and much love.
