There’s always more you could be doing, but honestly should you? If your workload is feeling more like a log jam, you might be wondering how to delegate tasks and how to do so effectively.
We believe on focusing on the 20% of tasks that really make a difference in your life and drive personal progress. What do we do with the rest? The answer is delegation, however the how can be much more interesting. Delegating to the right person, or right system can make all the difference. We’ll show you 3 ways you can delegate based off our core framework.
Here’s the facts
According to Harvard Business Review there are three big problems with not delegating, creating extra cost, micromanaging, and slowing progress.
In an article from Ohio State University, Akridge, Foltz, and Malone, write on the idea that managers might routinely overestimate how well they can do tasks and believe that no one else can achieve the same standard.
Getting delegation right is important, but that doesn’t always mean that a task has to go straight to someone else. If you’re serious about learning how to delegate tasks then we’ve got 3 directions to explore.
Delegation direction 1: Automation
As technology improves, so does the ability to automate. Even our phones now attempt to automate through AI, but automation is much larger than large language models. Automation is simply letting a system help offload a task for you. IBM actually expands automation to include programs and processes! For example, you could offload vacuuming the floor by using a robot vacuum that works on its own.
Here’s some ideas to help you get started. You could…
- Using Ai to sort emails into areas to address.
- Setting up a scheduling service to help manage meetings.
- Creating a process for others that lets them do the work themselves! Which brings us to our next idea.
Delegation direction 2: The Playbook
Feeling like the same task keeps coming up over and over again? Or if you have any routine task that already has a process, it might be time to time to create a playbook. Much like a playbook in sports, we can also use a playbook at work for delegation.
Any routine task can easily become a repeatable process, as long as you write it down. With all those processes written down and available, you’ve just created your very own playbook!
Delegation direction 3: teammates
When it comes to delegation to teammates, it can be quite the daunting feeling. Here’s some avenues that might make it easier.
- Route 1: Use the task as a training experience. If you have a task that needs doing but nobody qualified to run the playbook on the task, then this time you might consider using it as a training opportunity. Then you can delegate it better in the future.
- Route 2: Leveraging someones strengths. If you have a teammate that is more skilled and available, you might consider handing the task off.
Now you have three options to use when you’re figuring out how to delegate tasks out to improve your workflows. Which of the three are you the most likely to use?
