How Landscape Contractors Can Scale Their Businesses by Delegating Tasks
—
The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Originally published on October 7, 2015. Updated on November 16, 2022.
Table of Contents Click Here to Show
As a landscape contractor, you wear several hats. You’re the CEO, CMO, CFO, CHRO, supervisor, foreman, and crew member working in the field. Your “I can do it all” attitude and work ethic brought you this far and should make you proud, but the 24/7 grind isn’t sustainable in the long term and leads to burnout and lost opportunities.
If you’re running yourself ragged, it’s time to start scaling your business by delegating some of your work tasks to capable employees. Many landscape business owners become hesitant at the thought of delegation. It’s hard to let go of control of something you are passionate about and have dedicated time and effort to.
It’s helpful to reframe the concept of delegation. Your ability to delegate means you have control; you’re choosing to empower others to manage the smaller-value tasks they’re capable of handling so you can focus on the higher-value tasks.
If you’re apprehensive about empowering others to take over the tasks that you’ve always done, recognizing the many benefits of delegating may put you at ease. Considering CEOs who do well at delegation produce 33% more revenue than those who don’t, it makes good business sense.
Successful firms approach delegation strategically, which helps alleviate some of the anxiety that accompanies this process initially, especially if you are uncertain if the timing is right. There are signs that it’s time to delegate if you can take a moment to slow down and reflect.
How Landscape Contractors Can Tell It’s Time to Start Delegating Work
If you are winning bids to big projects and experiencing massive success in business but aren’t able to make it to your kids’ games or school concerts because you have too much on your plate, it’s a sign that your work-life balance is off. When work has taken priority over your loved ones, it’s time to delegate.
When you are stressed all of the time and your mental health suffers, it’s a sign to make changes before the situation worsens and affects your physical health. If you feel overwhelmed with the amount of work you have to do, but your employees don’t seem to have enough to do, it’s time to delegate.
Employee retention rates are also insightful. If you are doing it all and have a high turnover rate, your employees may not feel challenged. An employee turnover study found that 41% of people who quit did so because of a lack of career development opportunities and room for career growth. Your employees may be waiting for the chance to advance and develop their skills, and delegation is the perfect opportunity. Some leaders in the industry feel guilty at the thought of giving employees more work, but it often leads to higher productivity.
If you were unexpectedly away from work for a couple of weeks, would your business be able to operate without you? If not, it’s time to delegate. The ultimate goal is that the essential everyday activities can be completed without your involvement so that you can focus on scaling and growing the business, taking it up a level. While the process isn’t easy, it has long-term benefits and is an investment worth making.
Determining Which Tasks to Delegate to Others
When you can dedicate your time to the tasks that will move your business forward rather than the everyday tasks that someone else can accomplish, you’ll reduce the overwhelm as you scale your business. Determining which tasks to delegate to your employees depends on your goals.
Start with defining your position. What is the purpose of your position as the owner, executive, etc.? Is it your goal to manage the day-to-day of every single employee? Probably not; that’s what you have supervisors and foremen for, and if you don’t have an organizational structure, it’s time to create one.
What is the one goal your position has to do now? For example, you may want to drive your company into the next million-dollar revenue range. Define your goal, keeping it to one sentence. Every task you take on going forward must align with this goal, which will help guide what you say “yes” to and what you say “no” to. If a task doesn’t directly align with this goal, and you aren’t the only one who can accomplish it, delegate it to someone else.
Make a list of the high-level responsibilities you currently hold. For example, include categories for accounting, marketing, employee professional development, asset management, etc.
Next, list every task related to each of the categories and the amount of time you spend on each. If unsure, you can estimate the times or keep a daily diary of how you spend your time over a 30-day time frame. You can delegate small tasks that don’t take much time, simple tasks that may not be the best use of your time, and tasks that can be taught.
Successful landscape and home remodel contractors delegate tasks they don’t excel in, such as marketing or accounting, so they can focus on what they do excel in. This strategy allows you to focus on tasks where you can make the most impact while demonstrating trust in your team and creating a culture of responsible and motivated employees.
How to Strategically Delegate Tasks as a Landscape Contractor
Delegation can be a difficult skill to learn, but everyone is more productive when their strengths align with their role. This awareness will allow you to pass on some of the many hats you’ve been wearing and put on the hat that fits you best.
It’s essential to determine your strengths and to be familiar with your employees’ strengths. However, experience shouldn’t be the most important factor in deciding who should be getting a specific task. This is an opportunity to help develop a dedicated employee for career advancement.
Throughout this process, you may identify the need to improve your recruiting and hiring practices to attract high-quality employees. You may need to hire someone to take on some of your tasks rather than delegating them to a current employee, which is where an applicant tracking system (ATS) can help streamline the process.
One of the benefits of taking a close look at the day-to-day operations of your business is that you can identify areas you can improve or automate. For example, having a well-designed website that is optimized for search engines is essential for being discovered. A substantial amount of content needs to be generated to be effective, which takes time.
You’ll need high-quality photographs, videos, and written content for your blog and social media accounts. These marketing tasks alone are a full-time job, which is why many landscape contractors recruit the assistance of a marketing agency, leaving these tasks to marketing experts familiar with the green industry.
Have realistic expectations for the delegation hand-off. Whomever you delegate tasks to, the process requires patience. While there is an initial time investment as you hand off tasks to your employees or others, you will ultimately save time.
How to Effectively Delegate Tasks
Once you’ve selected who will do some of your tasks, set clear expectations about what this person will do. Let them know why you’re assigning them to the task and the purpose of the assignment.
When employees understand their role and how they will be helping make progress toward business goals, they will be more motivated and passionate about what they’re doing. Motivated and engaged employees are 87% less likely to resign, demonstrating another benefit of delegating.
Provide training opportunities before transferring the responsibility for a task. Failing to properly train, educate, and equip the delegate with the tools and resources needed ends in damaged morale. They may need to shadow you as you take inventory of materials and equipment so they can see how you do it before they take on the task.
The delegation process provides the opportunity to hone your coaching skills. Micromanaging will waste time and lead to resentment for both parties—learning how to coach rather than manage is essential. When the delegate runs into a problem, ask open-ended questions to help broaden their lens to think it through, empowering them to trust in their judgment.
Communication is key, and you should do it frequently so that both of you feel more secure about the project’s progress. Set expectations of how often you’ll meet to discuss progress, which may be more frequent in the beginning.
Remember that the delegate will not produce a replica of what you would produce. Everyone has different strengths and will approach things differently, and that’s OK. If something absolutely cannot change, offer your feedback. Don’t give up if things don’t go well immediately. Be patient, provide constructive feedback, and offer praise. Trust the process and empower your employees or others to help meet business goals.