Feeling overworked? Having a problem effectively managing your time? Want to be more productive by doing less? Well, you can if you learn to delegate.
Yes, I mean “learn to delegate”. If you don’t delegate properly by laying a solid foundation and establishing ground rules, chances are you won’t be satisfied with the end result. Follow these six basic steps to effective delegation and you’ll be on your way to a balanced work and personal life.
- Determine which tasks you can delegate to others. These can be routine tasks you perform on a regular basis or something you don’t enjoy doing. Certainly it must be something you can explain clearly because if you can’t adequately define a project, you can’t expect your assistant to provide you with the results you really want.
- Pick someone to delegate to. Obviously this could be someone in your employ, a team member, a family member (for those home chores) or a virtual assistant — like me! When making this decision, make sure to choose someone who is already capable of performing the job or at least able to learn it.
- Make absolutely certain your assistant understands all aspects of the project. Discuss such things as: The results you are expecting, resources or programs they need to use, the priority level, and the deadline for completion.
- Decide how often you want to be updated on the progress. In the beginning you may want to be advised each step of the way to give you and your assistant ease of mind in knowing that things are moving along correctly. As you and your assistant become comfortable with the task, updates can become less frequent (if at all).
- Expect questions the first time around. Anyone learning a new task is bound to have questions, so be receptive to inquiries and suggestions.
- Let it go! Have faith that your assistant will have the maturity and professionalism to take on and complete the project to her best ability.
Yes, it might take some time in the beginning to learn the art of delegation, but once you have mastered it you will surely enjoy many benefits. Your workload will become manageable, you’ll feel less stressed, and you’ll find you do have the time to devote to other rewarding personal or business interests.
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, everyone can benefit from delegating tasks to others.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? You can as long as you let me know and include this complete blurb with it: 8/21/2008, Virtual Assistant Kimberly McCloskey publishes the newsletter “Productive Pointers” featuring articles on how we all can improve our personal and business efficiency. Get yours FREE at http://kimberlymccloskey.wordpress.com or kimberly.j.mccloskey @ gmail.com.
