delegation Archives - Adam Kirk Smith

Outsourcing is an important strategy for business success, yet leaders must be clear about the why, the tradeoffs, and the risks. One of the most powerful ways to improve your product development or service levels, focus your organization on critical tasks, and shape your budget is to outsource services and parts of projects to people who can do it better or for less cost than you can internally.

The biggest challenges come when leaders make “narrow” decisions about outsourcing, not thinking of the larger economic or organizational culture issues. For example, outsourcing can create inefficiencies and more unproductive downtime for your employees, which is often missed on the Excel sheet demonstrating the cost savings of a contractual service level. Outsourcing can also affect your brand and your interaction with customers.

Since you read this far, you’re a smart leader who wants to make smart decisions. Here are the questions you should ask (and answer) before outsourcing any task or service: [Read more…] about 5 Questions to Ask Before You Outsource

Leading by example is so important because people are looking at all times, whether you like it or not. It’s also important for yourself. You need to back up what you say with your actions. For those of you that work for someone, you’ve mostly likely seen this along the way and for those of you that own your own business, hopefully you do this. Leading by example is not an easy thing or most. It takes self-motivation. It takes doing the right thing. It takes someone who doesn’t just bark orders, but shows how he or she wants things done. it especially speaks volumes to those that think hard work equals a great leader. I’m not saying that the leader is always mopping floors. There has to be a time of reflecting, thinking about the future and getting those things done that needs to be done by the leader. This is where delegation comes in. This allows time for working in strengths and staying in those things that allow you to enjoy what you’re doing. I mean, let’s face it. You can’t do everything.

What is something you can do today to lead by example?