Leverage through Delegation: the #1 Reason Agencies Don't Scale

You need more leverage to scale your agency. 

Last week we went over leverage through content or documentation for your agency, so that you can work less hours. 

You can catch up on last week’s newsletter here.

This week we are going to cover leverage in the form of people.

I’m Nick Avaria, agency owner, and founder of Agency Acquisitions. As an agency owner and consultant, every week I share what’s working in my own agency and my clients’ to increase profits - without increasing the hours spent at your desk.

The specific people that are the hardest to work with: middle management. 

The middle management layer is the #1 reason agencies don't scale profitably. But the #1 thing inside of management that doesn't work well in an agency is delegation.

There are 4 macro ways to work through others:

1. Micro-manage

2. Support

3. Coach

4. Delegate 

The style we pick depends on where the person we are giving work to is.

Skills: Does the person have the skills to do what is needed to get the task done

Internal Drive: You can also call this motivation, how motivated the person is to do the task.

What makes management difficult is that each task you assign to someone can be at a different point in the diagram below.

After all, people don't have the same level of skill for all the tasks assigned to them:

Delegation can only happen when you have someone that:

1. Has the motivation to do the task you want to assign to them

2. Has the skills to do the task you want to assign to them

If these 2 criteria are not met. The delegation will fail. 

If we cannot delegate we have to use one of the 3 other styles based on where people are at. 

Additionally, even if they do have these 2 critical criteria, we still have to:

1. Gain their commitment to do it 

2. Ensure, based on skill level, that they can get it done on time

Without these two criteria + giving them the tools they need (SOPs, training videos, etc.) we are not setting them up for success.

Remember: Just because something takes us 1 hour (for example) it doesn't mean it will take the person we assign it to less, equal, or more.

I’ll deep-dive this diagram next week and show you how to use the other 3 styles and when.

If you want to get ahead of next week's content check out this video on how to use them.

Need support with getting more leverage out of your team through delegation? Book a time in my calendar now to connect before to walk through the process in more detail.

Nick