How to delegate routine tasks effectively

I have had some terrible experiences with delegating. I was on the recipient side, and the person delegating to me did not delegate effectively. The truth is, most people don’t know how to delegate effectively. There are two types of tasks you can delegate. The first is routine tasks that are done all the time. The second is one-time projects. The easier of the two to delegate is routine tasks. Either way, you must be clear about the details that need to be done. Why is delegating important? First, because you, as the business owner, don’t have enough time to do everything. It’s impossible. Second, because you can make more money by delegating routine, simpler tasks. When you free up your time, you can spend more of it on tasks that directly bring in money.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper
• Someone to give the task

1. Step 1: Make a list of all your routine tasks. If you’ve done it more than once, and you anticipate doing it again, it’s a routine task.

2. Step 2: Decide what can be delegated. There may be a few tasks that you cannot delegate. These are usually things with sensitive material that only you can see. Pick those, or other things, out that only you can do.

3. Step 3: Take each task and break it down; systematize it. You can do this in two ways. You can either walk through the process in your mind, or you can write down the steps the next time you perform the process. Write down each little detail from start to finish. Make it so simple that if I have never done it before, I can easily do it with your instructions.

4. Step 4: Decide to whom you will delegate each task. There are two places where you can delegate tasks. You can either give it to an employee (or hire someone), or you can outsource the task. A simple routine task that can easily be outsourced is copywriting. Not only is it easy to outsource, but you can probably find someone who can write much better than you.

5. Step 5: Keep in contact. Once you delegate the task, you are not finished. You still need to have contact with people to whom you have delegated tasks. Don’t ride their rear, just talk to them every once in a while to see how it’s going. The easiest way to find out how something is going, without looking nosy or bossy, is to simply ask if you can help with anything.

Tips & Warnings

• If you find tasks not done properly, the problem is probably with how the project was communicated, not the employee.
• DO NOT delegate a task then walk away. Stay available, or you may lose the person entirely.

[JohanM]

on 5/29/2007 I used to have to train new waiters when I worked in a restaurant and it was hard telling them what to do because the little things that had become part of a routine for me was completely new to many of them and it was hard remembering to explain all those things to them.

[JoeyC]

on 5/17/2007 One of the biggest forces of resistance to delegating is the worry that the time spent in explaining or assigning out the task will take almost as much time as doing the task yourself. You have to let it go! People can figure a lot of it out on their own. And if you're worried about the person to whom you are delegating messing something up, start by delegating something minor.