Every manager knows that they need to delegate. Trying to accomplish too many tasks leads to burnout, poor quality work and missed deadlines.
The amount of responsibilities can be overwhelming and there comes a time when you simple cannot do it all alone.
From Virtual Assistants, to freelance support, to on-demand hiring, outsourcing means less hours spent looking at your screen and not knowing where to start, and more time building your dream business.
Can you say with confidence that you are 100% productive?
Be honest.
Struggling with a long list of tasks is part of every entrepreneur and business owner’s life, and refusing to delegate can have negative consequences to your business.
For every process there is a long list of smaller tasks that should not be part of YOUR to-do list. Trying to accomplish everything alone will only lead to overload and frustration.
Instead focus on activities that will yield the highest return and grow your business.
In this post, you will discover what delegation means, how you can benefit from it and how to assign tasks efficiently.
Definition of Delegation
It can be simply defined as giving, handling over or assigning someone to do some of your work, tasks or responsibilities.
It is one of the core concepts of management leadership.
Delegating does more than simply getting things off your plate, it builds trust amongst your team and help your business grow.
When you grow a team who feels integrated, their level of commitment and loyalty will increase.
There a few reasons why business owners choose delegation:
- To free themselves up to do more important tasks
- To have more qualified people for specific tasks
- To complete a one-time project without having to learn new technology
- Build a motivated team involved in the business
Delegation isn’t about barking orders and hoping the staff follows it. It involves working with subordinates and team members to establish direction, authority, and responsibility.
What it Can Do For You
For some business owners, delegating is a complex concept. They don’t like the idea of letting go of tasks and fear loosing control. They fear that someone else will get the credit for a project. They believe the time spent on training will not be worth it.
So, let’s check some of the benefits for you and your business:
It frees up time for planning and organizing
Relax, no one is expecting you to do everything yourself, so stop constantly running out of time.
Did you know that as much as 30 percent of working time is spent looking for misplaced items?
If you don’t dedicate some time to get organized, you will certainly spend some valuable time looking for that template you know you have somewhere, or that file you need to send to the client but can’t find it.
Make time to create a system to get organized and hold yourself accountable for staying on track.
Either you run the day, or the day runs you.
It prevents you from spreading yourself thin
You’ve just signed up for yet another training program, said yes to helping organize that event next week, decided to start creating another webinar, and agreed to walk you dog’s friend while she is on vacation.
Soon, reality sinks in and you are filled with terror for your schedule.
Guilty? We all like to feel needed but it can quickly lead to overwhelm.
Learn to say “no” and create a balance between work and your personal life.
It encourages trust and engagement
Delegation and trust walk hand in hand.
By delegating you are demonstrating trust and faith in someone else’s ability to deliver results and this is vital to establish a sense of belonging and engagement.
It is a way to develop strong relationships with others who are becoming leaders.
It can show you a better way
Believe it or not, your way might not be the best way!
Having a new perspective and a new approach might be just want your business need to reach a new level.
Higher productivity = higher efficiency
Believe it or not, your way might not be the best way!
Having a new perspective and a new approach might be just want your business need to reach a new level.
Delegation Skills & Challeges
Delegating is not only about passing off work, it is a chance to make long processes more manageable and easier to get completed.
When delegating, you need to be clear with your expectations for what you are trying to accomplish and the milestone you are trying to reach.
Make sure you master these delegation skills:
- Communication – Be clear on what you need to get done. For example, when sending delegation emails, use the subject line “Blog Post Review Needed”
- Add a deadline – Make sure you are clear on when you need the tasks to be completed.
- Follow-up – Let your team know when they do a good job.
A common challenge to delegation is that business owners are worried about it taking longer to teach someone else to do a task as opposed to doing it themselves.
And while it may be true at first, in the long run you will be able to completely delete that task from your list.
It might take you 5 hours to walk through someone to complete the task that you normally can take care of in 1 hour.
But once the training is completed you won’t have to worry about that task any longer and now you have that extra hour per day to work on new strategies, development, launch a new product – the things business owners are supposed to do.
Another common challenge is the fear of failure. If the other person fail, it will be a reflection on you, right?
While this may be partially true, if you have taken the time to show them how to do it, and frequently followed up, there are fewer possibilities of error.
The old saying “If you want something done, you must do it yourself”, might be true in a handful of cases, but there are many tasks that should NOT be on your to-do list.
Choosing What to Delegate
Growth won’t happen without some sacrifices. When running your business, you should focus on being PRODUCTIVE, instead of simply BUSY.
I realize that it can be difficult to determine exactly what you should delegate. So, to simplify it, this of this way: You need to be able to get out of the daily activities that consume your time and do not move the needle in your business.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself:
- Does the task be automated?
- Does it require my judgement each time?
- How much time am I spending per day on this task?
In order for you to have a better understanding of what you can delegate in your business, it is important to conduct an audit of your tasks and separate them by these categories:
- Routine & Tiny Tasks
- Tedious Tasks
- Tasks you’re not an expert on
- Time-consuming tasks
- Tasks that can’t be automated
Routine & Tiny Tasks
These are tasks done regularly, require a small amount of time but add up over time. They are either the same every time or require similar process.
Examples are: booking flights, scheduling meetings, deleting spam emails from your inbox.
These tasks need to be done every week, month or even daily but they are easily transferred to somebody else so you can focus your precious time on more strategic projects.
You can spend 28% of your time at work reading, writing and replying to emails. This translates to around 2.5 hours or 200 emails per day. Ultimately, these numbers amount to 625 hours per year you spend on inbox management alone.
Tedious Tasks
These are mindless tasks that drain your energy but they need to be done, and done well.
Examples are: Copying & pasting client information, Website analytics, time tracking, updating software, order management and so on.
These are tasks that take the joy out of your working day and believe it or not, they can lead to mistakes and errors.
The first step is to use technology to your advantage and automate those tasks.
Tasks You Don't Have the Skills for
We all have different and unique skills and can deliver better results for those specific tasks.
Maybe you’re not good with design, so it might take you half a day to create one graphic for your blog post, and that’s ok, I am sure you are good at something else.
Choose the ones that you are good at to dedicate time to. Ideally, anything that isn’t your main skill should be delegated or else you won’t have enough time to fulfill the tasks that you are actually good at.
Time-Consuming Tasks
The concept of delegation is that it helps save time. So it makes sense to delegate tasks that are taking too much of your time right?
Instead of spending a week in one project, you should dedicate a few hours delegating the work to someone else and let them take charge.
You’ll get the job done faster and you’ll clear some time in your calendar. It’s a win-win!
So look for tasks that can be time-consuming and have a short deadline and pass it on to someone else.
As a business owner you should be managing and strategizing, NOT spending time with tasks that are preventing you from growing your business.
Tasks That Can't be Automated
There is a reason why all business are raving about automation – it doesn’t have to be so complicated and it is possible for big and small businesses.
But automation is not the solution for every situation. There are still some processes that are better handled by humans simply because people still like to interact with people. Who doesn’t ask for the “representative” on every 1800 call? Your customer still want to talk to a human being.
Automation is a tool to help increase accuracy and efficiency, but if it’s a process that demands human interaction at many stages, consider outsourcing it.
How to Delegate Effectively
Ok, by now I am sure you’ve identified some tasks you should delegate in your business. In order to share the overload and make progress that benefit everyone, here are some tips to help you delegate effectively:
Choosing the right person for the job
When you identify strengths, weaknesses and preferences, you are able to choose the best candidate to fit the role.
For example, don’t delegate a task that requires a lot of collaboration to someone who likes to work alone.
When someone has a higher chance of excelling, they are more motivated and engaged, which then benefits the entire business.
One great solution for many tasks is a trained VA. It is a cost-effective way to delegate everything from customer support, to bookkeeping, to administrative tasks, and more.
Preparation is everything
Providing a full context for why you’re giving them the responsibility is key making someone commit to the task because they will see it as an opportunity to take on more responsibility and grow new skills.
Map out exactly what you’re asking for and be precise with your expectations beforehand.
New here? I also have the following blogs to help you in your entrepreneurial journey:
And, of course, you should get your hands on one of my popular downloads available to help you boost your productivity and get more done in your business.
Clear Instructions
Simply dumping work on someone else’s plate isn’t delegating. And providing clear and important instruction is different than micromanaging.
You need to find the balance and tell them what you expect to achieve and how that function is tied into the organization’s goals.
They need to be clear on what they need to complete and by when, then let them tackle the problem in their own way.
Your way is not necessarily the only or even the best way!
Provide the right resources
Setting someone up for an impossible task, will only bring two results:
- The person will not achieve the desired outcome
- You’ll have that task back on your to-do list
You need to make sure the person with the tasks has the necessary tools and resources to be successful.
Maybe your company uses a very specific software that requires some training and some learning time.
This is not a “hold-hands” kind of support, but a coaching process with open communication and constant feedback.
Be Patient
At first you’ll still complete the task faster than the new team member. After all, you have been taking care of it for a while now.
But that doesn’t mean it will be the case for a long time. Remember, delegating is about creating “new” slots in your busy schedule but it doesn’t happen overnight.
Think back to the first time you completed that task and I am sure you’ll remember how long it used to take for you to complete it.
Be patient. There is a phase of getting familiar with the process, followed by an adjustment and improvement period.
Deliver and ask for feedback
Monitoring progress is not enough, you need to deliver feedback in order to improve the process.
Make sure to show your appreciation when a task is done well and analyze cause of insufficient performance for improvements.
Recognizing the value the person brought to the company will make them more engaged to your business and will make them want to help in future projects.
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Final Thoughts
There is no denying that it is hard to let go of control and it takes a level of trust and communication to finally start feeling comfortable with passing on the responsibility.
But the better you become at aligning the right person with the right tasks, the more effective you’ll become as a business owner.
If delegating is a new concept to you, then ease in slowly. Choose your least favorite tasks and outsource it on a trial base to see where it goes.
What is the one task you can think of right now that will help you reclaim your time? Share in the comments below:
About Me
Hi, I'm Bianca!
I’m a productivity specialist helping overworked and overwhelmed entrepreneurs ditch the long and repetitive to-do list by optimizing systems and simplifying the way they run their business. Learn how to get rid of steps or tasks that don’t contribute to your business bottom line.
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