We’ve all been there. Whether we’re managing a department, the CEO of a large company, or a solo business owner, we have too many tasks in the day, and we need to decide which ones are worthy of delegation. The act of delegation is a subtle art that needs to be approached appropriately. When done correctly, it can significantly increase the efficiency of a company, which in turn increases its productivity.
Many leaders forget that this wonderful practice even exists. Does this sound familiar? Your boss calls you, asks you to check on numbers for this time last year. You’ve got a million balls in the air and are right in the middle of a project, but you drop everything to start pulling reports, frantically typing numbers into excel, and calculating exactly where in your life you lost so much time and started feeling so rushed.
Stop.
You have an employee at your front desk or in reception who’s knee deep in Pinterest wedding planning, or maybe you’ve got an intern who’s going around asking everyone what they’d like for lunch. Lunch is most certainly one of the most important parts of the workday, let’s not argue that, but remember, you’re right in the middle of this giant project, and your boss needed these numbers yesterday. Go ahead, seek out the help of your lovely unengaged wedding planner at the front desk! She may not be able to do the calculations, but she certainly can pull those reports for you–cutting your workload in half. That, my friend, is the beauty of delegation.
This sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? So what else can we delegate, you ask? We suggest you delegate your inbound calls to an answering service. Honestly, think about the time you’d save if you had a company who could take orders, capture leads, schedule appointments, answer frequently asked questions, and handle your inbound calls as if they were right inside of your building. Now sure, the answering service can’t run your business, but that’s not the point. The answering service is there to cut your workload in half. Just as you had your front desk personnel help with reporting, an answering service can help too!
Remember, for delegation to work properly, you’ve got to have the right people in the right places. Be sure that the tasks you’re asking your subordinates to complete are ones they’re capable of performing. If you delegate tasks to a person who isn’t capable and empowered to complete them, you’re going to end up losing time. This goes for any answering service companies you hire too. Make sure they’re qualified, professional, attentive, and efficient.
