Last week, my blog was all about Collaboration. This week, it’s all about Delegation.
Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person. Delegation is one of the core concepts of management leadership. Wikipedia
I’m not very good at delegating. I think there are two reasons why.
- When I was starting out in my Corporate days, and fresh out of secretarial college, I had a lot of tasks delegated to me. I felt they were the menial tasks that nobody wanted to do. The small tasks that were always left at the bottom of the list. It was those that were given to me. It didn’t make me feel good. But I always carried them out with enthusiasm, interest, keenness and, of course, a smile.
In hindsight, and now that I’m a little, ahem, older and wiser, I now really appreciate that having those tasks delegated to me was my opportunity to ‘learn my craft’ and actually build the foundations of my skillset. It gave me the ability to do and know a lot of stuff within an office environment. It stood me in good stead for future employed roles too. So, whilst I didn’t realise it at the time, I would now like to publicly thank my first employers, line managers and colleagues for the experience, trust, and education I gained in their employment.
- I like to be in control. I like to know what is going on. I like to know that a job is done, and it’s done well and right. As a helper and a doer, I like to do everything. By delegating, I feel I’ve passed the buck.
That said, when you run a business, you soon realise that there is certainly not enough hours in the day to do everything. As much as I want to do everything, often something has to give.
For me, at the moment, the things that have slipped by the wayside are the ironing and housework!
This blog’s true fact: I’ve not ironed one item since October 2020. Which is a shame as I actually enjoy ironing and can iron for hours whilst listening to a good audio book. I digress.
For a lot of people and businesses, delegation is a must. It enables you to grow and build your business. It also enables you to free up your time so that you can concentrate on the things that you are better at rather than spend time doing tasks, not necessarily the menial tasks, but those that you’re not very good at or are skilled at.
It’s taking that leap of faith in someone else and, as long as they have the same core values as you, things should be good.
Some of the tasks that can easily be delegated to a VA to assist you in your business are:
- Diary management
- Inbox management
- Social media management / posting
- Bookkeeping*
- Event planning
- Document creation
- Proofreading
*ensure your VA has Anti-Money Laundering registration if they’re undertaking bookkeeping tasks.
VAs will no doubt really enjoy doing the above tasks, and would be in their element if they were handed one that was their ‘top choice’.
If you’re unsure if you should delegate, ask yourself:
- Do I enjoy this task?
- Am I any good at it?
- Does it take me a long time?
- Am I better suited concentrating on something else?
- Do I procrastinate when I know I have that job to do?
- Would I rather be doing something else?
- Can someone else do it better (and quicker) than me?
If any of these strike a chord, perhaps it’s time to take that leap of faith and delegate those tasks. You know there’s a VA just itching to take it on. 😉
If you do want to take that leap of faith, email me and let’s have a conversation.
