Delegate These Things First! How To Choose What To Delegate In Five Easy Steps

This week, we want to talk you through one of the most frequent conversations we have with clients and potential clients at Get Staffed Up, which all starts with this comment: “I’m not sure what to delegate.”

If this is you, then exhale confidently, we’re here to help. Here are the relatively straightforward steps to take:

1. Make a list comprised of the following:

a) Look at your to-do list and highlight anything that has been on there longer than two weeks. (By the way, if you’re like every other business owner/entrepreneur, this should be a huge list, and don’t kid yourself, you’re not getting these items done). If you don’t have a to-do list, or it’s in your head, stop reading and CALL US immediately! You need some major assistance, right away.

b) Look at the rest of your to-do list, as well as your current daily tasks, and ask yourself if someone else (anyone else, don’t necessarily think about a virtual assistant at this point) could do the task.

c) Identify your pain points – what frustrates you or is annoying (email was a big one for me). Write them down.

d) Identify the non-work related tasks that take up your time. Write them down. (Whatever assistant you hire absolutely can and should take personal items off of your plate as well).

2. Triage.

Sort out what is most important and takes up most of your time. The more time you save, the more important it is to delegate those tasks.

3. Separate the tasks into recurring and non-recurring/project-based items.

For example, finding dinner reservations for your Wednesday evening date nights? Recurring tasks. Research? Project-based. Once you have the lists created, you now have a running list of items to delegate, which will grow over time. But start simple at first.

4. Calculate the amount of time the recurring tasks will take each week. 

If it’s more than 20, you need a full-time assistant. Why? First, everything takes longer for others than it does for us, so you’re guaranteed to underestimate. Second, this person needs additional capacity to tackle projects every week.

5. Organize the items and create a scorecard for the assistant to follow every week, with the most important recurring tasks at the top. 

Your virtual assistant should be checking boxes at this point, confident that he/she is getting done for you exactly what is most important. You’ll be happy, and they’ll be happy. On this other BLOG, you can learn more about the weekly scorecard.