Your workload is getting to be more than you can handle — but every time you try to get help, something doesn’t get done the way you want.
- They completely miss the mark and don’t do what you asked at all.
- They get it done, but it’s not as good as it would be if you did it yourself.
- They finally turn it in — late — after you’ve had to nag them repeatedly to get it done.
I’ve been there myself, and I know what it’s like. You feel like you won’t be able to grow your business if you can’t clone yourself.
You are out of hours in a day and patience. You needed a solution yesterday.
Sometimes you might just have the wrong person for the job — but if you have the right person, there are some things you can do to help them deliver what you’re asking for. I’m going to show you six of my favorite tried-and-tested delegation tips.
Let’s dive in!
1. Get People Involved From The Beginning
Sometimes a project needs to be done fast, and it’s hard to get everyone together at one time to get started. So you cut corners to get it done faster. You put together briefs and maybe even do some video walkthrough to explain what you want — but the end result is still missing the mark.
The best solution is always going to be to get together with the people that will be working on it. When they get a chance to talk and discuss the project, they can get on the same page. This time together allows them to ask questions and fully understand what you want to see out of the project.
Let me share a few tips with you that will help.
Bring Employees Together
As soon as you have your project ready to go, you should bring your employees together to let them know the entirety of the tasks you’re undertaking. Let them see, from beginning to end, how this project will work.
This lets them see that the work they do matters, and it also lets them know that they are part of a substantially interconnected puzzle. They can gain a sense of how their contribution to the project will help it succeed.
Bring In Your Specialists
Remember, from your position — you can see every part of the project, how it all fits together. If your project involves specialists like designers or developers, you’ll get better quality from them if they understand how their tasks fit together into the larger scope.
They can also help advise you on certain aspects of your project that might be done differently or better to get the best possible results. Having these additional perspectives can help you bring new ideas and improve the success of your project.
Using Contractors
If you’re using contractors instead of employees, this advice is still the same, but it might be harder to do. Contractors don’t have a vested interest in your business and helping you grow. They also aren’t as likely to want to be involved in all the larger aspects of your projects.
Instead, you might consider having strategic meetings with the contractor at the kick-off, review, and final delivery stages of the project. You can bring your internal experts into these calls to help ensure that your contractor has the information they need to deliver on your expectations for the project.
2. The Why Behind the Work
When you’re assigning a project to someone in your company, they may not understand the more significant motivators for the task they are being given. This is often part of why you struggle with finding people who would do a task the same way you would.
For example, if you ask someone to write a blog article for you, they probably understand the topic and know how to technically write a good article. What they don’t understand is:
- How you feel about that topic — your passion and motivation for writing about it.
- How you talk when you’re teaching someone — technical or laid back and fun?
- What you hope to teach a reader.
- What you want the reader to do next and why that next step is so important for them and your company.
If they understood those things, the article would take on a whole new life and be entirely different and more likely to be something you’d enjoy.
You understand the why behind the work, and that’s why you can do it better than they can — so make an effort to explain it.
3. Set Clear Expectations
When you’re assigning a project, you want to give as much detail as possible.
Make sure you include a specific list of deliverables you want to receive and be clear on the timelines you are asking for. You want to make sure that there are no miscommunications on what you want.
For example, you would want to include things like:
- The specific deliverables that you want them to deliver.
- Any timelines associated with your project — milestones and final delivery.
- Anything you don’t want. This could include wording, colors, styles, or anything else that you know you don’t want to see in the project.
- Be clear if you have any specific requirements — such as requiring CMYK for print designs or using WordPress to build a website.
- Assign a primary point of contact for any questions so the worker knows specifically who to contact.
Whatever details you give them is their framework for the project. These details help set your expectations and prevent unnecessary back-and-forth between you and your teams at the end of a project.
4. Set Realistic Expectations
You should also be ensuring that whatever expectations you set are realistic. Look to past projects and their turnaround times. If it took a graphic designer a week to make your last graphic for a campaign, it’s unrealistic to expect the same quality of work in a day.
How do you know what a realistic deadline is?
The best way to learn is to ask the team you want to assign a project to. Ask them if a day is enough time for a graphic, and if they tell you no, then ask what a realistic deadline is.
You cannot expect perfect work on an imperfect deadline. If you’re upfront and realistic with your team, they can deliver good results at the end of the project.
Asking their input on these sorts of things also reaffirms their faith in you as a leader. If they understand that you put effort into asking their viewpoints and relying on their expertise, you’re more likely to have their buy-in when things get rough. They know you’re looking out for your team and their best interest.
5. Give All Materials, Even Obvious Ones
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that your employees are an expert in one specific subject area, and aren’t the company’s expert like you are. They may need materials that you use daily because, for them, these are materials they rarely use.
Here’s a brief list of some items you should think about when giving materials out to your employees for projects and tasks:
- Copy text
- Images
- Templates
- Branding guides
- Logos
- Login information
- Software access
If you make sure that your team has all of this information at the start of the project, you reduce the likelihood that they will need to ask you halfway through for materials you may not have prepared.
6. Let Your Team Edit (First)
I know how important it is to proofread everything your company will put live to ensure it is up to your standards, but you don’t need to do all of the editing and proofing yourself. While a final check is more than appropriate, you can delegate some of that work to other employees.
Think about what it is you check for when assessing a project.
- Are you paying attention to listening for volume issues?
- Are you watching for video glitches on a YouTube advertisement?
- Are you looking over a website for spelling and grammatical issues?
Make a cohesive checklist based on what you find yourself looking over when you review, and hand that checklist off to the production team. The team can use this checklist themselves as not just a way to check for quality before you come in but as a rubric to see if they’re meeting your benchmarks with a project.
Learn How to Be a Better Delegator
The goal is to improve communication between you and your employees. You want to make sure the work that you need gets done without worrying about fixing mistakes made within your business. By having more time to focus on your responsibilities and your best skills, you can ensure your tasks are completed to absolute perfection.
For more tips and tricks on improving your productivity and getting things done better than ever, schedule a free meeting with me today, and let me help you get your workday back on track.
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