Delegation is one of the first steps from which the expansion of your business starts. The more distributed the responsibilities are, the more productive the work is.
A decision to reconsider the work duties you and your employees have might be tough. Employers are either scared that their work cannot be done as perfectly by others or are not sure about hiring another team member due to the person being unfamiliar and all the documentation that needs to be prepared for hiring. Luckily, there are websites, such as FormsPal, that provide you with all types of templates for legal forms and help with any kind of documentation.
Sometimes, delegation is crucial if you want to prevent work overloads and burnouts of the workers. Making this decision will allow your small business to thrive and be even more successful.
Planning Delegation
Delegating responsibilities is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. Even before the delegation process itself, you must consider a lot of details about your small business team and the work process.
You probably want to delegate but do not know where to start. If so, consider this simple plan and think about applying all the steps to the situation in your company:
- Make a task list for you or your team and note the priority and preferability of each point.
- Find out what tasks your employees would happily agree to have additionally without feeling burdened.
- Analyze whose skills and experiences will allow successful completion of the task.
- Break big tasks into smaller ones so that you know you can easily transfer this task to another employee.
- Create documented instructions for the task.
Do not think that once you delegate the tasks, you set yourself free and completely forget about them. The transitional process might take some time, as the new executor should get used to the new responsibility, including some consultations or check-ins.
Ways of Delegating
There are several delegation methods that usually differ in source and cost of the task transition.
1. Outsourcing
If you believe that no one in your team can properly perform the task, you might acquire goods or services from other businesses. Having an outsource company that helps you achieve a particular goal can save a lot of time and effort.
It might cost some money, especially if you are outsourcing several tasks. However, by having professionals deal with everything, you can be sure it will be done as perfectly as possible without disturbing you for every small matter.
2. Delegation Inside the Team
If you are short on resources or, for some reason, do not trust some outside agents to complete the task, you can assign it to someone in your team of employees. Of course, rarely would someone want to work more than usual for free. You can suggest a slight increase in the salary or offer some bonuses. It would still be cheaper than outsourcing and would get the job done.
There is also an option of splitting the task between a group of workers to have less to do. Moreover, by letting the employees choose the part of the work they want and having them discuss everything in the process, you would get the chance to improve the team-building experience. It is an extremely important skill, especially in modern companies, as it increases productivity and creates an environment with healthy working relationships.
Thus, delegating responsibilities within your team can help get the work done in a much efficient way and create a well-coordinated team.
3. Cooperation with Freelancers and Other Businesses
For tasks that do not require long-term completion, you can hire freelancers to help you do all the work. This option is not as expensive as having an outsourcing company because you pay for the one-time order. Moreover, if you use the services of some freelancers often, they can decrease the price over time.
Another possibility is to cooperate with other small business owners and use the services of outsourcers together. You can contact local small companies and offer them splitting the price of the services, which can be beneficial for both of you.
4. Delegating Tasks to Technologies
We live in a time of very developed technologies, so why not use them in your business as well? There are various software programs that can automatically complete some tasks without having to constantly supervise them. If you have some daily tasks that a customizable program can do, you should definitely try delegating this work to it.
Delegating Other Tasks
In the same way, you transfer the tasks connected with work: you can delegate the non-work-related stuff. Your daily responsibilities might be the ones that cause burnout, so make sure you are not overloaded with them as well.
Such mundane tasks might include cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, or even walking a pet. There are always many ways you can delegate them. The solutions can even be divided into the same categories as the working delegation.
For example, in the case of delegation within the team, you can ask your family members, close friends, or co-habitants to take some part of your responsibilities. This request might be for some short period of time while you are having trouble getting the work done, or it can be considered a constant change.
When we think about cooperation with another business, it might be helpful to consider the services of a cleaning company or have a food delivery subscription. Once again, the cost for the services can be split between you and your roommates, for example, if they agree on such a partnership.
Last but not least, you can get some help from the technologies in your personal life as well. Set reminders for important life events, so you do not have to worry about remembering everything. You can also create automatic replies to messages and emails if you do not have time to actually answer them. There are a lot of possibilities to make your life easier with the use of technology!
Delegating might not sound easy, but if you do everything step by step and consider all the details, you can successfully organize a great working process in your small business. Choose delegation techniques that are most suitable for your company and enjoy happy and productive workers who complete tasks with quality and on time!
