How to Use Strategic Delegation for Maximum Return
Delegation can be hard. You know it would be good for you, and that it could shave hours off your week and items off your tasklist. You know that delegating responsibility could help develop others on your team and free you up to focus on more valuable work. At 33Vincent, our Executive Assistants spend much of their time encouraging leaders to offload more and more responsibility, and our EAs proactively look for more they could take on. But why is delegating still so hard to do?
In my work on both sides of the table, I’ve seen a common theme: “Why would I spend all this time explaining what I want, when I could just do it myself?”
Delegation is a huge hurdle for so many leaders because they aren’t seeing the long-term effects of near-term delegation decisions. All they can see is the time it will take them to explain it now, and the potential for a low-quality end result. They make a mental decision to just do it themselves to avoid these two roadblocks. But this choice between 1) a high-quality product and 2) freeing up their own time is a false dichotomy: you can have both!
Here’s how:
Identify what you should delegate.
Delegate using a strategic SOP tool.
Evaluate with key feedback indicators.
Repeat.
1. Identify what you should delegate.
If you’re reading this, you’ve likely already realized that you need to offload some of your work, but it’s difficult to narrow down what exactly to delegate. We’ve written a separate blog to help you diagnose what to delegate called Questions to Ask Yourself Before Delegating, and we’ve also created a What to Delegate guide to get your gears turning.
To narrow down the list, start with these questions:
What is my primary role function, and am I fulfilling that?
What am I doing that doesn’t require my leadership or qualifications?
What recurring or administrative tasks do I complete every day, week, or month?
2. Delegating using a strategic SOP tool.
This is the secret sauce for getting maximum return on your delegation investment: be clear and specific on your expectations for the final product. Your delegatee isn’t you; they can’t read your mind or see what you’re picturing without good communication from you. But when you’re drowning in things to get done, it can feel overwhelming to sit down and figure out how to delegate helpfully and clearly. Enter an SOP (a standard operating procedure).
The key to strategic delegation is having a repeatable, optimized system for offloading a task or project with all the necessary information included. You shouldn’t have to think about what to include and communicate or whether you should explain your filing system to them–because you’ll give up with a “I’ll just get them started and deal with it later.” Don’t! Use an SOP so that your delegation is set to automatic instead of manual.
Your delegation template should include these key pieces:
A Call to Action: What do you need from them?
The Why: What end goal should this accomplish, and why is it important?
Clear Deadlines and Specifics: When is each portion due, what’s a non-negotiable, and what will frustrate you if it’s not there?
3. Evaluate with key feedback indicators.
With the best delegation system, there will still be room to improve when you receive the deliverable. But what you do with that makes all the difference in the world. Many leaders receive a deliverable, identify 3 things wrong with it, and then correct it themselves without communicating the gap to the delegatee. This is the same trap that we mentioned earlier!
Instead, evaluate the deliverable with another recurring feedback SOP, and coach your executor so they have the opportunity to improve. (The SOP is key here, so you can hold yourself to a standard template and don’t let yourself off the hook.) Ask yourself:
What didn’t meet the details I provided in the delegation SOP?
How is this deliverable different from the picture in my head? Did I equip this person to meet that picture?
What other access does this person need to get better in the future?
What coaching can I give so this person better understands the end goal?
What went great?
To elevate your delegation to a strategic level, provide timely, clear coaching on the deliverable. And then let the executor loose to do it again!
4. Repeat.
Don’t stop at just one task, project, or responsibility. Work hard to build delegation into your leadership DNA–not only to elevate your own time, but also to develop those who report to you. The best leaders do what they say and teach what they do. A healthy delegation system could be the key to your own leadership development!
Are you ready to elevate your impact by delegating to an EA? 33Vincent is a community of high-caliber, remote Executive Assistants offering flexible support to entrepreneurs, executives, and leadership teams. 33Vincent’s service is designed for high-performing leaders who are tired of trying to "do it all.” We elevate your impact, and help you invest your time in what matters most. Contact our team to share your support needs so together we can discover if 33Vincent is a good fit for you.
33Vincent has many other resources to help you maximize your time and communication with your executive assistant.
