If you’re anything like me and many other entrepreneurs I know, you’re always on the hunt for ways to maximize your productivity and fulfillment. I love making the most of the time I spend working so that I can dedicate my free time to what matters most to me. And my very favorite way to increase productivity is knowing my zone of genius and then delegating the rest. Delegation is all about maximizing the use of your skills and paying someone else to take care of anything that doesn’t require your level of expertise.
What is your zone of genius? It’s the work you do that doesn’t feel like work. Have you ever finished a complex project and felt energized by it, not exhausted? Each of us have strengths and weaknesses, and being aware of where we excel and where we don’t allows us to make the best decisions about how to prioritize time and where to delegate.
But delegation doesn’t come naturally to many entrepreneurs, and figuring out what to delegate can be even more difficult. Even business leaders who have been delegating for years may not have figured out the best way to delegate for their particular skillset yet. That’s why I recommend every CEO take a skills inventory. How do you do it? It’s simple.
1. Create a list of your strengths and weaknesses
Start by listing out your skills and strengths. This might take a while, so I recommend keeping a note in your phone that you can add to when you think of them, but it can also be beneficial to simply dedicate 15 minutes to identifying your skills and writing them down. As you create this list, make sure to include not just what you’re good at, but also what you enjoy. You might place a star next to the skills you excel at most, or place them at the top.
At the same time, create a list of your weaknesses, things that tend to give you trouble or interfere with your work. Include in this list things that you dislike, even if you’re okay at them.
Identifying strengths and weaknesses isn’t always easy to do on your own, so consult with the people who know you best and those you trust to be honest with you. That might be friends and family members, but also those you work with—they see a different side of you and are more likely to be able to give helpful feedback about your working style, leadership abilities, and other aptitudes, as well as areas where you don’t excel.
2. Log your tasks for a week
Next, spend about a week logging everything you do during the day. I’m not going to lie—this is a bit of a pain, but the results are well worth it. Start with writing down the steps of your morning routine, not as you idealize it, but as you actually practice it. Then, how do you begin work? If you begin by writing out your to-do list but get distracted by a notification on your phone and spend 30 minutes answering emails, write that down too. Record every task you do, including interruptions, and how long those tasks take you. If you find this difficult, you can set a timer to go off every 15 minutes, and write down what you’re doing when it does.
After a week, you’ll have a strong picture of the tasks that take up the majority of your time. This is a highly valuable tool—not only can it help you with delegation, but it can also help you identify other inefficiencies in your workday and find ways to eliminate distractions or interruptions.
3. Use spreadsheet to evaluate tasks
Next, you can group tasks in whatever way makes sense to you and list them in a spreadsheet. Then, add columns for every task and answer the following questions:
- Is this something you’re world-class at or that only you can do?
- Could someone else do it better?
- Do you enjoy it?
- Does the task contribute to your goals or the purpose of your business?
The answers to these questions will help you determine whether a task is worth your time, or whether it can be delegated or even eliminated.
For example, I make videos for social media, and while only I can be the one to sit down and record the video, I can have someone else post it, create the thumbnail, and edit the video. Even though I’m capable of those tasks, they are not the highest use of my skillset, so it’s better for me to pay someone else to handle them.
4. Delegate (and eliminate)
When it comes to delegating, the goal is to create a working schedule where you’re able to focus on the tasks you excel at and enjoy. Use your answers in the spreadsheet you created to determine which tasks are wasting time you could be using to improve and grow your business, further your goals, or spend time doing other things you enjoy outside of work. Then find a way to delegate them.
So how do you go about delegating tasks once you’ve identified which ones you want to remove from your plate? Well, if you don’t already have an executive assistant, it’s time to hire one. An assistant can help you manage your schedule, respond to emails and phone calls, and do many simpler tasks that end up creating busy work for you. For tasks that require more specialized skill, you can evaluate whether someone on your team can handle them, or whether it would be best to hire specialized talent, either as an employee or by contracting the work out.
Mastering delegation may take a long time, but it’s one of the most powerful skills you can learn as an entrepreneur, and it will help you accelerate your path toward your goals by freeing up time to work on the things that matter to you most.
