Are you ready to never do that thing you hate again? Have you finally hired an employee whose existence will be centered around doing all the things you hate doing?
Good for you! Congratulations on getting to this point!
Before you hand off those things you hate, I have a few words of advice. Yes, they are the title. This is my first rule of process improvement. NEVER HAND OFF A MESS. If you have a mess, handing it off will only make it messier. I often come into instances in which entrepreneurs have handed off things to an employee only to be disappointed by the results. They usually blame the employee rather than considering that they may have handed off a mess.
As we get into this, let me respond to your thoughts. You are saying, But I’m hiring this person to do this work. Are you telling me just to keep doing everything myself?
No! I absolutely believe hiring people to do things you don’t like doing is critical for a healthy entrepreneurial life. However, I caution you against the pitfall of believing that once you get that person in there, you can throw whatever mess you want to at him and he will not only catch it, but he will make it glamorous and beautiful with the touch of a finger. No. That is not how process improvement works.
If you want to hand something off, consider the following:
- What is this process supposed to achieve? What is the desired result?
- How do you personally execute the process to achieve the desired result?
- Is there any part of this process that is confusing?
- Is there any part of this process that relies on information you keep stored in your head? Will someone else be able to execute this process without the magical skill of mindreading?
- Is there waste built into this process?
Working through this evaluation of how you do what you do should give you a good sense of whether or not this process is ready to be handed off. If it is a clear, simple, and concise process – good for you! Hand it off. If it is confusing, has waste built in, or if you are not sure of the process because you arrive at the desired result in a different way every time, you are in the market for some process improvement!
When handing something off, you want to set your subordinate up for success. This is not so they can have an ego boost after you’ve done all the hard work. Rather, it’s so that YOU get what you want, which is reliable, predictable results without the need for micromanagement.
Activity: Identify one process that you are desperate to hand off to someone else. Ask the five questions above in regards to this process. Is it ready for hand off? What needs to be cleaned up?