A while back, I confessed about being a Drive-By Delegator. In case you missed that post, you can read it here.
But, even if you’re down to delegate, it’s tough to figure out what the heck to pass off to someone else. Especially if you’ve grown accustomed to being a one-person operation.
Since my daughter was born, time has been my most precious commodity.
Becoming a mom has forced me to be even more discerning about how and where I invest my time. It’s also forced me to release my controlling ways (work in progress for sure!) and delegate as much and as often as possible.
Any project that I take on, one of the first questions I ask myself is: Is this delegatable?
Let me show you what I mean:
I have a client right now who is SUPER busy. She has so many wonderful things happening in her life and her career. Her “problem” is abundant flow. And though she wouldn’t trade that problem for anything, she does often feel as though she’s flying through the air instead of being grounded in her abundance.
And yet, she often feels too guilty to delegate…
Let’s take cleaning her house for example. My client knows how to clean, so the idea of handing that off to someone feels too selfish or lazy or entitled or all of the above.
In short, she’s concerned about being a delegating diva.
But here’s what we uncovered: NOT delegating is the more diva-like behavior. NOT delegating is selfish, maybe even a little self-absorbed.
Let me explain…
I have someone clean my house every Wednesday because I loathe cleaning! Sure, I know how to do it and I really love a clean house. But I can’t stand doing it. But you know what? My cleaning lady LOVES it. It’s her favorite thing to do. She loves being active, working for herself, and having a flexible schedule. She also gets a ton of satisfaction when her workday is done. So, why would I rob her of the opportunity to make money doing what she loves?
Or, here’s another example.
Yesterday, time just got away from me. Before I knew it, my daughter needed a nap and I needed to go to the grocery store — both things couldn’t actually happen all at once.
So, I begrudgingly ordered groceries online and paid the extra money to have them delivered to the house, judging my diva behavior the whole time, mind you.
I thought, “For real, Dallas? Are you like a bazillionaire who can just pay people to bring you food? Maybe you can get a foot rub while you’re at it!”
Then as I opened the door to let the delivery guy in, his face lit up with recognition and he said, “I know you! You’re Dallas Travers!” You see he’s an actor, so he knew me from my former life as a business coach for actors.
Wow. Light bulb moment for sure…
Part of my mission with my former business was to help actors have a life where they can pursue their dreams. And I realized that by ordering these groceries, I was giving an opportunity to this actor. He has a day job that’s flexible and easy and it pays the bills as he pursues his acting career.
So, by getting over my ego and asking for help, I was giving him a job. How selfish it would have been to rob him of that… Now, who’s the delegating diva?
Okay, so there’s a little perspective shift around why delegation is actually a form of service. Now, I want to help you determine when the timing is right to hand tasks off.
You know it’s time to delegate when:
• You can give someone else the opportunity to do something they love and get paid doing it.
• You’re wondering if it’s time to delegate. Ha!
• You don’t have time to do the bigger (often scarier) tasks that could really move the needle in your business.
So, if you’re reading this and saying, “I’m too busy to delegate,” we have a problem. The truth is that you can continue being this busy, not growing your business because you’re too busy managing it. Or, you can start delegating to grow your business and free yourself to actually have a life.
Now, for the big kahuna — WHAT exactly should you delegate?
Gay Hendricks differentiates between your Zone of Excellence and your Zone of Genius. Your Zone of Excellence is the stuff you do well but it doesn’t feed you. Your Zone of Genius occurs when you’re taking action and time stands still. The further you get into this project the more energized you become. The more you learn about these skills, the more excited you become, it feeds you in every way.
As a coach, you want to be in your Zone of Genius as often as possible.
To the degree that your business can afford it, you should be delegating everything that’s outside of your Zone of Genius.
I’ll be honest, I run a lean-mean-machine. I don’t have a staff of 50 people, I don’t even have a team of four people! There are some things I do in my business that are the zone of excellence and even the zone of ‘just barely passable’. But as the business grows, I seize every opportunity to bring on more geniuses to do what they’re good at.
Let’s say you’re a one-person show and you’re just beginning to think about hiring help. The first place to begin is by looking at those tasks that are the most time consuming but not related to generating income. Bookkeeping, scheduling, filing, and research are four great examples of tasks to begin delegating.
Then, rather than asking yourself, “Can I afford this?” Ask yourself, “Can I afford not to?”
A client of mine realized that by hiring an assistant for just $350.00 per month, she could free up enough time to bring on at least one new client at $1350 per month. That’s $1000 added to her bottom line each month plus more free time to do what she’s good at. The same can be true for you.
So, put your ego aside. Recognize where you might be helping yourself and someone else by delegating and… give it up.
Be sure to let me know your thoughts over in the Coaches on a Mission Facebook group.
