Nicholas Godwin
April 11, 2022
If your business responsibilities overwhelm you to the point you’re falling behind on your tasks and goals, start delegating.
Business owners who’ve mastered effective delegating enjoy about a 33% revenue increase.
However, most business people find delegating tough.
As a successful business person, you gloss over the details of your business. So, you might assume other people won’t commit to those responsibilities like you’d do.
You might even feel that delegation slows your task execution rate and would reduce your output quality—you couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Doing everything yourself may seem reasonable for a small business. However, as you grow, wearing multiple hats becomes inefficient and time-consuming.
That’s where this article comes in:
You’ll discover how to be more productive and profitable with delegating.
Also, you’ll learn when your business is ripe for delegating. Whether you should delegate to humans or machines. Effective delegation techniques.
Let’s dive in.
Running a business is tedious. You’d need all the help you can get as you grow.
Having so much on your to-do list with little or no time to complete them and take a rest is a clear sign that your business is due for extra helping hands.
Below are other signs to look out for.
Menial routine tasks can be time-consuming.
The urge to get them out of the way often hinders business owners from completing other growth-focused tasks.
Do you find yourself stuck on less important responsibilities daily?
You should consider delegating them to someone else to enable you to concentrate on critical tasks.
Every business owner’s ultimate goal is to grow.
However, growth results from teamwork. You’ll need other people in your business if you want improved productivity and profits.
As the business branches out, more tasks will sprout that need attention. You cannot handle them all.
Delegating will ease some burdens and boost your overall business output.
Some business growth happens rapidly. They often leave owners with no opportunity to conduct a thorough hiring exercise.
Delegating some basic operational aspects of the business can be relieving.
The hiring process takes time and resources you may not have at the time.
Shedding off certain responsibilities to expert freelancers or other team members would be economical.
One of the demands of a growing business is the need for skilled individuals to assist.
Specialized tasks will require experts to handle them effectively.
You cannot have all the requisite knowledge to tackle the issues arising daily in the business.
Handing down accounting or administrative functions to professionals could be rewarding.
When considering delegating tasks in your business, you might face the dilemma of whether to assign them to humans or machines.
Humans perform best at less monotonous, high-level decision-making and relationship-building tasks. Software and machines can handle repetitive or very complex tasks.
Also, software and machines help humans do their best work—boost productivity and drive more profit.
Delegating either to humans or machines has its perks. They can both be time-saving depending on the nature of the task.
To determine which is best suited for you, you’d need to evaluate the strengths/ type of business and work you want to get done.
Saving time is crucial to business owners who undertake a plethora of operations in their businesses.
Delegating responsibilities to machines is often expensive initially depending on the complexity of the task, subscription package or installation cost.
However, using machines would be cost-effective in the long run.
On the other hand, remote workers or freelancers can provide cheaper labor with just as much efficiency as a machine.
If you’re trying to cut costs in the short term then you’re better off delegating to humans. For long terms costs, delegating to machines is a better deal.
However, you might have exceptions. So, always compare the costs before you decide.
Machines require little or no supervision to function. This makes them the go-to choice of business owners gunning for greater efficiency.
Diverse tools and software exist to make jobs easier for business owners and boost their team members’ productivity.
Delegating to humans can increase efficiency if there’s a free channel of communication and incorporation of machines.
Machines are useful in completing repetitive and labor-intensive tasks. But, delegating to humans is more ideal in jobs requiring flexibility in execution and resources.
Humans are poised to improvise in situations where capital is limited or innovation is required.
Basically, we cannot eliminate the place of humans in the workflow.
Machines are indispensable too when efficiency is key and tasks such as scheduling need automation.
The eCommerce space is competitive and fast-paced.
This means you have to constantly handle a series of tasks ranging from marketing to inventory management, pricing to product images.
You’d achieve more in less time if you delegate some tasks in your eCommerce business to competent individuals.
We’ve compiled the most recurring ones below.
Finding, hiring, and equipping members of your business team to be more effective is tough work.
Why bother yourself with this herculean task when you can focus on other important aspects of your eCommerce business?
A simple Human Resource software or personnel will be helpful in managing your employees better.
The quality of customer service is instrumental to your business growth.
A research by microsoft admits 90% of Consumers in America base their decision to patronize any business on the quality of customer service.
Increase your chances of business expansion and higher customer retention by delegating customer service roles to experts.
Organizing the day-to-day activities in your business to run smoothly can be overwhelming for you alone.
Taking orders, maintaining internal and external correspondence, keeping inventory and other administrative functions distract you from important tasks.
The primary role of a business owner is to make top decisions.
Delegate less significant administrative work.
Non-compliance to industry regulations costs businesses an average of over $14 million in revenue every year.
The eCommerce industry is guided by strict laws that protect consumers.
You would need specialized hands to help monitor, evaluate and ensure compliance with the governing laws.
You can’t afford to miss out on tiny details.
Except you’re skilled at crunching figures, you might want to leave it to experts.
Auditing, writing financial reports, and presenting quarterly accounting statements are tasks that you’d better delegate to skilled people.
They can be major time wasters if you’re new to the financial terrain.
Save yourself the stress.
Social media marketing involves activities like creating original content, running social media ad campaigns, and consistently boosting customer engagements.
You can rely on Social media marketers to generate leads that can be converted to loyal customers over time.
You might be unskilled or lack the knowledge required to excel in this role.
Knowing the nitty-gritty of search engine optimization, keyword research, product listing on amazon and how to drive sales is a hassle you’d rather do without.
Many experienced SEO experts are available to assist you.
68% of internet transactions start from Search Engines. So an optimized amazon business page will rank higher in searches.
Powerful sales copy can increase your brand awareness and sales returns.
Copywriting is important in advertising your business to your target market. A catchy copy helps to attract organic traffic to your business.
But, copywriting can exhaust your creativity and time.
Professional freelance copywriters are rife online.
Get your business one that understands the job.
An eCommerce business usually demands the owner making doorstep deliveries of their products to customers.
Clashing orders and delivery schedules are expected realities of business owners.
You can’t be everywhere at the same time. Hence, you need to delegate the delivery and logistics department of your business to someone else.
Branding and most digital content are best portrayed in pictures, videos, and audio formats.
Graphics attract customers’ attention and send clearer brand messages than words.
If graphic design or media is not your niche, do well to assign the task to trained professionals.
Your brand identity entails the quality of graphics and meaningful media content.
Jenny Blake, an astute business strategist, offers great insight into the tasks to delegate beyond the ten mentioned above.
His six Ts covers duties that a business owner will do better delegating to boost productivity.
Following these six Ts will help you become a better delegator and gain greater results.
He highlights the responsibilities business owners should delegate as those that are:
These six Ts will bring to the fore many tasks that impede your productivity and free up more time to undertake other rewarding ventures.
Now that you have spare time, read on to find out some excellent things to do with it to grow your business.
Congratulations on freeing up time by delegating.
Now you can focus on increasing profits and growing your business.
Here’s how.
Knowing what your customers think will help you improve on your products or service offering.
With time on your hands, this is the best opportunity to find out about market trends, price variations, and the latest innovations in your Industry.
familiarize yourself with tools, software, or social media to boost sales.
Time is a valuable resource and you got it. Spend it wisely.
Delegation is easy if you know how and when to.
The key to getting desired results from tasks delegated is to be clear on the powers you hold as a delegator.
But, you must afford team members freedom to make decisions regarding the task, execution method, and time.
Micromanaging is counterproductive.
We’ve established that not every responsibility can be delegated.
Evaluate the tasks on your hands. Prioritize the most important and assign accordingly.
Collaborative efforts often save time, resources and maximize team efficiency.
Focus on those works that you are great at and leave others to experts.
Delegate tasks that will serve as a learning experience for team members to increase self-sufficiency.
You must already know the strengths and weaknesses of your team.
This will form the basis for your decision on whom to give which role for optimal performance.
Don’t assume what people can handle. Do your due diligence.
Take note of areas each member excels in and delegate related responsibility. This saves you time and loss arising from floppy execution.
Effective communication of job functions is an important step to being a successful delegator.
Let members of your workforce know the limit of tasks assigned to them.
Provide a clear outline and instructions on what should be done, how, and when. This eradicates unpleasant cases of misinterpretation.
Let every worker know what is expected of them.
Document the delegation process for future reference.
Explicitly state the desired results from tasks assigned. This will keep everyone’s eyes on the goal.
Decide and record milestones.
Agree on the key performance indicators and ensure team members hit benchmarks.
People will generally perform better if they know the result to anticipate from their efforts.
Ensure the measure of responsibility assigned to members of staff is proportional to the authority reposed on them.
Power without commensurate responsibility corrupts.
Handing off responsibilities without clearly defining the authority that backs that role demotivates subordinates.
People want to own the process of executing tasks and feel like they’re a significant part of the system.
Following this principle puts you in charge of the outcome of delegated tasks.
A successful delegator does not rid himself /herself of responsibilities completely. Somehow, you’re ultimately linked to the success or failure of the task.
You remain accountable for every task assigned and the responsibility of deriving desired results lies solely on your shoulders.
Many superiors who give commands can lead to administrative bottlenecks and conflicts.
Streamline the authorities to whom subordinates must answer. This eliminates confusion arising from multiple instructions and counter commands.
A single authority will make tracing sources of errors easier. It also cuts down the amount of time spent reporting to various unit heads or waiting for further instructions.
Your business needs an organogram to guide members of staff on where they fall in the grand scheme.
Lines of authority should be clearly delineated.
Everyone must understand who they’re answerable to and to what extent.
Overlapping authorities and responsibilities create conflict amongst workers. Jobs outside of one’s jurisdiction should be channeled to the appropriate office.
This principle lends credence to the one above.
Authorities come in different levels. Everyone must be aware of the magnitude of authority they wield over others.
Managers acting within their jurisdiction must do so independently to foster trust in their authority.
Once you delegate, allow subordinates ample freedom to go about the task however they decide.
Doing so motivates them to be creative and innovative.
Reduce interference with assigned responsibility to the barest minimum.
But, a manager may take over the authority in cases where the success of the job is in jeopardy.
This exception must be clearly defined and communicated.
Delegating to the right people is a leadership hack your business absolutely needs.
You would find that putting the right people in the right roles saves you the stress of handling everything yourself.
You achieve much more in less time with competent individuals taking some burdens off you.
One of the perks of delegating is the amount of free time you get to focus on more important aspects of your business that guarantees growth.
Increase productivity, efficiency and profit by learning to delegate.
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