How and When to Delegate Properly

Delegate whenever you need to save time. If possible, delegate complete areas of responsibility to particular people so that they have complete command of certain aspects of the work.

Don't delegate at the last minute unless it is unavoidable. Allow plenty of time for training, advice and for getting to grips with what the work entails.

Don't just fling a whole project at someone either, until they are experienced enough to cope with it. Delegate small tasks first and build up or delegate work in stages. Don't rush a job; allow time for it to be understood and initiated. Later, with experience, the people you delegate to will be able to work much quicker when it is necessary.

You might think that it will take up too much of your time to train and advise people to do work that you have normally done. But the initial time spent on this is worth it because as your staff grow more confident and experienced, they will need less and less supervision.

Delegate phone calls
Start by delegating phone calls that your staff can deal with as well as you can. They should all have the phone call sheets and incoming call pads. Encourage them to take full notes and if possible to deal with anything that arises themselves. Make clear what calls must come to you, for example, the boss, your mother, your bookmaker, and then expect them to deal with any other calls and only refer them to you if they cannot deal with them.

If particular problems arise frequently, one person could be delegated to deal with them or it could be done on a rota basis. If you do not have enough staff to allow for one person to be continually answering the phone, then everyone can take a turn for a set period during the week and free the rest of the staff to get on with their own work.

Let your staff solve the problems
Your staff are probably full of ideas about how particular problems can be solved. Let them tell you and then carry them out. You, of course, must bear the final responsibility but your staff should be able to deal with the day-to-day problems that occur themselves. In fact, the best people to solve problems are usually the people who are closest to them. So get your staff to solve as many problems as they feel capable of. As they get more confident they will solve more and more complex problems. Far from putting them off it will give them confidence.

Letters
Most of your staff should be able to deal with basic correspondence themselves. If you have given them permission to deal with as many problems as possible, then they should also be able to reply to them.

They should be encouraged to deal with the contents of the letter and respond accordingly, and be ready to deal with any follow-up results. That way less paperwork should reach you because it will have already been dealt with.

Standardize replies
You can help your staff by using standardized replies. Many calls and letters received will be on similar subjects. Ask your staff (and you should do the same) to make a list over a fortnight of the nature of calls and letters to them, for example, request for information, request to present sales pitch, enclosing information from the sales office. Make one master list and then work out a standard series of replies both for the phone and letters.

For phone replies, of course, you simply suggest the nature of the reply, for example, request for literature - say you'll send the latest catalogue. Letters are more complex but standard letters or standard paragraphs can be agreed. These can be amended slightly where necessary. Standard letters can be stored on the computers your staff use so they can be called up and amended as necessary. Or they can call up one or more standard paragraphs to insert into their letters.

Not all phone calls and replies can be dealt with like this but you will be surprised at how many can. By standardizing you will substantially reduce both your own time and that of your staff. When you are dictating letters it is much quicker to say 'use standard letter number six and add such and such'.

Delegate major tasks where possible
You might think that I am advocating delegating just the routine and minor tasks. But major tasks can also be delegated. This requires a bit more effort on your part. Your staff must be adequately briefed and you must pay regular attention to them to encourage and help them. This does not mean that you should be constantly telling them what to do but that you will ask for regular progress reports and aim to know about problems before they escalate. Even this level of oversight will free up your time and enable you to concentrate your efforts elsewhere.

Don't just delegate the boring stuff
You might be tempted to delegate the boring and routine work, whether major or minor, on the grounds that you should be doing the interesting work. But if you never let your staff do any interesting work they will become bored and resentful. Nor will they progress enough to be able to help you with more complex issues.

By giving your staff as much interesting work as possible as well as routine work, you will truly empower them and they will feel part of your team. They will start to bring you ideas and you will all work together. When routine or boring work does have to be done they will be more likely to do it with good grace knowing that you are not deliberately keeping the interesting work for yourself.