How can an owner competently delegate functions?

Author articles Artyom Paderin.

Business consultant. Expert in systematization and regular management

Reading time for the article is 10 minutes.

Delegation is the transfer of tasks and powers to subordinates. If you do not delegate tasks at all or do it incorrectly, the manager will sooner or later be overloaded – he will not have the time and energy to develop the business.

And when working with entrepreneurs, two extremes often arise when delegating:

Complete suspension and release of responsibility

The owner somehow transferred the affairs, chopped up the tasks and left uncontrollably for Bali. A month or three later he meets with the team, in the end the plans were not achieved, the company is at a loss.

Micromanagement and hypercontrol

The owner delegated only in words, but in fact he gets into every crevice, preventing employees from expressing themselves.

An example with a garden bed: a carrot is growing, and the farmer comes up every day and lifts it by the tops to see if it has grown.

And the truth is in the middle. We don’t throw off responsibility, but distribute it while maintaining control over the situation.

Delegation Steps

Function Analysis

In order to delegate functions, you need to see them; if you don’t have them described, we send employees a survey in a Google form with the following fields:

1. Full name and position

2. Write down your main functions (BRIEFLY write down in list form what you do) and indicate how much in hours (from the work week) It takes you to perform each of the functions listed above.

Example: “1. I make and send commercial proposals to clients – 5 hours a week 2. I pay for advertising offices – 5 hours a week 3. I negotiate with contractors – 20 hours 4. I hold meetings with clients a week – 10 hours. Total 40 hours”

A link to the entire survey can be requested at telegram by writing “I want a survey on functions”

Selecting a function

Choosing a function to delegate is an art form of its own. The owners want to transfer everything at once, but unfortunately the payroll (payroll fund) is not flexible enough to hire all employees at once and cover all functions with people.

As a result of a previously completed questionnaire by employees, you now have a list of functions performed in the company by employee. Go through the list and select the most key ones, which for example:

take up a lot of your time and energy
the quality of work suffers
are a key limiter to growth

The last criterion is the most important, because profit depends on it.

For example, maybe now you are sending documents yourself and you want to delegate this, but exactly key function which influences now for profit/growth, maybe setting up traffic or purchasing goods so that there is something to sell without falling into a cash gap.

Description of functions

A function (or action) is NOT something ephemeral and esoteric; we can read it, measure it, see it and transfer it to another employee. For example, in PDF file format.

This could be instructions on “how to order a product, how to set up advertising, or how to choose a supplier.”

Therefore, in order to transfer (delegate), it is best to write down the function, otherwise you will repeat to employees what is required of them like a parrot.

Approximate structure document describing and performing the function:

Prerequisites. Why is this function important to us (this is how we immerse a person in context)
Function Purpose
Perfect result
Steps on how to do it
Regularity of execution
With whom does the performer need to communicate and in what circumstances to perform the function?
Risks/errors that may occur during execution
Successful actions
Screencast/video instructions.

The key point is to provide the employee with resources so that he has everything at hand, he knows what is required of him and how to achieve the result of the function.

There is no point in describing every sneeze, use common sense.

To whom should I describe?

Ideally, it is for the employee himself, since he will perform it, but when the function is new and has not been performed before, it can be described by the owner himself, HR manager or manager with the hands of the employee.

!Write in telegram the phrase “function description”, and I will send an example of the design.

System of key indicators

To evaluate the quality of a function’s performance not by the employee’s feelings and stories, but on the basis of numbers, define a system of key indicators for your control as a manager and employee self-control.

It is not the process that should be evaluated, but function result.

Example process: calling clients.

Example result: 5 contracts with revenue of 500 thousand.

Having a report with key metrics, you will understand whether everything is okay with the delegated area without psychics and fortune-tellers.

To whom to convey

Answer yourself these questions:

Do I have the right people for this function?
Is the employee with soft/hard skills suitable for the job?
Does he have time for a new feature?

If there is no employee on staff, then hire one. The process of delegating functions to current and new employees is practically the same.

Interview (selling an idea)

Interviews must be conducted not only for new employees, but also for current ones. Without this step, there may be sabotage and resistance to the new functionality.

The purpose of the 1-on-1 interview/conversation is to sell the employee on the idea of expanding responsibilities or powers.

Passing a function

You need to pass the function and make sure it is accepted.

Submit the documents from point 3 + all appearances, passwords, contractors and reporting from point 4.

Check with the “receiver” whether everything is enough for him to get the function result.

Regular coordination

In order to keep the situation under control and transfer the function efficiently, it is necessary to build a schedule of regular meetings in order to who passed the function and with that who accepted it.

At first, it is better to meet more often, for example once or twice a week.

Further, when you see that the employee’s qualifications and the quality of performance of functions are growing, you can meet less often.

The purpose of the step: to quickly receive and give feedback to the employee as a mentor, to make sure that the work is being done and the result of the functions is being achieved.

Changing communication lines

At first, out of habit, employees will run to you because you previously performed the function, but you need to show awareness and will to redirect appeals to newperformer of the function.

Tell your employees who will now perform the function, connect employees with each other so that you can exit process execution.

By following these points, you will be able to delegate almost any area and enjoy the fact that it is no longer you who is doing it.