Effective Delegation: Freeing Up Time to Grow Your Business

Running your own business is liberating and exciting, but can also be overwhelming. Your business can grow rapidly and get out of control if your product or service suddenly attracts a wave of customers. When this happens, you might find yourself sinking into a sea of to-dos, which are all urgent and important. This is the time to learn the art of sharing your tasks: delegation.

A blog by work management platform Asana defined delegation this way: “Delegation is the act of redirecting tasks and initiatives to other team members. You might delegate work to distribute responsibility more evenly, or because the task or initiative is more relevant to another team member’s priorities, skills, or interests.” However, some business owners find it difficult to delegate.

Why Business Owners Don’t Like Delegating

• They think that only they can/should do the tasks. According to Scott Welle, author of the book Outperform the Norm: For Leaders, some leaders have certain psychological traits that prevent them from delegating.

• The Type A leader is a perfectionist who believes no one else can match their level of performance, and that anything they delegate won’t have the same excellent outcome.

• The leader who interprets wrongly the adage, “Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime,” thinks it takes time to delegate because it takes time to teach.

• The insecure leader feels the need to always prove his superiority in every task. He fears that delegating would expose his work weakness to the other person.

• The passionate leader loves absorbing all the responsibilities instead of focusing on tasks that only a leader can do.

• They are afraid of losing control. This is understandable for business owners who are creators or producers of the product they sell, or whose ideas formed the foundation of the business. They are nervous to let someone else take over. Just looking at team members’ well-written resumès from the best resume writing services doesn’t give them a clue of the person’s dedication to the job.

• They think delegating is simply passing on work to another, but it doesn’t pass on the accountability. This is, in fact, true. Delegating does not remove the business owner’s responsibility or accountability for the outcome of a project, making it crucial to delegate well to the right person. Some owners are not comfortable being accountable for a task someone else will do. 

• They believe that the task will take longer than when they do it themselves. Teaching someone to do the tasks you’re delegating can take time at first; time that some business owners are not willing to make in return for freeing up a few extra hours.
• They are not sure which tasks to delegate. Some business owners don’t delegate because they are doing a lot of important tasks and they are not sure which ones they could let go.

When Should Business Owners Delegate?

Delegation is a good practice, but knowing when to do it is critical to the business. You wouldn’t want to delegate a process that requires your specific expertise. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want to handle a task that takes up most of your time but doesn’t contribute much to revenue generation or product development.

Perhaps the best way to know when to delegate is to look at the benefits of delegation. Ask yourself the following questions when identifying tasks to handle or delegate:

• If you give this task to your team, will it free up time for you to do ones that will scale up your business? Delegating helps you focus on big-picture strategies like developing and launching new products or growing your customer base. Routine tasks can be handled by others.
• If you give this task to your team, will it improve your work-life balance? Work might already be encroaching on your personal time and life due to the numerous tasks you need to complete every day. Doing this long-term can lead to burnout. Delegating can give you back your life outside of work.
• If you give this task to your team, will it enhance the company’s efficiency? Your team members were not hired solely on the merits of a stellar CV from a top-notch resume writing service. They have skills and experiences to show. Maximize those skills and strengths by delegating; they might know faster, easier, and better ways to complete a task.
• If you give this task to your team, will it empower them? Employees who feel they are not valued enough to do meaningful work often fade gradually from the team and end up resigning. Meanwhile, those who are entrusted with important jobs feel more valued, engaged, and confident. Delegating underscores each team member’s role and importance in the greater scheme of things.

What Should Business Owners Delegate?

According to career and business strategist and executive coach Jenny Blake, you can do some kind of audit of your tasks and classify them according to the following list of T’s:

• Tiny – Tiny tasks are multiple little to-dos that can be done for a short time, but together, they take up a lot of time. Organizing and responding to emails, answering customer calls, scheduling meetings, and booking flights are examples of these tasks. You can delegate this to an office assistant.
• Tedious – Tedious tasks need to be done regularly, but they require less focus or skill. An example of this is checking product packages for shipment to see if they have all the requirements, such as the recipient’s name and address, the tracking number, and the product description. A staff member can handle these routine tasks.
• Time-consuming – Time-consuming tasks should be a red flag. It means the tasks might be too big and complex, so they take up so much time to complete. Break down these tasks into small segments and identify which segments you can delegate to a capable staff member. The chunk of work that will be left with you can be done in less time. 
• Teachable – Teachable tasks are tasks that don’t necessarily require your specific expertise. Their process and goal are simple enough to be taught to a capable employee, and you can expect that employee to learn it in no time. Proprietary processes that companies usually train employees for are an example of a teachable task. Many companies create process documentation for such tasks.
• Terrible at – Sometimes, business owners end up doing tasks that are not within their skill set, but they just absolutely need to do it. For example, if you learned that pitching your small business through videos can increase your chances of closing a deal, but you know zero about video creation, you can delegate this task to a professional videographer and editor.
• Time-sensitive – Time-sensitive tasks are best kept in your load to ensure on-time completion. However, if you cannot do all of them on your own, or doing so will threaten timeliness, you can divide the tasks and identify which ones your team can handle. You can monitor their progress closely to ensure the timely delivery of the job. 
• Turnover – We’ve added a 7th T to Blake’s list of six categories for delegation. If you’ve recently onboarded a new client and need to focus on their project, you can turn over remaining tasks from an older client to a team member who has worked on that account before. Teach and train the employee who will inherit these turnover tasks from you to ensure the same output quality.

How Should Business Owners Delegate?

Delegation is not just a matter of transferring a task to a staff or team member. You have to do it in an organized way. Before you delegate, determine what needs prioritizing so your staff can put it at the top of their list. In doing so, you might even realize that certain priority tasks should not be delegated because of their urgency. 

Know your team’s strengths and skills so you can match the right task with the right person. Find out who has capabilities for particular tasks and who can learn or develop new skills fast. You can set up a quick training for the latter.

Once you’ve determined what to delegate and to whom, the following tips will be very useful:

1. Teach them how to complete the task. Show them the process or give them the process document that details the steps for completion.
2. Emphasize deadlines and priorities. You may create a team calendar and plot together tasks and due dates. Schedule weekly or daily updates to monitor progress.
3. Provide relevant documents and details for the project assigned. Since they’re new to the task, they need all the support you can give them.
4. Provide or share necessary tools and resources. Give them access to apps, programs, and client records that they might need to carry out the delegated tasks.
5. Make sure the goals and expected outcomes are clear to them, and they know that their performance will be measured based on these aspects. 
6. If there is related work involved in the delegated task, let them know, and teach them how to do it if this is something new to them.
7. Answer their questions as completely as you can and confirm that they have everything they need before they start.

When you’re a dedicated and diligent entrepreneur, the temptation to turn away from delegation and do everything yourself is quite strong. However, the consequences of such passion can be dangerous for you and your business in the long run. Embracing the benefits of delegation will help you enjoy the rewards of your efforts.