Gooood morning team,
Today is Fresh Start launch day! I’ll see you all inside at 10am when we open up.
Today we’re discussing… Delegation when there is nobody to delegate to.
When everyone is busy? Or the team is too small?
I get it and I’ve been there. It feels like you're wearing all the hats and you can’t possibly be the ‘manager’ because you’re too busy ‘doing the do’.
Back when my team was just of 2/3 people, I realised that, for us to grow and succeed, I still needed to untangle myself from the day-to-day chaos.
So, how did I do it when there wasn't a huge team waiting to take on my workload? Here's my full strategy:
Step 1: Write down your strengths
Firstly, identify what you’re strongest at. I'm not talking about what you're good at; I'm talking about what fills you with love and energy at the end of a hectic day.
For me, my true strengths are People/HR and marketing.
Step 1 is just to simply figure out these strengths and write them down.
Step 2: Recognise Your Value-Adding Zones
Next up, pinpoint where you add the most value to the team.
Are you a wizard at bringing in new customers or upselling to existing ones? Are you unreal at crunching data?
Whatever it is, mark it down.
For me, this was running the finances, allocating money in the budget and making sure all our books were correct and up to date.
Step 3: List Everything Else (Yes, Everything)
Next step is to write the big master list, on this list I want to see everything you're doing that doesn't fall into the categories of 1) strengths or 2) value addition.
Meetings, emails, system management, client interactions, the whole shebang - write it all down.
At this point you should have 3 lists:
Your strengths
Where you add value
Everything else you’re doing
Time to channel your inner maestro of prioritisation and/or delegation….
Step 4: Prioritise like a pro
Whilst in this scenario (nobody to delegate to), the truth is you can’t fully liberate yourself from the day-to-day tasks. BUT we sure can optimise our time like a champ.
My strengths - HR, marketing - stayed close, along with the things I was doing that added the most value.
Meanwhile, everything on list 3, my less-than-favorite tasks, like obsessing over product details, client interactions, and anything demanding meticulous attention, found new homes.
The very last things, at the bottom of the piles, that nobody is strong in and isn’t adding much value?
Why are you wasting time on them?
We have to start ditching the tasks that aren’t adding value. Cancelling the meetings that aren’t moving us forward. It’s a choice between that or burnout.
And where we can delegate, we delegate purposefully (as opposed to just giving more work to someone who is super busy).
Learn to properly delegate taks ✨
Download the 'Your Delegation Glow-Up' doc to see how you can delegate tasks and projects to your team in a way that excites them (not annoys them).
Final thoughts
In a nutshell, when you find yourself with a not-so-massive team, or one who are all already be super busy, don't use that as an excuse to ‘just doing it all yourself’.
We need to become a master of time and productivity.
Identify your strengths, know where you shine the brightest. Everything else? Delegate or ditch strategically.
Your future self will thank you for turning your team into a well-oiled, scalable machine 🚀
Peace,
H
P.S. I dropped a YouTube video yesterday on how I delegate to my team (without annoying them) if you want to watch…