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Learn how to delegate tasks in your business

Written by: Russell Bowyer

Article Overview: In order to have a good business you need to learn how to delegate tasks to your employees. Delegation is one of the hardest things for business owners to do - the thought of relinquishing control and allowing someone to do your work is out of the questions - surely? In fact it is not hard at all and is one of the best things you can do in business. There is a saying that even if your employees do things at least 80% as good as you do then this is better than you doing it 100% right. Take a look at your work for the following week and decide on which day you want to take off every week and then stick to that. Then take a look at the tasks you would need to delegate from your work load so that things will not fall behind because you are now only there for 4 days instead of 5 (don't tell me you work 7 days or even 6 days)...

Learn how to delegate tasks in your business

In order to have a good business you need to learn how to delegate tasks to your employees. Delegation is one of the hardest things for business owners to do - the thought of relinquishing control and allowing someone to do your work is out of the questions - surely?

In fact it is not hard at all and is one of the best things you can do in business. There is a saying that even if your employees do things at least 80% as good as you do then this is better than you doing it 100% right.

Take a look at your work for the following week and decide on which day you want to take off every week and then stick to that. Then take a look at the tasks you would need to delegate from your work load so that things will not fall behind because you are now only there for 4 days instead of 5 (don't tell me you work 7 days or even 6 days - if you do then take at least one of these days off and even better two of them).

Now decide which employee or employees you can then award your work load to. You may need to spend a bit of time training them - but you will soon find that they will be quite happy to take on your work and they may even do a better job!

You can then sit back and enjoy that day off each week and every week in the knowledge that your employees are working hard for you. If you choose a Friday as your day off, then you have just created long weekends for you and your family on a long-term basis.

Once you have got used to taking one day off for pleasure purposes you should then take another look at your work load. Review how to delegate another days-worth of work so that you can spend that extra day working ‘ON' the business instead of ‘IN' the business...let me explain...Working ‘ON' your business involves looking at the bigger picture and strategic planning of where the business should be heading. You should be looking at ways in which you can expand the business and how to grow the business.

By learning how to delegate task in your business will give you more free time and your business will become much more valuable. A business is much more valuable if it is less dependent upon the owners and as you will be spending more time on strategic planning and on building your business it will also be more profitable.

Related Articles
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  How to drop the balls
  Value your time as you can bet your customer’s won’t
  The power of using a daily 'Action List'
  Delegation Is About Effective Management

Article Tags: business owners, delegate tasks, good business, how to delegate, small business, valuable, value



Related Forum Posts
What holds people back? - I'm reading an interesting book that focuses on helping already up and running business owners take their companies to the next level. One of the ideas behind the book is that the people you hire is who hold you back. You can only do so much yourself so you have to delegate. Most people are fine doing this - but they hire people at entry level positions. The challenge comes when those entry level employees can't help you grow to the next level - you need to hire people who are more senior and can take on full projects instead of simple tasks. It's something I have been thinking about for my business as well - how to delegate out entire projects instead of tasks. I would love to hear your thoughts / experiences on this!
Re: How Much Money Do You Make Online? - Hi Kevin, I think it is easier for businesses that sell a product. But, I find with talking to business owners & entrepreneurs (myself included) that a large majority of my time is spent on tasks that others can do. Even in a service industry (which I am in) like catering or running a bakery tasks can always be outsourced. Maybe you love to bake and would love to just focus on baking each day; that is ok. But for me, the book helps me see a goal beyond that. The book stresses to focus on outsourcing not only the work but also the management; so the business can run with out you. Not saying to outsource to India...but delegate the work to others. Obviously, this information is not new....but with many entrepreneurs (myself included) your work can consume you since you love it. It would be better for business if the entrepreneur used his expertise to train others. - that is what the book focuses on.
How do you deal with redundant and remedial job tasks? - Even as an entrepreneur, there's going to be redundant and remedial job tasks in your day-to-day functions. So how do you deal with them? For instance, do you delegate or outsource those responsibilities or do you somehow come up with ways to automate those processes, etc?
Re: 5 Skills for work at home people - Have you ever heard the saying, "Do what you do best and let others do the rest!"? I must admit that I tend to want to do it all, but I have learned that others can do a far better job so that I can really put my focus on the areas I most enjoy and tend to be best at. Marketing is one of these areas. When I don't delegate some of these things, my productivity actually goes down. Am I the only one who has realized she can't have a balanced life and still continue to do all the menial tasks?! Therefore, the skill that is missing for work at home people is: Learning to "let go" and delegating some of your tasks! It sounds like the man who built a business by outsourcing most of it had an entrepreneurial idea of what he wanted to create. We're all different and he seems more of an overseer or visionary. How great for him! I think it would be fun to really implement business ideas without having to do the things I don't enjoy so much! It also sounds like he created what they call a "true business", where he could walk away and the business would still run itself. I'm actually trying to create that with the new store I'm setting up. Once it gets going, I plan on delegating most of the work so I can continue to do the other work I love from home.
Delegating - Several times I've learned the hard way that delegating too many responsibilities can cause problems. WHen you turn duties over to others, make sure they are qualified to handle them and that they can be trusted. I've also learned after many problems, that I need to keep an eye on people that I delegate various tasks to. This is especially true when people do important things - such as handling the business finances. Chris


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