In an article written by for Inc. magazine, Jim Schleckser claims that if you don’t learn to embrace the art of delegation, you won’t be able to build your business. The 70 percent rule gives you guidance on how to do it well. Here’s a brief excerpt. To read the complete article, check out others, obtain subscription information, please click here.

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So when do you delegate a task? This central question stops many CEOs from moving tasks into their team. They wait until someone else is able to complete the tasks as well as they can and thus doom themselves to owning that task forever.

Smart CEOs, on the other hand, use the “70 percent Rule.” Put simply, if the person the CEO would like to perform the task is able to do the task at least 70 percent as well as he can, he should delegate it. Is it frustrating that the task won’t be done with the same level of perfection or perceived perfection that the CEO could achieve? Sure! But let go of perfection. Is it easier said than done? Yes, certainly. But there is no place for perfection when it comes to delegation. The upside is the CEOs don’t need to spend any time on the task–zero. The “return on time” they don’t spend on that task is infinite–plus they gain that same time to invest in a higher impact project.

Part of the delegation process involves knowing what you want to accomplish and then letting people know what is needed for your team members to get it done. Then it’s time for perhaps the most difficult part of delegation–letting go and trusting that your team members will take the ball and run with it. This requires an understanding that they may do it in a way completely different from how you would do it. In order to let go of perfection, you need to decide what’s more important to you: having the work completed to “perfection” (the way you would do it), or having it completed successfully in a different way. You may even be surprised to find that when you give your team members a little leeway, they discover new–and better–ways to do things.

This 70 performance standard allows the CEO to aggressively move tasks to team members and have them perform the tasks at an acceptable level. Clearly there are some tasks that require a 100 percent performance level. The CEO will choose not to delegate these tasks. They could be transferred but with extensive support and training. In addition, one-on-one oversight may be required also.

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Here’s a direct link to the complete article.

Jim Schleckser helps leaders grow companies. He specializes in the issues that fast growth firms experience in their business models, talent, processes and systems as they reach higher levels of performance. Jim works with CEOs of high growth companies to identify and obliterate the things that stand between them and continued organizational success. To learn more about him and his work, please click here.