Letting Go of Low-Value (but necessary) Tasks, and Focusing on Your Purpose

If you’re a regular Admin Slayer reader or client, you know we just can’t stop talking about delegation. So much so that we even wrote a book about it. But we’re not alone in slamming the idea home - every business coach, business magazine, and management consultant we’ve run into says the same thing: delegation is key to scaling your business.

Trusting a Gatekeeper

For those of you who really want to say “yes” to everything: Empower your team to act as your gatekeeper. Your gatekeeper will keep your calendar sane, help you focus on doing the work you love and will make sure you have breaks - even if you insist you like back to back meetings.

Acknowledge the Value of Delegation

We know that when a business owner uses our team effectively, we make them money.

One of the biggest challenges that we’ve come across in serving our business owners is getting them to actually delegate. Some will sign up, knowing they need help - that magical right-hand person that allows them to turn delegation into a money-making machine - but just can’t seem to leave the start line.

Some people would love to hand off just about everything, but time is so incredibly tight, and it seems faster to complete that thing by yourself than explain it to someone. “It’ll just take 5 minutes,” you tell yourself. When all those 5 minutes add up, you didn’t end up doing the main thing you meant to do. And then the phone rings again or an email comes in and… ”it’ll just take 5 minutes,” never ends.

Still others simply don’t know what can be delegated. Where do you even start? How much trust do you give? How are you supposed to know what goes where, by whom, and how? This is especially true if this is your first rodeo, or you’ve always run a business without help.

Here’s how to become an Expert Delegator

1. Create a new routine. From the very start of our client engagements, we encourage entrepreneurs to have regular, scheduled calls with their Slayer. We create and maintain an ongoing shared meeting agenda for you and your Slayer to update whenever thoughts arrive. During the weekly call, talking through each item can help you remember some of the outcomes, resulting in follow up tasks that can be moved off your plate. These weekly calls also focus on what’s coming up, how you plan on getting things done and what changes in your schedule you may need. Your team can help you hand off the stuff that doesn’t require your unique skill set to help you remain focused and successful.

2. Decide whether you want to be a maker or a manager. Entrepreneurs can be one or the other - but rarely both. These two types have different kinds of schedules. Get clear on which one you are, and then work with your team to develop the kind of schedule that allows you to either make or manage at your best.

3. Create a Business Task List. What are all the things (what - not how or by whom) that need to get done in order for your business to run efficiently and effectively? Which of these are things you do well? Which of them are things you’re good at but you’re frankly not interested in? Which do you dread?

4. Create a Friction List. What’s just not working? Fill out this list with your own specific challenges and then share with others to find alternative solutions.

5. Take all of these answers, and share them with your team. Don’t have a team? Book some time with a management consultant, a business coach (who specializes in process), or drop us a note. Get ideas from someone who isn’t you, someone completely outside of your box, who can bring fresh perspectives and new ideas.

We bet that once you get into the habit of delegation, you’ll find it rather contagious. It doesn’t mean you won’t know what’s going on anymore, just that you can be freed up to concentrate more on the work that makes you happy and successful.