Regardless how many employees you have, time management is a skill every entrepreneur needs for delegation. Carving out the time to develop and grow your operation—and hone your most valuable skills—is everything.
While delegating tasks may seem like a time investment you can’t afford, laying the groundwork for effective delegation will save you so much time in the long run!
When mulling over how you might begin to delegate tasks to others, consider using the three-phase approach of planning, delegation and control.
1. Planning
This first stage is all about clearly outlining your needs. Start by identifying the tasks that need to be assigned. Then, create task descriptions and guidelines that can serve as a helpful reference. Avoid overwhelming with details; whenever possible. Allow your employee some freedom to complete tasks in the ways that work best for them. Finally, decide which employee(s) are best suited to the assignment(s) at hand.
2. Delegation
Stage two requires you to clearly communicate the intentions behind a given assignment, the strategies to be used, the timeline and the expected results. If there is time, use a combination of emailing, calling and meeting in person to create space for questions and discussion. Once your employee understands the tasks at hand, it may be time to give them all the tools they need by planning and scheduling a training session, enrolling them in a course, or investing in other resources that will help them successfully take the reins.
3. Control
The third phase, control, may require more of you at the start, but your role will likely become less exhaustive as you and your employees become more accustomed to the process of delegation. Essentially, your role here is to monitor the employee’s progress, perhaps even helping them to complete their first tasks, and getting them to report back regularly on how it’s going. Once a given assignment is complete, you’ll want to evaluate the process as well as the final results achieved, give feedback and discuss any future areas of responsibility you’re thinking of bestowing upon the employee(s) in question.
Bottom line: handing off tasks to others may not come easy at first. Many entrepreneurs are not natural delegators. Instead, they want to be personally involved with all aspects of their business and hold the belief that they’re the only one with enough attention to detail and quality to get the job done. This is understandable: your business is your baby, after all. But too often, this is exactly the thing holding businesses back from blooming. Learning to delegate properly will help you successfully grow your business as well as improve your work-life balance. Who doesn’t need that?
A YES Business Coach can help you design an effective strategy for delegating. Visit yesmontreal.ca to book your appointment.