Mastering the art of effective delegation is essential to success, believes Penni Pike, who was executive assistant to high-profile Virgin boss, Sir Richard Branson, for 31 years.
Making the decision to delegate so that you can get on with the important parts of your job is a great first step, but just exactly how do you go about doing it in practice? Pike shares her thoughts:
During my years working as Sir Richard Branson‘s executive assistant, he would delegate tasks to me very effectively. This is what enabled him to grow one of the world’s largest brands, Virgin. Now that I’m working with a virtual PA company, successful delegation is just as important for the 200 business owners that we support.
It’s simple to start with: look at everything that you do on a daily basis and select the menial tasks that take up time but don’t necessarily help with the bigger picture. Remember that handing over the mundane tasks that you do every week, or even every day, is a great idea because you only have to delegate them once, and the benefit will be yours forevermore.
To hand over work effectively, whether it’s to a team member, your assistant or any other form of outsourced help:
- Take some time to get to know the person you are delegating to. Understand the way that they work but, most importantly, ensure that they understand the ins and outs of your role. The more they know about you, your business and the way you prefer to work, the more they’ll help to increase your productivity.
- Let them know what your priorities are. Just as if you were prioritising your own to-do list, make sure that the person in question knows which tasks they should be dealing with above others.
- Clear and regular communication is key. Make sure your assistant knows exactly what you want them to do and how you want them to do it. If you want them to work on a task for a specific amount of time or meet a certain deadline, tell them. It’ll work better for both of you.
- Work out a reporting system – if someone is doing an ongoing task for you, state when you want them to report back to you, if at all. That way you won’t feel the need to check up on them and they won’t feel harassed. Instead you’ll get timely, reassuring updates.
- Remember that there is no task too small! Everything you need help with in order to grow your business is very important, even the smaller things – and it’s often these tasks that add up to become very time-consuming.
- Last, but definitely not least – give feedback. If you feel something could have been handled better or done differently, don’t be afraid to say so. It will make your assistant more productive for you in the future
Trust me, if you use the pointers above you’ll really notice the difference that it makes to your day-to-day life and the business overall. While delegation can appear daunting, it’s important not to get stuck in the day-to-day at the expense of the strategic.
Penni Pike is now a key advisor for virtual PA company, Time etc.
