Part 1: Do You Want to Delegate Effectively? Here’s Where to Start.

Jun 16, 2015 | Delegation Fundamentals, Organizational Tips

You’ve decided to start building your team and delegating some of the tasks you have on your plate, but you’re not exactly sure where to begin.

When you’re looking to hire help, the more specific you are, the better fit you’ll find for exactly what you need.

These steps will help make your hiring process easy and delegate effectively!

Five Steps to Start Delegating Effectively

Step 1: Create a list of tasks you are doing to run your business.

Do a 10-15 minute brainstorm of all of the tasks that need to happen to run your business.

This may feel overwhelming at first, but once you start putting the tasks down on paper, you’ll have a more concrete idea of the skills this person needs to have or what skills you need to teach your assistant.

You’re setting a foundation for discovering the clarity that will help you and your new hire feel prepared and effective.

Step 2: Develop broad categories for these tasks.

Now that you have your tasks written down, group them into broad categories.

These categories might be:

  • Administrative
  • Client relations and management
  • Social media
  • Marketing
  • Content creation
  • Product development

You’ll get a broader perspective of the type of experience you’d like this person to have.

For instance, if you have a lot of tasks right now under social media, it would be ideal if your new hire had experience handling social media for other small businesses or was comfortable using social media for marketing purposes.

Step 3: Identify the most time-consuming and uninspiring tasks.

Remember, you’re bringing on help so you can use your limited time in more productive areas, so be honest with yourself about what you enjoy and what you find draining.

I hired people to support me in editing and formatting articles on the blog, which has given me more time to create the quality products that will solve my audience’s problems.

You’re giving yourself a master list of which tasks the assistant will be accomplishing on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Five Steps to Start Delegating Effectively. Tweet this!

Step 4: Determine the skills required to successfully perform those activities.

Beneath each of the tasks, write some of the skills required to successfully complete them.
For example, if creating updates for Twitter is one of the tasks you would like to give away, some of the required skills might be:

  • Ability to write thought-provoking headlines
  • Ability to write succinctly

You’re giving yourself a better chance at finding an ideal candidate and giving potential hires the ability to discern if this offer is right for them.

Step 5: Put together a job description with clear expectations.

Make sure to give a brief description of the company and the environment in which your assistant will be working. Then comprehensively outline what tasks she will be handling and what skills she must possess.

When you give a complete overview of the culture, the types of tasks, and the skills required, you can start searching for your ideal candidate.

Clarity is Key

The more that you know about the tasks your assistant will be handling, the more equipped each potential hire will be to make sure that this position is a good fit for them.

Without this clarity, it’s likely that you’ll get a lot of applications without finding the right person to add to your team.

Back To You

What’s one step you’ve taken in the past to hire an assistant for your team? What’s one step you’re looking to take in the future?