How to Empower Your Team and Win Back Time as a Founder

“Many founders find it hard to delegate tasks because they don’t trust their talents to provide the results that align with their vision.”

Ify Chuks, HR Lead at Human Lever, has several years of experience matching talents with companies. In his job, he observed that most founders insist on micromanagement and do not fully trust their staff, “even if the employee is a proven expert.”

Delegation Challenges in Startups

Most founders carry out operational tasks rather than hand them over to employees, due to the fear of underperformance. This is particularly evident in Africa’s budding technology sector. By the last quarter of 2024, Statista recorded over 5,000 existing startups on the continent, with Nigeria leading by 3,360. Some of these startups have achieved unicorn status and expanded operations beyond their originating countries. Behind this incline are talented individuals eager to share their ideas and expertise.

Startup founders, driven by a passion to actualise their visions, often relegate their mental health to the background. This is caused by a lack of personal time. In a study carried out on the well-being of African founders, 86% admitted that the startup grind impacted their mental and physical health.

“Startup founders often feel pressure to project confidence and success, both to protect their team from undue anxiety and to avoid appearing weak”, the report stated.

While this mindset may seem commendable, it is unsustainable. How can this be remedied?

Effective Strategies for Delegating and Empowering Teams

Ify Chuks suggests that startup founders focus more on strategic tasks while assigning daily operations to capable team members.

“Generally, I advise leaders to focus on the more strategic tasks and delegate more of the operational duties. The strategic tasks deal with the overall direction and vision of the organisation, and the founder best handles them. The operational tasks are regular day-to-day duties that can be handled by competent hands, under the supervision of the founder or leaders.”

Dr. Jane Bernard puts this into practice by “finding suitable hands”, providing adequate training for employees and a progressive work environment.

As the founder of FitSplurge Nigeria, a health-tech startup, Dr. Jane is intentional about continuous growth. “When I identify gaps, we focus on training our staff. A huge challenge has been that I will almost always need to train my team members because of the uniqueness of the sector we operate in”, she says.

She monitors individual progress to ensure continued productivity. By doing this, she can confirm “everyone is putting in the work”.

Dr. Jane struggles with micromanaging staff, so she devised a mutually beneficial approach to task delegation. She does this by rewarding “those staff who can take initiative and deliver on their tasks with minimal supervision.” This is put in place with the hope that staff will “take learning on the job and accepting responsibilities more seriously.”

Bridging Communication Gaps

Miscommunication often occurs during task delegation. This may prompt founders to slip into carrying out already assigned roles. To avoid this, Dr. Jane prefers discussing with her staff “about their processes and the challenges they may be facing, and to equip them on how to mitigate those challenges in the future, as opposed to jumping in to take over from them. When gaps have been identified, we focus on offering the right interventions to address them sustainably.”

Caleb Ijioma, founder of RoundCheck, a fact-checking platform, also opines that proper communication is compulsory for healthy founder-team relationships.

To ensure tasks are carried out at RoundCheck properly, he only assigns them to staff with proven expertise. “I have been able to understand my team members’ skillset and delivery pattern”, he says.

When he notices a delay in results, “I can tell there are problems with it. I will reach out to the person and inform them that they can ask me questions [...]. Challenges are bound to happen, especially where the task is big or complex. I try my best to communicate with the staff tasks have been assigned to and ensure they understand what they need to do.”

Ify’s best practices for continuous delivery are to assign tasks to employees “who have a track record of delivering.” He states that an effective way to ensure tasks are carried out successfully is “direct communication (word of mouth)”, followed closely by “explainer videos and use cases.” He also recommends the use of project management tools to monitor work progress.

Reclaiming Founder's Time

To reclaim founder time, Dr. Jane chose to shed some responsibility without feeling guilty.

“I stopped being a perfectionist, I used to struggle with trying to get everything done my way. Now we discuss expected outcomes, offer guidance and training where necessary, and allow the staff to brainstorm on how to get things done while I focus on checking for the desired results”, she says.

She hires experts who can work independently, conducts regular training for employees, and makes use of the Eisenhower Matrix for time management.

Caleb feels differently about reclaiming founder time. “I designate tasks and attend refresher trainings, but as a founder, there is no alone time.” He further justifies his reason. “RoundCheck is still a growing startup, we don’t have enough, so I don’t take a break from it. It has its own mental toll, but I don’t think I can stay away.”

With unpredictable events like health crises, Caleb still insists on being at the helm of affairs. “Currently, I am indisposed, but I still check my emails and make sure things are going smoothly. We just received a partnership request, and I am working on it.”

However, he is optimistic about scaling his startup. “When things fall into place, one thing that could actually work for me is assigning duties, clearing my desk and taking a break.”

Conclusion

Founders’ hesitation to delegate tasks impedes both business growth and personal well-being. By hiring skilled talent, using clear communication, and project-management tools, they can build empowered teams and reclaim their time.