Why The Best Leaders Delegate and Outsource As Much as Possible

Some days it seems that no matter how hard we try, we can't get ahead of our schedules. There are always tasks that don't get completed, calls that don't get made, emails that don't get answered. I don’t want to pass up the opportunity to share an article I read about how the smartest leaders focus on their strengths, and delegate the rest. Below are a few highlights.

There are 2 solutions to mastering time that many entrepreneurs resist:

• Delegation
• Outsourcing

If you have employees, the natural place to delegate is in-house if you have resources that excel in what you need. This is an important caveat.

Often employers will try to add tasks to an employee's plate because they happen to be available, not because they are the best people to the job. This can lead to a lot of problems, including poor execution, high frustration, and decreased employee morale. 

Delegating a task to an employee requires forethought and follow-up. If you don't have employees to whom you can delegate, outsourcing is a great way to clear your plate of everything you shouldn't be doing. Especially in today's online, platform-centric environment, where everything moves quickly, business owners must turn to specialized experts to keep up. 

A good rule of thumb for outsourcing is that anything that isn't related to your core competency should be outsourced. Unless you can absolutely justify a full-time resource for a specific function, it's best to outsource to experts that focus on a specific discipline full-time, stay current with the skills and technologies needed, and love to do the work. 

Areas where this applies are:

• Financial management/accounting/bookkeeping
• Social media management, with platform-specific expertise
• IT management
• Web development and maintenance
• HR management

Basically, any functions that you absolutely must have to run your business but are not related to your competency are great candidates for outsourcing. Your time is best used building your strategy, meeting with prospects, building relationships with your employees and customers, developing your skills that align with your core competency, and establishing yourself as a leading authority in your industry.

Find the full article here, and don’t hesitate to discuss your thoughts with me. You can email me at [email protected], or call me on 0488 548 854 if you want to talk about outsourcing for your small business.

Thanks,

Jess