Entrepreneurs think out loud.

I certainly don’t mean that as a criticism, I’m an entrepreneur who does it all the time. In many cases, it’s part of what makes us good at what we do.

We see something and immediately start thinking about how it could be better. We spot a problem and begin working through possible solutions. An idea occurs to us in the middle of another conversation, so we say it.

“We should probably change that.”

“Someone should follow up with them.”

“I wonder if we could do this differently.”

“Can you ask Sarah about that?”

“We need to get those numbers.”

To the entrepreneur, these can all be part of thinking through the business.

To the team, they can sound remarkably like assignments.

That’s where Conversational Delegation begins.

Did We Discuss It, Decide It, or Delegate It?

I recently had a conversation with an entrepreneur’s team that brought this issue into focus.

The entrepreneur lives in a different state from most of the team, and one team membe...