3 Steps to Smart Delegation [Time Management Series]
Three steps to Smart delegation and why everyone should be delegating
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3 Steps to Smart Delegation
Delegate: The cliché “greatest weakness” answer in an interview and the most under-utilised time management tool of all time.
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Why do we fear something that can help us so much? We’ll tell you why. Delegating is often thought of as laziness – pushing off tasks to other people and claiming credit for them when they’re finished to perfection. That connotation couldn’t be further from the truth though.
First of all delegating isn’t limited to the workplace. You can delegate from the comfort of your own home, so if it’s nerve-wracking to delegate work tasks to a coworker or direct report, try it out at home with these steps.
#1 – Decide what needs to be delegated
Simple, but often overlooked. Check in with yourself to figure out where your time is going and if any of those tasks or responsibilities can be delegated out to other people. Decide if you wanna delegate at home, at work or a mix of both. For instance, maybe you’re tired of cleaning the house every week, and you’d like to invest in a cleaning service. Consider the tasks, both at work and at home, that you don’t enjoy or aren’t particularly good at.
Those are the things you should be delegating.
#2 – Identify who could help you
Once you know what you need help with, think about who can help you out. Perhaps you’d like someone to mow the lawn for you. You can hire a high school neighbour to mow your lawn, or you could hire a professional lawn service. Take time to brainstorm, and don’t overlook this step.
This person will be an extension of you in a way. They will be taking on some of your work, so it’s critical that you are happy with the person you pick.
#3 – Automate the menial manual tasks
You can’t automate everything. Otherwise, no one would work a day in their life! But you can automate some things. You can use automatic scheduling software to automatically schedule things like social media, meetings, time tracking and project management. You can even automate your personal life, by having healthy meals delivered to your door. Many online stores now have features where you can automate purchases that you get regularly.
Set it and forget it.
This step is helpful for those who would happily pay someone to take on tasks they dislike or aren’t good at. Taking advantage of all the ways you can automate your life using the technology we have at our fingertips.
Automation is a form of delegation. Delegation isn’t a lazy way out. It’s about working smarter, not harder.
It’s about using the time you have to your advantage so that you have more time to enjoy the life you’ve been given.
To further expand this topic, there’s a really good book in this subject I usually recommend whenever I talk about the subject, it is called ‘Life Leverage’ by Rob Moore, check it out.
This is part of a series of soft skills material I wanted to share for a long time. I believe, now is the time, more than ever, to work not only on our technical skills but, if not the most, on our soft skills too, to help us deal with the difficult times we are currently living in.
Subscribe and stay tuned, as I have planned to share more on Time Management, Creativity, Handling Obstructions, Life and work Goals and Brain Training.
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As always, thank you and until next time.
