For entrepreneurs and small-business owners, delegating to others requires a big leap of faith. But the businesses that become successful are the ones led by entrepreneurs who know how to delegate work to the rest of their team.

Delegating can be difficult – how do you learn to put your company’s future in the hands of someone else? Before you can delegate effectively, you need to have the right team in place – it doesn’t need to be a big team, but it does need to be a well-trained one that you can trust. This is what your recruitment and training strategies should aim towards.

As an entrepreneur you have to weigh this initial investment against the future benefits and savings from having a well-trained team you trust to undertake work for your company. Love Energy Savings rounds up three key lessons from business leaders on learning how to delegate.

1. Use it as a team development exercise

“Delegating tasks to your team is an essential aspect of both driving a business forward and employee engagement. While it may be easier to complete the task yourself in the short term, delegating to employees will provide the challenges and opportunities your staff need to learn new skills and expand existing ones,” says Phil Foster, MD at business electricity comparison site Love Energy Savings.

“Draw on your employees’ strengths and build a team that will support you and business growth in the long run.”

2. Build a team you can trust

According to Adrian Harvey, CEO of corporate training provider Elephants Don’t Forget, delegating is only possible when you have the right team. “For me, if there’s one word that encompasses the successful SME philosophy, it’s ‘reputation’, as that engenders customer trust. The customer trusts me that I’ll do what I say I’ll do – and I always do because I care passionately about my business and put my customers first. So any member of our team I delegate work to has to care as much as I do and must have the appropriate skills to carry out the task.”

“Getting people in your business who care as much as you do means recruiting people with the right attitude.”

3. Invest in people

“Along with my two business partners, I own six venues and look after 128 people. I can’t be everywhere at once – that’s a fact. The most important aspect of my business is the PEOPLE who run our venues – they make it a welcoming and fun experience for our customers; they are the soul of Yummy,” Tim Foster, director and ‘head of being awesome’ at The Yummy Collection, says.

“Being a business owner means I have to trust in my people and the work they do. It’s an integral part of training, managing and developing teams. Trust and mutual respect – it’s what Yummy is built on.”