Delegate for Greater Success

Even "Super-You" needs help and support. There is no shame in asking for assistance. Push aside the pride and show respect for the talent others can bring to the table.

And, remember that there is no such thing as a single-handed success: When you include and acknowledge all those in your corner, you propel yourself, your teammates and your supporters to greater heights. - Author Unknown.

Do you feel stressed and overloaded? We all feel it at some time. I’ve been feeling a bit overloaded these past couple of days (there are many wonderful things happening in my business) so I did some reorganizing and found some additional tasks that I wanted/needed to delegate. Most of us can use some improvement in our delegation skills so I figured I would share my thoughts on delegation. Those who know me, know that I am a huge proponent of delegation – as long as you are delegating the rights tasks. See Applying the 80/20 Rule to Daily Tasks to learn more about what you should and shouldn’t delegate.

If you don’t involve others in your success then you will have limited success. Working as an individual, you can only work so many hours a day. There are only so many tasks that you can complete in these hours (let alone completing them with high quality). If you are good at your job, you will want more success.

But you can’t do everything and even if you try you will end up stressed, unhappy, and feeling like you are letting people down, including yourself. One of the most common ways of overcoming this limitation is to learn how to delegate your work to other people. If you do this well, you can quickly build a strong and successful team of people, well able to meet the demands that others place. This is why delegation is such an important skill, and is one that you absolutely have to learn and start executing!

To figure out how to delegate properly, it’s important to understand why people avoid it. Quite simply, people don’t delegate because it takes a lot of up-front effort.

Which is easier: doing something that you already know how to do, know the content, etc. or spending the time teaching and potentially documenting the process for someone else to do? The million dollar question you need to ask yourself is “is this a good use of my time? Is it part of the 20% of tasks that will generate 80% of the company’s revenue?”

It may initially appear that it is just easier to do it yourself then spend time teaching, documenting and checking on someone else; in the long-run you may be hurting yourself, the company and your employees.

• Invest time in your employees, especially if the tasks are repeating (or even if you expect that there will be similar tasks in the future). Not only will this offload some work from your shoulders but you will be giving your employees challenging work and helping to build their skills, confidence and makes them more loyal to you and the company.

• You don’t have to delegate to employees. There are outside parties who specialize in certain areas that are not part of your core competency (or can perform the tasks faster, easier and cheaper). I often encourage business owners to delegate or “outsource” entire functions of their organization. For example, Information Technology, Human Resources, and even Marketing can be outsourced. It may cost you some additional dollars but isn’t your time worth it?

• And finally, you want to be focused on your strengths, your core competencies. By focusing on what you do best and what is most strategic to the company will help you move your company forward faster!

Delegation allows you to make the best use of your time and skills, and it helps other people in the team grow and develop to reach their full potential in the organization. At first sight, delegation can feel like more of a hassle than it’s worth. However by delegating effectively, you can greatly expand the amount of work that you can deliver. When you arrange the workload so that you are working on the tasks that have the highest priority for you, and other people are working on meaningful and challenging assignments, you have a recipe for success. To delegate effectively, choose the right tasks to delegate, identify the right people to delegate to, and delegate in the right way. There’s a lot to this, but you’ll achieve so much more once you’re delegating effectively!

Just Say No to Procrastination

In light of the current economic climate, you need to use your time wisely and make every minute count. The old adage “time is money” rings especially true. If you are striving to be more efficient and effective perhaps you’re ready to just say no to procrastination.

We know it’s ineffective and a drain on our energy, but everyone procrastinates occasionally. We put off starting big projects because we feel overwhelmed or fear failure, we avoid unpleasant tasks like employee discipline because we don’t want to inflict or experience pain, and we resist tedious (but sometimes essential) work by telling ourselves that there are more important things we should be doing with our time.

Whatever your motivation or justification is for avoiding certain tasks, consider how much more productive you would be if you could break the habit of procrastination. Here are five ways to develop a healthier and more effective approach to your work.

Clarify the desired outcome. If you’re putting off starting a project it may be because your ultimate goal is unclear. Take a few moments to write down what a successful outcome would look like. Visualizing the end can be very motivating. If needed, do this step for each phase of the project.

Don’t wait to be in the mood. This is a common avoidance technique when the work at hand requires a high level of creativity. Any professional musician, artist, or writer will tell you that they are not always inspired when they sit down to work, but that they begin and often the muse appears. When it’s time to think creatively or strategically about the future of your business, get started (even a little bit) and allow the inspiration to build within you.

Work on a challenging task first thing in the morning. It’s tempting to begin the day reading e-mail and the headlines, checking in with co-workers, or returning non-critical phone calls. Before you know it, half the morning is gone and your to-do list is untouched. Try starting each day by doing one challenging task as soon as you arrive at work. You’ll feel accomplished and approach the rest of your day with more confidence.

Simply begin. If you are avoiding a project by shuffling papers, surfing the net, and thumbing through business journals, force yourself to put the distractions aside and simply begin. Tell yourself that you will focus on the project for 30 minutes, and then do it. Getting started is often the hardest part. Once you have momentum on your side you’re half-way home.

Remember past successes. If you find yourself feeling tentative or ill-equipped to do the work in front of you, or that the end result will be substandard, think back to a time when you embarked on an equally difficult task or project and completed it successfully. And then get moving.

In all of my work with business owners I have found that the ones that focus on improving their time management skills and prioritize the work that they "need" to do vs. the work that they "should" do are by far the most successful! Are you ready to stop procrastinating?

Applying the 80/20 Rule to Daily Tasks

One tried and true time management tool is the simple act of making a daily task list. As elementary as this sounds, list making helps busy people be more productive, experience less stress, and frees them up to focus on business strategy. In observing entrepreneurs and business owners using lists in an effort to increase productivity, I’ve noticed two common problems that they encounter. Applying the 80/20 rule – the theory that 20% of what you do generates 80% of the results – can solve both problems.

Problem #1: Putting too much on the list. My TAB members and executive clients are successful entrepreneurs. They’re full of ideas, energy, and enthusiasm. As such, they often create daily task lists that are unrealistically long. I call this tendency the curse of ambition. At the end of the day, instead of feeling pleased with what they’ve accomplished, they’re disappointed in themselves for not finishing everything. You don’t have to fall into this trap. When you make your list for tomorrow, think in terms of 80/20. Write your list as usual and next to each item jot down the approximate time each task will likely take, padding each estimate by 20%. Then reduce your list by 20% in terms of hours to be spent by prioritizing as outlined in Problem #2.

Problem #2: Failing to prioritize. Sometimes executives accomplish little or nothing from their lists because they spend too much time on “urgent” tasks instead of “important” tasks. As you review your list for the 20% that should drop off (because you know that some tasks will take longer than planned and unexpected issues requiring your attention will inevitably crop up) apply the 80/20 rule. Identify the 20% of tasks that have an 80% chance of improving your profitability. This may be something as simple as placing a phone call to a potential new client or spending an hour reviewing projections for next quarter. The goal is to make sure you’re spending your valuable time on tasks that will deliver bottom line results for your company. What about the items that need to be done but don’t fit this criteria? Delegate.

An effective daily list can increase your productivity by 20% or more. Use a list wisely, focus your time and energy on the 20% of tasks that will grow your business, and watch as your efforts trickle right down to the bottom line.