Today we delve into delegation through a real-life case study. This tale began when one of my clients was going to be unreachable for a few days and needed her assistant to handle last-minute registrations. Typically there are a lot of last-minute questions and they wanted to make sure they had a plan to seamlessly address these if/when the business owner was unavailable.
They met a few days ahead of time, brainstormed different scenarios that could come up, discussed guardrails so the assistant could still make decisions, and overall did everything they could think of to make sure they were on the same page.
My client and her assistant had been working together for ages – after years of seamless collaboration, they were no strangers to delegation. They had covered all their bases. They were prepared.
Or so they thought…
Then, the website glitched.
The assistant didn’t have the correct access level to log in and fix the glitch, nor did they have the contact information for the webmaster.
The assistant scrambled trying to figure it out. Tons of stress. Tons of wasted time and energy. Tons of lost revenue.
All because of a missing password.
What’s ironic about this story, is that both my client and her assistant were going to be beta readers of the Delegate Like a Pro Workbook and just hadn’t had a chance to read the content yet.
If they had, they may have realized the importance of sharing the passwords.
Here’s an excerpt:
PROVIDE Authority and Resources
It’s frustrating when you’re tasked with a new responsibility only to find you lack the essential tools to complete it successfully. To prevent this, consider what the person you’re delegating to will require. Think about the access they might need: passwords, login details, keys, or even recognition from others acknowledging their delegated authority.
Do they have the necessary documentation, knowledge base or FAQs? This might include existing processes. (We’ll cover how to make processes in the TOOLS section later in this module.)
Or maybe they need clear guidelines for decision-making, such as spending limits or specific boundaries.
As you work through this step gather all the elements they’ll require to succeed and note them on your PREP Action Guide.
Delegating, as we know, can be a complex dance. But when you have a step-by-step process to follow it becomes much easier. You don’t need to worry about forgetting to give someone a password, or accidentally micromanaging your team when you’re just trying to be supportive, or struggling to figure out what to delegate next.
Just follow the Delegate Like a Pro steps.
They work.
I promise.
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