How to Delegate Tasks as a Small Business Owner

If you want to run a growing and profitable business, the best move is to focus on effective delegation. Though delegating tasks is crucial in unlocking business growth, many small business owners are still reluctant to delegate, and when they do, it's often not done right. Thankfully, delegation is a learnable skill.

So, how does one delegate tasks well and remove the bottleneck to profitable business growth? 

Five keys to delegating tasks

Here are the five keys to delegating tasks that will ease you in gradually, help take critical responsibilities off your plate, and finally free you up to manage the work that matters most:

1. Figure out what you do not enjoy doing

If you feel there are some tasks you have been avoiding because you just don't like doing them, you could delegate the task to someone who will enjoy it. 

As a business owner, there are things you may find others are more able and enjoy doing. If you dislike running inventory or posting on social media, but you've been doing it only because nobody else was available, you should find someone who enjoys doing it and delegate the task to them. 

2. Make sure your employees understand your expectations

Obviously, everyone wants to do a good job, but it would be hard to do that if they don't know what you expect of them. Ask yourself these two questions:

• What exactly are you currently doing, from start to finish?
• What are your expectations as far as each step of the process? 

Write your answers down and you will give them something they can reference if they have questions. You will still need to provide some face-to-face instruction, but having a guideline will cut your explanation time down considerably, and make the hand-off of the task easier and more efficient.

Be sure to let your employee know how you want the task to be done.

3. Delegate the right person

Your employees have their own strengths and weaknesses, learn them before delegating tasks.  Delegate tasks that play to their abilities and you will set them up for success. 

If an employee admits they are not good with numbers, don't task them with anything that involves calculation just because they have some free time, or there isn't anyone else who wants to do it.

Delegation requires trust, you do not want to create a situation where your trust will be immediately invalidated. If you delegate a task to an employee who's ready and able to complete the work, you will build confidence in future hand-offs.

4. Only hire based on the skills you need

The hiring process is complicated for a reason: you want to be able to trust your team with tasks that you are managing right now. Therefore, you need to think of hiring as future delegation.

If you don't think anyone in your workforce is detail-oriented enough to handle invoicing or bookkeeping, then you will need to hire a person who possesses that skill set. 

For instance, if you are hiring hoping to find someone who can help with invoicing, the job description should reflect that. 

5. Recognise the employee taking over

A little goes a long way. Say "Thank you for taking this on" can be a priceless way to make a team member feel appreciated and respected for the importance of the task. 

As an employer, you know how crucial every piece of your business is to you, but your employees may not have the same perspective. So, acknowledge their contributions and let them know the importance of their role for it will motivate the employee taking over. 

Remember, when you delegate tasks, you are also giving your employee the chance to learn about the best practices in running a small business. 

Arm your organisation with the best employees. How? By hiring with us. Register at AJobThing.com to schedule your free consultation.

Sources: Turbine & ondeck

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