Feeling guilty about delegating work? You're not alone. Business leaders from all industries struggle with it — especially if they're empathetic to the needs of their team. Allison Minutillo, president and owner of Rebel Interactive Group, has dealt with this experience firsthand.

She was promoted from a junior position to president and COO of Rebel Interactive, a full-service digital marketing agency powered by a team of creative and strategic digital-first marketers. And as an empath, she initially found it difficult to ask her employees to take charge of the responsibilities that she used to do.

But she eventually figured out how to delegate comfortably and has used her empathy to her advantage. Under Allison’s leadership, the team has grown from 38 to 75 people in just the last couple of years.

How do you continue leading with empathy while sustaining that kind of growth? Allison had to learn along the way. Here are her top tips:

Seek to listen and understand

Effective communication is at the core of any relationship. Especially when you have a company growing as quickly as Rebel Interactive. “You can’t be guarded in a situation like this,” says Allison.

She’s been around organizations where the leadership didn’t get along. They weren’t honest with each other. “You would hear one version if you’re talking to this person,” says Allison, “and you’d hear a completely opposite version of the same story if you're talking to another. And that is not what we have [at Rebel Interactive].”

Their leadership team maintains open and honest communication about where they see the company moving and how they can push for growth. That way, they’re all on the same page about what’s best for the business.

And for Allison, it’s important to have that open line of communication with their employees as well. “Seek to understand. Seek to listen and hear how they're currently doing and how the business is currently operating,” she shared.

Allison recommends bringing your attention to the challenges your employees are currently facing, and then drawing from your experience to try to solve them. “You have to listen, reflect constantly about the feedback you hear,” says Allison.

Allison takes care to cultivate a healthy environment where employees feel good about the work they’re doing. Because she knows that having a strong company culture that cares about their employees only fosters a deeper connection throughout the team.

So, open up communication through one-on-one meetings, engagement surveys, or whatever other methods work best for your business. Hear what your employees have to say and use their feedback to solve any issues that may be popping up in your business.

Spend your time where you're most valuable

“Delegation was my hardest hurdle to overcome — it still is — because empathy is one of my core strengths,” says Allison. “And when you're an empathetic person, you feel the burden of giving somebody else work.”

But when you’re leading a company, you have to free yourself up so you can see the big picture. You need to delegate the tasks that help run your operations daily so that you can focus on the growth of your business. Allison learned that the hard way. “[If] you're constantly feeling guilty about giving people micro tasks, you're going to fall flat on your face,” she shared.

For Allison, there was no way to see the big picture for her business and keep track of everything that was happening while trying to do everything that needed to be done. That only led to burnout and missing important paths to growth.

When leading your company, you need to focus on where you can contribute the most. If you spend all your time doing day-to-day tasks, you’ll drain the mental energy you need to provide direction and do what you’re good at.

Bring out the best in your people

“Your brand is your people.”
<blockquoteauthor>Allison Minutillo, president and owner of Rebel Interactive Group<blockquoteauthor>

“People are not [solely] motivated by money,” says Allison. “It's such an old concept in business, that people are only motivated by title and salary. That's not true here.”

In her experience, people are more motivated by the work that they do, and the pride, respect, and visibility that they get when they produce excellent work.

So, Allison decided to empower her employees by challenging them. “One of the things that I did in my role was roll out a new company-wide vision: to empower one another to truly realize what we're capable of.”

At Rebel Interactive, they want their employees to buy into their vision and know their place in the broader scheme of things. And it’s part of Allison’s job to make sure that every new hire understands the vision of the company and sees where they fit in the big picture.

When it comes to your own business, focus on bringing out the best in your employees and showing them that they have a special role in your company. Build employee development programs that will help them grow their skills.

Being a fast-growing company has its challenges and Allison admits that they’re still figuring things out every single day. “The processes that worked when we were 38 people are not the same processes and operations as when we're 75. So, we function almost as an entirely different business now than we did then.”

And a lot of it is thanks to having the empathy to create the effective communication that makes everything possible. By empowering your employees, listening to their needs, and finding the proper balance to delegate and lead your team, you can use empathy to scale your business.