Even if you’ve only identified one thing you need to get off your plate, its time to get to work on it and figure out how you can either get rid of it or delegate it.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there “may” be things you truly CANNOT delegate. You may think you don’t have enough resources. But be creative, you can usually find a way.
My insistence to “holding on” to a job that I desperately needed to delegate was not a lack of resources. I had a perfectly capable assistant who had the time to take it on. My own negative thinking blocked me from CHANGING. I conjured up all kinds of excuses: “I’ll never be able to delegate this to anyone else… its too complicated, too important…it will take forever to train someone so I might as well do it myself…” You know the kind of stuff that goes through your mind.
Here’s the really interesting (and embarrassing) part. I was selling a software tool (Zavanta) that made writing policies and procedures and training systems a snap. For some reason, it never occurred to me to apply “systems thinking” to my own Sales organization. Even after the light bulb finally went on, I still procrastinated!
But then one day, I just STARTED. The results were amazing.
Granted, I had to shut my door for a couple of days, but when I came up for air, I had the entire process mapped out using
Zavanta software including step-by-step procedures that my assistant (or anyone else for that matter) could easily follow. In just ONE DAY she took over the entire job and still performs it today.
My assistant is planning to retire soon. We will all truly miss her. But as far as training her replacement is concerned, I’m not worried. Because we have a system, when her replacement walks in the door and it’s time to do new employee orientation and training, we’ll be ready.
That’s one job that will never find its way back onto my plate!