TIP 62
MASTER THE ART OF DELEGATING
Next to doing a good job yourself the greatest joy is having someone else do a first-class job under your direction.
You don’t have to be the boss to master the art of delegating. We all need this skill. As you start to attract the life you really want, you’ll be delegating more of the things you don’t enjoy doing and just doing what you love. If you are the lone ranger type and haven’t learned this skill, now is the time. Even parents can delegate household chores and duties to children so they have less to do around the house when they get home from work.
There are three secrets to delegating well. The first is to invest the time and energy required to fully train the person to whom you are delegating. The key word here is fully. If you don’t fully train the other person to get it just right, to do the job exactly as you need it to be done, you cannot be upset, complain, or be surprised when it is not done just the way you want it. Most people think that delegating is simply hiring someone and saying, “Here, you do it now.” We are so eager to get rid of the task that we dump instead of delegate.
The second key ingredient to successful delegating is to delegate the whole job. Once the person is trained and knows what the end result should look like, let him or her figure out how to get there. Otherwise you rob the person of creativity. For example, suppose you delegate the job of cleaning your son’s bedroom to your son. He, in turn, hires his little brother to do his cleaning and pays his brother some of his allowance. This is just fine because the same end result is produced with a creative solution.
The third key is to establish a reporting or check-in system. Have the person you’ve hired report back to you in a manner and with a frequency that best supports you. For example, suppose you hire a housekeeper to clean the house while you are at work. You’ve taken the time to show him around the house and show him exactly how you like things to be cleaned. Before he arrives, make a list of special tasks, like “wipe off the shelves inside the medicine cabinet.” Ask the housekeeper to make a list of things he accomplished or to check off your list.
Now that you have the secrets to successful delegating, go to it, and watch the fabulous results.
Michael had hired me to help him grow his business, which he was struggling to keep afloat with a big loan. To save money, he was doing everything from typing letters to balancing the books. This was fine at first, but as he started attracting more clients and his business grew, he needed to start delegating. I asked Michael to make an organization chart of his business, including sales, marketing, administration, accounting, and the like. Then he made a list of all the things he liked doing and a separate list of all the things he didn’t like doing or wasn’t particularly good at. We started with delegating the bookkeeping, which was a huge relief, as Michael never enjoyed the financial details. Next, he hired a bright college student on an hourly basis to write press releases and handle correspondence. This extra assistance enabled Michael to focus on working with the clients and on marketing the business—the parts he most enjoys. With a little coaching, Michael has successfully turned the business around and is attracting new clients as fast as he can handle them.