Delegating for women in business

The Key to Delegating for Women in Business

This article, written by expert Katie Guiterrez Miller talks about the importance and “how to” of effective delegating for women in business.

We are all told to delegate, but most people fail in this area. Delegating for women in business can be a challenge. It may not be a miserable, walls come crashing down sort of fail, but a fail nonetheless. Maybe the items you delegated are not coming back the way you want them so you end up spending time revising work you thought you got rid of. Perhaps the person who is supposed to be helping you doesn’t get things done as quickly as you would like or to the level you hoped.

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling twith them while they do it.” –Theodore Roosevelt

Delegation issues are common challenges with busy professionals, and all fixable.

One of the top missteps people make when delegating work to someone is not giving enough information.

I have seen clients ask a virtual assistant to create a template for their email newsletters. They say something like “use green and blue, and make it look clean”. More often than not, a person who makes this request really does have an idea in their mind of how the template should look, and when the template comes back different than that idea, they get frustrated.

So how can you fix this? Be more specific in describing your desired outcome.  

The same client could have said:

Match the blue and green tones that are one my website.

Here are two examples of email templates that look “clean” to me – I like the curved edges and the two column formats. I also like that there is an image for each section and article.

Here is an example of what I do not like and here are the reasons why…”

Next time you delegate, take a few minutes to prepare and then follow these four steps.

  1. Communicate your desired outcome as clearly as possible
  2. Give specific instructions, details, examples or resources the person needs to succeed
  3. Check for understanding from the other person and allow her to ask clarifying questions
  4. If time is an issues, provide your requested due date or ask how much time the person thinks it will take to complete the project

Follow those five steps and chances are the added detail in your request will save you from frustration and revisions in the future. Delegating gets easier with practice, and can become quite addicting!

If you would like to explore what you can and should delegate in your business or if you need help finding the right support professionals, contact Assistant Match at 800-403-5506 or info@assistantmatch.com

ABOUT Katie Gutierrez

The key to delegating for women in business Katie Guiterrez MillerKatie Gutierrez Miller is the President of Assistant Match, a company that matches busy professionals with the right virtual assistant for their business needs. Katie shows professionals how to increase income using remote administrative support. She leads seminars internationally for CEOs and has helped thousands increase their productivity (and sanity) by delegating the right things to the right people, in the most effective way. Assistant Match was recommended on NBC’s Today Show and Katie has been featured in a variety of national media outlets and local publications. For more information, visit www.AssistantMatch.com.

 

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