The Art of Delegation…

or Why being able to do something doesn’t mean you should…

Good leadership is about an ability to juggle many things, but one of them - and an element that is key to working with a Virtual Assistant - is the ability to delegate. Making sure that time spent is time well spent on the right activities is a skill that not all have mastered.  Indeed, surveys show that only 30% of managers believe they can delegate well, and only a third of them are considered a good delegator by their team.

What is delegation

Whilst delegation is about transferring responsibility for a task from one person to another, good delegation is about more than this.  Being able to step back to see a holistic view of the situation enables an effective delegator to pass work to those to whom the tasks are more relevant; adding to other tasks on a similar topic can provide incremental learning opportunities as well as a potential for time efficiencies where an overlap in tasks may occur. 

Conversely, offering to let someone undertake a task that is new to them and their role can be an opportunity to expand and explore new horizons.  Whomever a task is to be passed to, there is one overriding requirement of delegation - that the right tasks be done by the right people.

The importance of delegation 

A small business owner is invariably used to wearing many hats, and in order to achieve initial growth has often “done it all.”  The hours are long, and not all of the tasks are difficult, but until such a time when there are the funds to support someone else doing the tasks it is rarely an option to delegate in the early days.  However, as a business moves into the next phase and targets continued growth and scale, additional staff and a resultant opportunity to share the workload becomes more realistic.

The delegation of tasks at this point may feel unnecessary, but there are a number of key reasons for considering it.  This becomes about leading as opposed to doing; whilst you can continue to do more than anyone else and work longer hours than the rest it simply isn’t sustainable.

In overloading yourself and continuing to increase your own workload, not only do you demonstrate an inability to prioritise tasks, but you risk the very real threat of burnout, as well as a decrease in your own productivity and a poor example set at a time when talk of work life balance is discussed and praised but not being shown.  LinkedIn highlighted in a featured article recently the very real issues of workaholic colleagues and bosses and the impact that this can have on the wider team.

Knowing how and when to delegate not only creates time for you to work on more important tasks, but supports the growth and development of both the team around you and the company itself; providing opportunities to grow that will boost your own reputation and positively impact retention as well.

When to delegate

Delegating too soon can be an expensive use of resource - whether using an employee or a Virtual Assistant - and could leave you with spare capacity.  Instead, look at when you know that you are no longer able to prioritise tasks of high importance or those that are business critical, and assess the impact not delegating them is having on the business.  

Making the decision before your own workload reaches critical mass can give you the time to ensure that you are comfortable with the tasks you are delegating, but that there is also the time to delegate effectively so that the handover can be done and dusted and doesn’t drag on because it isn’t clear how to complete a task or what the end result should look like.

However, if capacity is only impacted in the short term and the task isn’t one that is likely to recur then it might not be a good use of time and money to delegate.  Instead, consider other repetitive tasks that will give a more even impact on your workload.

What to delegate 

There isn’t a definitive list of tasks that should be delegated, instead each leader will need to look at their individual workload to determine the best way forward.  However, at Juggling Octopus, we do recommend keeping track of the tasks you complete over a week to get a true picture of what it is that you do and the time that it takes.  

You might be surprised at the results!

How to delegate

More important than what to delegate is the way in which you do it.  

Decide what you are comfortable delegating and then create a process that works for both you and the new task owner.  This is about making sure that you’re both happy with how the task will be carried out without it taking so much of your time that you can’t help but think you’d have been better off doing it yourself!

Establish upfront the desired outcomes and determine what you believe good looks like; in terms of outputs and timeframes.  If someone doesn’t know what they are aiming for then it’s difficult to know if they’ve done a good job.  But remember, particularly when considering timeframes, that if you’ve been doing this task for a number of months, or maybe even years, then what is second nature to you will automatically take longer for someone else, at least until they get used to it.  Don’t create outcomes that are unrealistic and that set the process up to fail from the start. 

Make sure that there are clear communication channels - particularly in the initial phases.  Being able to ask questions and feeling comfortable in doing so can prevent people from going down unnecessary and unwanted rabbit holes, and although it can be frustrating to deal with, it can ultimately make the handover process much smoother and quicker.

And once the task is underway, take the time to review it objectively.  People don’t always get things right the first time so possibly make sure that any initial review doesn’t just occur once the task has been completed, but once it hits a critical point and can be checked without micromanaging.  Provide honest feedback; if something isn’t how you want it then now is the time to say, but once it’s done correctly then make sure this is clearly communicated.

What not to delegate

Even when delegation is done well, there remains a number of tasks that shouldn’t be passed on.  As a leader there are those core functions and responsibilities that define the role that you play in the company.  These often focus on using the unique skills and talents that made it the right role for you in the first place, and these should only ever be delegated with caution.

Other tasks that are generally not suited to delegation are those such as crisis management where a team wants to see a leader leading from the front and gains confidence from doing so.  Praise and discipline should generally remain with leadership as well, although as teams grow then so will leadership hierarchies and the burden of this will automatically be distributed. Relationships with key stakeholders must also be managed appropriately, and delegation could be seen as inappropriate or disrespectful.

However, even within this, there are those tasks that can be split down and managed by more than one person.  Whilst performance reviews and personnel meetings should remain with senior leadership, the writing up of notes and actions could be delegated - often taking as much time as the meetings themselves if done properly.

The key to delegation 

And finally, to boil it all down to the key steps required for successful delegation;

🐙 Take the time to review potential tasks for delegation 

🐙 Choose tasks that will add value - both for you and the person taking them over

🐙 Clearly define the task

🐙 If necessary provide proper training - it will save huge amounts of time in the long run

🐙 Ensure that the necessary tools are available to complete the tasks

🐙 Revisit and review to ensure that they are completed as you wish

🐙 Answer any questions… and then,

🐙 Move onto other tasks, don’t micromanage and let the new task owner manage the task

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Juggling Octopus is a virtual assistant agency based in Derby, UK and is run by Sarah Moore.  Always happy to talk about all things Octopus and outsourcing and to learn more about other businesses, get in touch if you’d like to chat.