STRESS-FREE WAYS TO DELEGATE AT work & home
Running a household has its ups and downs, so each week we bring you the latest tips and tricks to make your home life easy
Feeling overwhelmed at work, at home, or both? There is a one-word solution – delegate. According to author and Time Stylers CEO Kate Christie (timestylers.com) we mistakenly think it’s easier if we just do it ourselves.
“However, if you continue to do everything yourself you will quickly run out of time for the tasks you are best at, and which you love doing,” she says.
Not sure how to let go? Kate suggests where and how to start. DELEGATING AT HOME ‘Insourcing’ is where you identify all the tasks you perform for the people you live with that they can do for themselves and you don’t have to pay for. Happily, the list of what your family can do for themselves is endless. Family is a team sport! TWO INSOURCING TRAPS TO AVOID: TRAP 1:
The ‘Oh my God, my kids/partner have left their wet towels on the floor again’ trap. And then what do you do? You pick up and hang the towels. You know you do this. Is it any wonder your family don’t pick their towels up for themselves? SOLUTION:
You are breaking two habits here: (i) the habit of your family who are used to leaving their stuff lying around because they know you will pick it up and put it away, and (ii) your habit of picking it up and putting it away. Stay strong. TRAP 2:
The ‘It’s OK. It will only take me five minutes’ trap. No, it will not. The small stuff is actually eating up hours of your life. SOLUTION:
Keep a record for a few days of all the crazy, time-sucking, small-stuff tasks you do that you could insource; record how long you spend on each tasks; and then add it up. For example if you spend 12 minutes each day tidying up after your kids, that’s 73 hours of your time a year.
MAP IT OUT
Remember the mantra: family is a team sport. For those of you who have a partner who is essentially the oldest of your children, I recommend buying a whiteboard. Preposition your partner that ‘the kids’ need to do more around the house. Identify the tasks you will nominate yourself for and then ask your partner to do the same.
Have a family meeting. Give the kids the white board and let them do the writing. This gives them a sense of ownership. It also feels like a game.
Nominate what you are going to do. Throw to your partner, to identify their jobs. Your partner will commit to actually doing jobs around the house. Your kids need to write all of this down.
Next, ask your kids what they are going to do. This is critical. You do not want to tell them what they have to do. Prompt them to suggest as much as possible. Get them to write every task down against their names.
From now on, when you see your family’s stuff lying around, back out of the room and quietly shut the door. Remind your family of what they agreed to do. DELEGATING AT WORK
I have surveyed thousands of professionals and the No. 1 reason people give for not delegating at work is that they feel it is a time-consuming process that more often than not does not render the result they want, which means rework for them.
When you delegate, the aim is for your staff member to deliver a result that is the same, or a better, than if you undertook the task yourself. The key to getting the best result the first time is to give clear and specific instructions upfront. THE BEST WAY TO DELEGATE IS THE SMART METHOD: SELECT:
Select the person for the task. MOTIVATE:
Explain why the task is important (to you, for them, for the company). ACTIVITY:
Explain the details of the task. RESULT:
Explain what a great result will look like. TIMEFRAME:
Set a deadline for delivery.
Smart delegation will increase the prospect of your staff member producing a great result the first time, and minimise the time and cost of rework. DON’T FORGET THE SHARING ECONOMY
Outsource at home and at work the tasks that someone else, an expert, can do faster, better and cheaper than you. This will buy you back time to devote to the tasks you are great at and that you love doing. The sharing economy makes it very simple and time-efficient to find experts online in everything from web design, to logo development, to content writing, to cleaning and gardening.