Delegating 101: How Delegation Improves Efficiency
We have all heard the word “delegation” and know that it’s the magic key to running an efficient workplace, but when you’re the one with the dream, it can be hard to let go of the reins. It’s time to trust in the decisions you’ve made in hiring the right team for your wellness business. Let’s take a closer look at what it takes to delegate appropriately and make your workplace efficient.
9 Steps To Delegating Efficiently
- Start gradually
- Balance tasks
- Choose employees carefully
- Explain choices
- Communicate
- Keep things moving
- Give authority
- Supply resources
- Show gratitude
- Ease into delegation– Look for small items that you feel comfortable giving to specific employees, such as reports, running meetings, and ordering items. Once you feel comfortable that they are handling these things to your satisfaction, you can move more things off your desk and onto your employees’.
- Keep things balanced– Ensure you don’t only hand off non-essential tasks. People like to be challenged and to feel that they are making a difference. In addition, when you are working with delegation, you want your employees to feel that you trust them, so delegate some of the less routine tasks.
- Match the tasks to the employee– A big part of workplace efficiency is ensuring the delegation matches the right person to the right task. When looking to delegate, keep your more straightforward tasks for your newer employees and the more complex tasks for your veteran employees. Contemplate whether the employees prefer simple or multiple-step tasks and whether they require oversight or do better independently.
- Clarify the delegation– When delegation occurs, explain to your wellness business employees why you selected each employee for each task. Letting them know that you trust them to gain new skills, advance in their positions, and support the wellness business will lend greater loyalty to the team and help build self-confidence.
- Make objectives clear– When delegating, trust your employee to perform. To that end, rather than discuss methods, let them know what objectives and measurable outcomes you expect.
- Timelines matter– Make sure you have a timeline with reasonable deadlines, giving your employees ample time to learn new skills. This is an area where you might fall into micromanaging – avoid that temptation! Two people working on the same thing is the opposite of an efficient workplace. Set up a timeline with set updates and allow your employees to confront issues on their own before coming to you.
- Loosen the reins– Allow the employee to have autonomy. Give them all the authority needed to complete the task without coming to you. This will free you to do tasks needed at your level and allow the employee to have confidence and motivation to complete them at their level. This is how an efficient workplace is created.
- Provide all needed resources – With delegation, ensure all the resources are at your employees’ disposal, so they don’t need to come back to you with requests.
- Say “thank you”– To keep your efficient workplace humming, it is vital to communicate to your wellness business employees how much you appreciate them. When they have stepped up and performed well with delegation, it is worth your time to recognize them personally and publicly and let them know.
Often, we think we are the only ones who can do all the tasks in our wellness business, and that remains true as long as we are doing everything. So, take the time to explore your employees’ Genius Zone, and, with delegation, you will find your efficient workplace will free you up to reach bigger and better goals!