How to Delegate Tasks in Your Small Business: 5 Steps for Success

How many times have you heard the phrase, “You NEED to delegate?”

As a CEO, I’m going to guess quite a lot. But delegation, though seemingly the cure-all to a packed calendar, is a lot harder than it looks. 

How do you know what to pass off? What’s going to make the most impact? How do you even explain what’s going on inside your head to someone else? And how do you turn it into a system for them to follow?

It’s a lot to think about — I get it. But I’m going to show you my step-by-step game plan for knowing how to delegate tasks, no matter where you’re at in your business. 

Ready to pass off some tasks? Let’s get to it!

But First…My Semi-Spicy Take on Task Delegation

I need to clear the air with an important reminder before we get any further.

Don’t delegate anything you enjoy doing. Yes, I know that might be somewhat of a spicy take, but I stand by it! If it lights you up or makes the workday more exciting, keep doing it — even the nitty-gritty tasks that could easily be passed off to someone else.

Maybe you want to keep social media engagement on your plate because you love talking to your audience. Maybe you want to keep bookkeeping on your to-do list because you enjoy working with numbers.

There are no rules for what to delegate. It’s your business, and you make the calls.

The point of delegation isn’t to offload everything humanly possible. It’s to pass along the stuff that drains your energy. After all, isn’t energy one of our BIGGEST currencies as business owners?

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s look at how you can figure out what to delegate in five simple steps.

Delegation Step #1: Audit Your Work Week

Before you can decide what to delegate, you’ve got to know what’s eating up your time. That’s where a work-week audit comes in handy.

For one full work week, jot down every single thing you do throughout the day. Answering emails, Slacking with your team, staring at a blank cursor trying to figure out what to write — it all gets written down. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to jog your memory when it’s time to audit your week.

When the work week is done, look at all of your tasks, and ask yourself:

• What did I enjoy doing?
• What did I not enjoy doing?
• What took me way longer than necessary to complete?
• What are the biggest time sucks in my day-to-day?
• What do I want to do more of? And what do I need to take off my plate to make it happen?

This audit will help you take a strategic approach to delegation while also helping you realize what you want to keep. It’ll also help you see what you couldn’t get to and what you kept pushing out (which is a HUGE sign that it’s not something you enjoy — just sayin’!).

PRO TIP: If you’re already using a project management platform, you can just review your tasks for the week instead of writing everything down. 

Delegation Step #2: Sort Tasks by Energy Level

Now, let’s break it down even further. Create two lists — tasks you enjoyed and tasks you didn’t enjoy — and divide everything you did during the week into one of the two categories.

And be honest! Following what you think should or shouldn’t be delegated will only make things harder. Again – there are no rules for delegation, and there are no right or wrong tasks to pass off (within reason, of course!).

Now, out of the tasks you didn’t enjoy, what can realistically be delegated?

So many of my clients assume certain tasks can’t be delegated, but that’s hardly ever the case. The only things your team truly can’t do for you are those that physically require your presence (like a podcast interview or shooting a video).

What you end up with is what you need to get ready to hand off!

Delegation Step #3: Create a Delegation Game Plan

Now that you know what to delegate, you need to create a plan of action to make it happen.

Obviously, it would be nice if you could delegate everything all at once. But that’s not always the case. Instead of trying to do a massive overhaul and overwhelming yourself (and your team), pick three to five things to focus on first.

Once you know what’s a priority, follow these steps to make it happen:

1. Ask a team member if they’re willing to take it on. They may not be able to, whether because of capacity, or might not be comfortable or familiar with the task (for example, giving a copywriter graphic design work).
2. Create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for each task. You know I love systems! And creating an SOP for how you do things will help you pass off these tasks with fewer bumps in the road.
3. Hand it over with clear instructions. Like everything else in your business, treat this “pass the plate” process with the same organization you would with any other task. Don’t email these instructions, put them in your project management system so it’s always easy to find and refer back to when needed!
4. Don’t look back. Let them own it! You’ll never be free from that task if you’re still trying to do it yourself. Trust your team to handle it, and move on.

Delegation Step #4: Hire the Right People for the Job

Maybe you don’t have someone on your team who can take on what you want to delegate. If that’s the case, it may be time to outsource that role to someone else.

Here are a few examples of what that could look like:

• Creative tasks draining your energy? Hand them off to a designer.
• Exhausted from writing newsletters or blog posts? That’s a job for a copywriter.
• Feeling overwhelmed by digital organization? Bring in a virtual assistant (VA).
• Tired of chasing down invoices or scheduling meetings? That’s where an admin assistant or VA shines.

Each task that drains your energy can be assigned to someone who specializes in it — and loves it!

Be careful about expecting a generalist to do it all

One last important note: Don’t fall into the trap of hiring a “generalist” virtual assistant and expecting them to do everything.

Jack-of-all-trades do exist, but the reality is that most people excel in one specific area… not five. Depending on what you’re delegating, a generalist can only do so much. At some point, the expertise caps out, and you may need to hire someone with more in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience, depending on the task.

You’ll find that delegating to the right people, not just anyone, will make a huge difference in the quality of work you get back and how much lighter your workload feels.

Delegation Step #5: Rinse and Repeat, and When Needed, Call in Some Backup!

When you own a business, the cycle of delegation doesn’t stop — especially if your business is growing and you’re taking on more work. So don’t forget to repeat this process every so often. 

I recommend reviewing what to delegate at least once a year, but you can do it as frequently as each quarter if you have a lot of change in a smaller amount of time.

Need some help figuring out what delegation might look like in YOUR business? Let’s talk! I can help you create a delegation game plan that works for you and your team, with 1:1 support as you make the transition. 

Learn more about working together here!