The art of delegation

Your small business may feel like your ‘baby’, but as with all children once it has grown, there will come a time when you need to loosen the reins a little and delegate some tasks to other people – you won’t always be able to have your hand in every aspect of operations unless you want to work 24 hours a day. Whether you decide to outsource or employ, you need to bear some things in mind when taking this important step.

1. Get yourself into a delegation mindset This is an important place to start – try to move away from the feeling that you need to do everything yourself.

2. Work out which jobs you don’t enjoy, or don’t do well Bear in mind that some people will love the jobs you hate! It makes sense to play to your strengths and choose to keep the jobs you do well and enjoy while delegating others.

3. Choose carefully to whom you delegate Everyone has different strengths – make sure you delegate to someone skilled in the area you need. You may be struggling to keep up with social media, be drowning in admin or need someone to man an exhibition stand – these all require different skills, so be sure that you delegate them to someone who can perform them at least as well as you would. Don’t be tempted to use someone just because they have time available, tempting as this may be if you have an employee with spare capacity, it may take longer than expected if you have to cover training or re-work afterwards.

4. Make sure you brief carefully and comprehensively Even though you may discuss the task requirements face to face, it’s always good to give a written brief as well, to confirm what should be done and act as a reminder after your initial meeting. Be specific about your expectations – what constitutes a job well done? Everyone wants to do a good job but it’s hard to do this if instructions are unclear.

5. Don’t be tempted to micromanage If you have chosen the right person with the right skills to delegate to, they should be able to get on with the task without micromanagement. Don’t be tempted to hover over them while they’re doing it – agree at what points you will need to see results, maybe you need to approve the first week’s social media posts before they get on with the rest of the month? If you’re not comfortable letting go, see point 1! Many of us start our own businesses to gain control of our work/life balance, and delegation is a key skill to learn if we are to retain our sanity as our business flourishes. Pink Spaghetti are happy to take on the jobs you don’t have time for, get in touch to find out how we can help.