Delegate!  Delegate!  Delegate!

We all say how time starved we are and that we have “no time” but the fact remains that many small business owners have not fully developed the art of delegation. Yes of course we’ve all used the excuse “no one can do it as good as me” or “by the time I show them, I could have done it myself”. These are just that, excuses. Here is what you need to do:

• Write a list of the tasks you do regularly. Then really look at each item in the list. Seriously, are you the only person who can chase up your debtors? Could someone else do the invoicing or put the newly delivered stock away?
• Now, armed with your list of things you can delegate, then think about who it can be delegated to. Now, remember, even if you don’t have staff, there are definitely tasks which can be delegated. Bookkeeping is a perfect example. Chances are you hate this chore, you aren’t that good at it, it takes you away from doing what you do well (your business) and it takes so much time you end up staying up till midnight to “do the books”. The smallest business can delegate this out to a contract and professional bookkeeper. Many work on an hourly basis; if you need 2 hours a month or 4 hours a week – they are flexible and you often only pay for the time used.
• Once you delegate a task to a person, you need to train them how to do the task (unless of course it’s the professional bookkeeper who has come to you strongly recommended). I strongly suggest you have a Corporate Policies document which says how major tasks are done. If you have someone debt collecting, how often does it occur? Have the “Final Notice” template letters been written? How do they track who they have called and when? What is the policy re follow-up? Don’t just assume the person will know how you want this done, or will necessarily know how to do this well. Set procedures leave little room for ambiguity and it’s great having the processes in place for when you have to train the next person – the training time is reduced substantially when there are pre-written support notes and instructions.
• Closely monitor the recently delegated task. Ensure the person is proceeding as desired and if not, provide further training or guidance (plus positive support).
• Empower your staff. If they don’t have the authority to do anything, then you will spend an awful lot of time in supervising them and “holding their hand”. Additionally, they will become disenchanted and feel you don’t trust them.
• Regularly review their progress with brief update reports so that you don’t loose touch with what is happening in your business.