Delegation. That's what you need!

A couple of months ago I had a meeting with a prospective client.  During our meeting, my prospect talked about his “inability to delegate because it takes up too much time.” He said that giving up the things he already knows how to do requires more time and energy than just doing those things himself. He said, “It’s one little thing here and one little thing there, and it’s just faster for me to do it all.” He also said that he knew his beliefs about delegating needed adjusting, so we had a think about we could fix that.  It's a common misconception and one I've heard a few times before.

Anyway, here’s the gist of our chat :

Defining the 'little things'

First I asked him what kinds of 'little things' he was doing. He listed things like scheduling appointments with clients, posting to  Facebook and Twitter, ordering and sending out client gifts, updating his bio on LinkedIn, and sending his monthly newsletter out.

It became apparent that to him, 'little things' really meant “things that were important, but not things that required his genius.” I also understood that his sense of being able to do them quickly (since he already knows how to do them) played a big factor in his thinking that he shouldn’t take the time to delegate.

So we began by focusing on those two things. His beliefs about delegating the two things (that they were important but not his to do) was spot on and made a very good case for delegating. But his additional beliefs that the 'little things' were getting done quickly was proving to be a sticking point.

I said, “A little thing is picking up your pen. What you’re doing is bigger things comprised of lots of little things. And you need to think about seeing the things you’re doing as bigger things worth delegating.”

The real deal is how much time it takes to do 'little things'.

To help him get there, I asked him to start keeping track of how much time he was spending on the 'little things'. We had a follow-up call a couple of weeks later, and he shared with me that his 'little things' had taken him over five hours. He admitted to being astounded.

“I typically do them between other things,or whilst travelling on the train into London. I had no idea I was spending so much time doing this stuff.”

Suddenly, his view of the value of delegating shifted and he was 100% on board, but….

Letting go of control, finding the right VA, and making delegating easier!

“I still think I can do them faster than it would take to teach someone else to do them the way I like them done, and then micro-manage them to make sure it’s right.”

I responded, “What if you didn’t have to micro-manage. What if I could help make the teaching simple and a one-time thing for you?” Now he was interested. So we discussed, first, that micro-managing is a need for control generated from mistrust. I shared that trust needs time to grow in any relationship, and that at first, in a relationship with a Virtual Assistant he may still feel distrustful, but that if he chooses the right VA for him, that feeling would go.

Suddenly, the realisation of how well-fitting the VA he worked with needed to be made perfect sense to him. I said, "Having smart processes in place for the 'little things', whether on video or on paper is the best practice, and to be prepared to devote some time to a VA in the first couple of weeks".  I also suggested that having regular catch-up calls in case any points need clarifying. He was happy with the way the plan was coming together and committed to using my suggestions with someone he believed would be ideal for him and his business so that he could let go of the control he’d always imagined he’d need to retain.

I now enjoy working with him and he enjoys the extra time he gets to spend with his family!