What is Delegating and why is it so hard?
It is likely that you have heard the term “delegating” a million times by this point. In today’s blog post, I want to talk about what delegation really is and why it is critical to your business growth.
Let’s start by getting aligned on the official definition. Oxford's dictionary lists delegating as a process that "entrusts (a task or responsibility) to another person, typically one who is less senior than oneself."
In a way, this definition sounds amazing, but also scary at the same time! This business is our baby, how can we trust another person to be part of it? If you are coming from corporate, like I am, there is likely a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) or OKR (Objective and Key Result) that is associated with your team’s output and/or how much time and effort you are putting into the team. Here’s the thing, corporate made it easy for you.
Why is Delegating so hard?
The first question you may ask yourself is: Why the heck is it so hard to find "good" talent?!?
If you take a step back and look at the bigger picture of this question. This is one of the last questions to ask. When you were in your corporate job, someone else (likely an HR department) wrote the job description of your assistant or support team. You had the opportunity to influence it, but the industry you were working in dictated the roles and responsibilities of what that person was going to do.
Secondly, the company that you were working for already had systems and processes in place, so there was a structure for you to follow on what your new team member was supposed to do.
In the small business and entrepreneurship world, you're on your own. You need to build the systems and processes from the ground up. The only leverage you have is what you’ve learned with online courses or on IG. It’s up to you to define HOW you want your business to work and that is really hard work!
Why is Delegation critical to business growth?
If it’s hard, why do we need delegation at all? Delegating your operational tasks in your business frees up, not only your time but your brain to be focused on growing your business. The more time you spend working IN your business, the less time you have to work ON your business.
Here are some examples of operational tasks where you are working IN your business:
Preparing contracts
Sending and tracking invoices
Gathering metrics
Scheduling newsletters or social content
Managing your calendar
Here are some examples of operational tasks where you are working ON your business:
Making sure the Contract Template is exactly what you want it to say
Setting the Package pricing and cadence of the Payment schedule for your Client work
Reviewing your metrics and getting into the details of why some conversions or metrics are not meeting your expectations
Writing genuine content that helps your audience learn and grow
Going to a Network event (even if it’s online) and connecting with people
Each of these things takes time, no matter whether they are IN or ON, and we all know, there are only so many hours in the day. If you reflect on the 2 lists above, the ON list is the one that leads to business growth.
How do you delegate more easily?
Getting started is one of the hardest parts. That’s because the IN list can be so time-consuming and distracting that you don’t give yourself time to focus on the HOW to get there.
List out your recurring tasks (tasks that happen either daily, weekly, or monthly)
Find the most consistent task that you can hand over (what process never changes)
Schedule the recurrence on your calendar
Record yourself performing the task
Find someone to delegate the task to
You can get the detailed steps and the workbook on the methodology I use in my business here.
Now that we have established what delegating is, what types of things you can delegate, and why your work background has made it hard, are you ready to kick off your own delegation process?
At the time of writing this article, I have delegated more than 40% of my operational tasks (both within my business, as well as Client Tasks that I manage) to my support team. As we all know and can say, there is always an opportunity to do more, but I use all of the steps above in my own business daily.
To get started with a delegation strategy that will allow you to work ON your business instead of always IN it, download my free 5 Steps to a Stress-Free Delegation guide here.
