Leveraging Leadership

Finding Small Opportunities to Delegate and Free Up Time

• Emily Sander • Season 1 • Episode 218

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Emily shares practical delegation tips like breaking up complex tasks such as invoice processing into smaller, easier pieces, moving teammates upstream in a process, and letting others help with basic steps like data collection. She explains how small steps—like making quick guides, recording simple training videos, or copying others on emails—can add up, lighten your load, and help others grow. Emily also stresses that if delegating a task is more trouble than it’s worth right now, it’s okay to wait until the timing makes more sense.


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Who Am I?

If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want. 

 

Time Stamps:

00:41 Breaking Down Invoices for Delegation
03:48 Simplifying Verification Processes
07:30 Delegating Case Management Tasks
10:35 Training and SOP Development
14:44 Finding Small Opportunities for Delegation
16:50 Long-Term Benefits of Delegation
19:44 Conclusion and Final Tips

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If you know you need to delegate more and you might want to delegate more, Emily, I want to delegate more, but I don't know how. How are some tactical and practical ways that I can be doing this or thinking about this? Here are some quick wins for you. Let's say that you have invoices, and invoices are what you are overwhelmed with and being pummeled with every day and more. Invoices come in over and over and over again. You're like, oh my gosh, I can't get out from under this thing. I need to delegate this. But training people and taking the time to explain the nuances and all the different things are like more trouble than they're worth. So I'll just do it type of thing. Okay. Within that, are there certain types of invoices that are more basic or simple? And instead of having a complex, nuanced, crazy branch logic, if this, then that, if this, then that sequence. What if it has a one, two step? These types of invoices have one. Two, you're done. Now, let's say these basic types of invoices represent 25% of all the invoices you have. Would it be a good idea to take the time to either document in a quick step-by-step guide, maybe take some screenshots, maybe do a Loom video, maybe take half an hour to literally walk someone through. The first one live and answer any questions. Would that be worth it? Would that be more trouble than it's worth or less trouble than it's worth? Would that be worth it to take that amount of time? Okay. Yes, Emily. That that would be a lot easier. That's like a basic easy one, but it's only 25%. Is 25% greater or less than zero? Like, like, so you have to chunk these things up. Sorry to make that overly dramatic and my voice just squeaked there. But, um, you wanna chunk these things up. It might not be. It might not be a good answer right now to take the most complex type of invoice that does take, all right, I just have to sit down and this one takes me like four hours just to sit down and do it with all my institutional knowledge, with all my, I take that for granted with all my, I just see it and know it. It might not make sense to try to delegate that right now, but just saying I can't delegate any invoices. Is usually too monolithic of a thinking or of an answer. So in this example, the, the point of all this is to try to break down. Invoices and invoices is representative and symbolic here of anything you might have, right? So it, whatever you take as, oh my gosh, this big, huge thing that overwhelms me. I can't move it. It's a rock. I can't move, can I tap, tap, tap, you know, clink, clink, clink. Kind of break that rock apart into different segments and say, actually this chunk over here, while not the entire boulder, while not the entire cliff face would help. It would start to get this other person or other team familiar with invoices or whatever it is in general, that might be a good step to look at. So look for those opportunities. Second one would be here, oh, Emily, everyone is saying automate these processes and AI and automate this and streamline it, and all these things. And it's like, but it's like there's seven different manual things in here. And to overhaul that would. Would, would be great. I'm all in favor of that in theory, but in practice right now, we just don't have capacity to do that. Okay. So let's say right now, um, the. There's a process where I have a spreadsheet and we're in Google Sheets, let's say, and I check a certain box and that signals to another person to their to do their part of the process. Okay. Let's say it's a, I'm just gonna call this a verification process. This is symbolic again, or whatever you want it to be, but there's a multi-step process your piece. Involves checking a box in a Google sheet, and then that alerts the next person to do their part of the verification process. All right, delegation. While we can't automate this entire thing right now, there still has to be these seven steps. Can you move the person who is taking the handoff from you upstream? Can you move them upstream or sooner in the process? Can they take over your step? Well, Emily? No. I checked the box and they do it. Yeah, that's what happens now. Got it. Great. Can you move them upstream? Well, well, okay. I get alerted about the verification. I get alerted about my verification in this system and they don't have access to the system. Okay. Can they get access to the system? Well, yeah, I guess we could add them as a user. All right. Is there like additional cost to that? Is it? No, it's free. We have unlimited users. Okay. All right. So you can get the access to the system. Great. But Emily, they don't, they, they might not know what to look for in the system. Like, I'm a, I know what to look for. Okay. How complex of a process is it for you to look for the different triggers that lets you know that this part of the verification is ready to go? Well, okay. There's really four things I look for. Okay. Are those four things simple enough to explain and are those worth your while or is it more trouble than it's worth? And if it is, then this might might not be a good candidate to delegate that part of the process. But if it's like, no, no, no, I can make a checklist. You kind of have to know like what tabs to go to and what buttons to push. But it's, it's fairly straightforward. There's not a lot of. D deciding or discernment or judgment call or wishy-washy or, I just know this from, you know, years and years and years of doing this process. I know what to look for. It's four basic things. Okay? So could you not make a Google Doc or again, take a make, make a loom video or take someone through it once or twice and go, here are the four things to look at. Okay, so I can give this person access, I can train them on the four things. Then I'm out of that verification process. I've just delegated that off. Alright, cool. So again, haven't automated the whole thing. These might be baby steps. These are tactical and practical things, but just little nudges here and there. So now if you're one person and you've got the 25% of invoices off your plate and you don't even have to think about the verification stuff anymore, it just goes without you. And by the way, other people are getting to step up and help. That's, that's adding up right? These little tiny nudges, these little tiny slices, these little tiny pieces of each of these pies do add up and just kind of take mental bandwidth, mental stress off of you and open up mental bandwidth. Okay, so those are two examples so far. Okay, let's take a third example. Let's call this, um, like a case comes in and again, like invoices, verification, process, case are, are all just take, take that in your world and translate it. But okay, these, these cases come in and you have to work the case and kind of open it up and figure out like, this person is doing this and this person's requesting this, and there's this component, there's that component and there's all the different factors and variables you have to look at to work the case and close the case. Okay, you've been trying to get out from under cases. It's like, oh my gosh, these things kind of come in spurts. When it rains, it pours. There might be a pause in it, but then I'm pulled into other things and then more cases come in. Um, let's say I have, I have these three people that have been identified. People who can help me with this. So other resources from other teams who are like, Hey, you can have this resource or a, you know, partial bandwidth of this resource to help you with the cases to help you with the caseload. And you've been trying to like, make step-by-step guides and you've been trying to like, get them up to speed on stuff, but you just haven't had the proper time to do the training or build the material or assets they would need to be properly trained. And Oh my gosh. Okay. Yesterday, Emily, it's, it's overwhelming. I got like. Eight cases, and they're huge, gnarly, complex ones that I can't easily hand off. Like they would have no idea what's happening. Like I'm overwhelmed. Okay? In this case, ha ha ha, no pun intended. Um, in this scenario, you could say, all right, while this is overwhelming, is there any part of this case that they can help me with? If the answer is like they can't do the overall case, Emily, it's way too complex. I get that. Are there any initial pieces they could help you with? For example, data collection, you might need different data pieces to sort out what you need to do to close the case. So if it's like, oh, well, I mean they can go pull the data, is that a step That would be. Helpful in the sense that it's not your time, it's their time. Yes. Technically. Okay, go tell them to pull the data. You don't need to know what this data means. You might, you might have a sense of what it means, or you might just be like, I'm going to this system. I'm logging in, I'm pulling this. Data report and I'm sending that in email. Cool. If that's not you doing it and it's them, it saves a little bit of time. And they also get used to the fact that sometimes you have to pull different data sources. They might not know what it means yet, but you will tell them as you go along. So if there's any little bit of that where it's like, Hey, I need this, this, and this and this, and they're like, okay, I know what those things are. I don't know why I'm doing that. I don't know how they fit in the big picture for this particular case, but I can easily go pull that report for you and just compile the data, throw it in this folder, attach it to the case in our CRM or whatever tool we use. Um, just send that to me in email, Whatever you want that to be, just have them do that part of it. Okay. Then in these eight cases, it might be. I don't have time to train them before the cases need to be closed. Therefore, I'm going to copy them on everything I'm doing with these cases so they can see and hopefully they can pick up on what's happening and we have to go to, uh, this vendor for this part of it, come back, then package this up and say this over here to this client, and then package it up and then go over here and say it to our internal teams. And then we're able to move this case to a different status. And then once we move it across this. If this part of the, the caseload, then we can close it. Basically, whatever workflow you have, and it might be different for these different cases, um, but copying them on everything might be the first part of delegating cases in general as a whole. Cases as a whole to another person. If you are gonna do something like this where you're like, I'm gonna copy you on everything. I would tell them, Hey, like eight cases came in, I'm going to copy you on all of my communication to the various parties and the various steps. You can see one, give them a heads up, you're doing that. Two, Tell them what you want them to do with that, if you want them to just watch it as it goes through. Cool. I would make it a little more sticky than that if you can. I would say, um. I've been trying to make SOPs. For cases for you guys. I haven't had the time. I'm so sorry. Here's the very rough outline that I have so far. It's like a straw man outline. As you go through these cases, as you see the steps that are, that I'm going through that you're CC'd on. Can you please build the best draft you can for the SOP? I know it might not be perfect, and I know that you might not understand quite what's happening, but if you can do your best to put in these steps and to fill out this outline for this SOPI have, that would be great. And then we can look at that together after these cases are done and when. I have a second to breathe. That gives them something sticky. Like, oh, I have to like process this information. I have to pay attention to what's happening here.'cause I have to put it in a SOP. It's not going anywhere. It's not doing anything yet. It is totally just a draft and Emily's gonna go through it with me afterward. But it gives them some skin in the game, so to speak. So you're having them do something and then hey. If they get it right or even half, right, where it's like, oh my gosh, like this part is not accurate at all. Let me explain why, which is helpful to them. Then they can update. The draft, but if they get like 75% of it, right, where it's like, oh my gosh, like, yep, spot on. Like I would change this word here. I would put this one above that one, or in front of that one. There's kind of like A, a step seven A and BI would add that, but you didn't know that. Good job on the seven A at least. Then you have 75% of the SOP written and you didn't have to do that. Where your initial problem was. I'm trying to get, I like, I, I need time to build the training material. I understand that, but I just haven't had time. Well, inherent in this now you have at least more of the SOP than you did before and sometimes. The 75% of the SOP is again, better than nothing or better than a bare bones outline. And if it's like, Hey, we have an intranet, and that's good enough to go like that gives people the bulk of what they need to do with these cases. You might put that on the intranet as like V one or beta or whatever you wanna call it, but it's better than nothing. And then as you or your team members. Get more caseloads in, maybe it's on them to fill out the rest of that. SOP send you the link. You need to scan it and look at it and say like, there's no egregious errors on this thing, but you get the ball rolling. So those are just three examples of delegating where it's not boiling the ocean, it's not, we're gonna rip out this entire process and automate it with AI'cause. While that's great and you, you should try to work towards that overall, in a lot of cases, streamlining, automating, overhauling, all these things, I totally get that. Sometimes you just can't do that. It's like, that's great, but in reality, we're slammed. Everyone's over capacity. We're trying to tread water here. We don't have time for that. If you, if you're in that situation, I would look for these little nudges. These little tiny slices, these little tiny things that you can put in place relatively easily, relatively quickly that add up where it's like, okay, I have a little bit of slack right now. I have, I have a little bit more breathing room. Not a lot, but a little bit more breathing room. We're using the manual process, that's fine, but we're putting these little pieces together that add up. So you take the SOP and case case example. All right. If you like, outta the three people, right? Let's say two of them are kind of like, yeah, we kinda get it, but we're gonna need to see some more. Totally fair, totally fine. Um, but one is like, Hey, I reverse engineered what you did from you CCing me. I know how to do this case. Now. They're like, whoa, okay. You did this SOPL by yourself. It's spot on. You did some other internal research. You added steps that I didn't think about. You added contingency plans that I wouldn't have thought of. Okay, like you are off to the races. I'm gonna give you more case stuff. I'm just gonna CC you on everything and then you're gonna take over this and train the other two. So you might get a, you might get a opportunity like that where it's like, oh, alright, we have a winner here. Let's just give you stuff and let you run and I'm just gonna back away slowly type of thing. Or I'm gonna CC you or forward you these things, um, over here. Okay, so little nudges here and there. Look for pockets, look for opportunities. And do look for them. Don't go, no, I just have to take that on. I just do invoices. No, the verification is like it is, we can't do anything with it. It's set in stone or, oh my gosh, I'm just gonna continue to get overwhelmed and, and. Burnt out by any cases that come in. When they come in all at once. I just, I know I'm gonna get pummeled that week and I'm gonna get no sleep and be worse for myself and my team. Like put little stop gaps in place for yourself. There are usually multiple areas you can do this in. Even when you're like, Emily, there's no way, there's no way I can do this. I, I'm just stuck in whatever I have. Mm. I would go through what you have and look for little opportunities like this delegation. A good skill to get good at. It also helps you get promoted. It also helps you lift out of stuff that you're doing. Now, a lot of people know that delegation is a pathway to becoming a more senior leader, which is absolutely true. And so getting good at this and finding ways to do this in effective ways is a good thing to pay attention to and to work on and to practice, and hopefully in all these examples. I tried to mention that if it doesn't make sense to delegate, then don't. A lot of people try to force delegation like I have to force myself to do this. If it's literally more trouble than it's worth right now, then don't do it. Pick something else. The right now, part of that could change six weeks from now. Six months from that from now. Ask yourself again. Is it more trouble than it's worth right now? Well, no, not right now. Emily. We finished that big product launch and now that's done, like that's out there. I don't have to watch it every day. I don't have to figure out if we have to do a hot fix or you know, do a rollback or whatever. I can breathe. Now I have time to do the, the first five SOPs for cases. Now I have time to gather folks every week and take them through a more complex invoice. So the. Is it more trouble than it's worth right now? That right now could change? Is it more trouble than it's worth? Could change just inherently by itself. So it could be, look, it's trouble. Like, don't get me wrong, this is gonna be a pain in the butt. There's always gonna be the initial to get it out there into the world. But is that worthwhile long term? If the answer is yes, and the answer is you just gotta buckle up and do it, and then it's done. Then they're on their way and then other people can start doing it. And you are the, you're the catalyst, you are the unlock for that piece. Sometimes it is worth it to just do it and you've gotta clear your decks for, maybe it's a. A focus period of time for a week, for two weeks, I am going to show the team live how to do stuff. I am going to make some videos. They have a video database. I'm going to allow them to do it and reverse shadow. I'm going to take the one or two weeks to do that with the expectation that after this one or two weeks is over, you can take on the majority of these invoices, uh, cases, whatever it is, not all of them. There's gonna be exceptions. I'm here if you need me, but for the bulk of bulk of these, after the two weeks, it's gonna be your primary responsibility and I will be here for exceptions or totally weird ones where you would have no reason to know how to do that one. That's fine. I'll, I'll help you with that type of, type of one. Okay, so take these three examples and there's many more like them, but take the the gist or the spirit or the sentiment of these examples and apply them to become a more effective delegator. And if you have a teammate. Or a direct report who you're trying to help be a better delegator so they can lift out of stuff and they can be more strategic, then you can look for some of these things in their workload as well. Alright, but hopefully those were helpful and I'll catch you next week on leveraging Leadership.