Many advisors start their businesses from scratch, without a support team in place. As a result, says April-Lynn Levitt, coach with the Personal Coach in Oakville, Ont., these advisors get used to doing everything themselves and can be reluctant to give up control once their business expands.
However, by delegating responsibilities to your team members, Levitt says, you can save your time and energy for revenue-generating activities. Delegating tasks also helps to build a sense of confidence and accountability among your support team.
Here are five tips for delegating work around the office:
1. Assess the value of the job
One way to quickly determine whether a responsibility is worth delegating is to ask yourself what’s the monetary value of a particular task.
“Is this a $10-per-hour job? A $20-per-hour job? Or a $200-per-hour job?” Levitt says. “I don’t think a lot of advisors sit down and analyze what they’re doing with their time.”
If it’s a $10-per-hour job, such as mailing out Holiday cards, then it’s likely a good decision to ask someone else to do the work for you.
2. Acquaint clients with your team
If you find yourself deluged with phone calls from clients, perhaps they don’t know that other team members can answer their concerns.
Introduce your clients to your support staff – while also explaining each team member’s area of expertise. Your clients will learn to phone or email the appropriate team members to help with client-service questions, Levitt says.
3. Avoid micromanaging
Nobody wants a boss who hovers over his or her shoulder. You can risk micromanaging other people if you don’t give staff members the time to complete a job without supervision, Levitt says. Trust that your support staff will come to you if a problem arises.
One way to avoid micromanaging is provide an in-depth explanation of the assignment when delegating a task, Levitt says. If your job descriptions are clear, support staff will be less likely to experience confusion.
4. Develop a follow-up system
While you are delegating responsibility, you should ensure projects are proceeding in a timely manner.
Levitt suggests tracking progress via weekly meetings or updating the status of client-service tasks on a contact-management system.
5. Provide feedback
If a delegated task isn’t completed correctly, you may wish to simply transfer the responsibility to your own to-do list, Levitt says. For example, if an assistant makes a mistake while arranging travel for a conference, you might be tempted to book your own flight and hotel the next time.
“This doesn’t help anybody,” Levitt says. “It just makes your support staff feel bad.”
If you take the time to provide feedback, it’s unlikely your support team will make the same mistake again.