Navigating the Challenges of Effective Task Assignment

Harness the transformative power of delegation and propel your business to new heights with guidance from Valerie, the mastermind behind "Delegation Nation," on our energizing Elevate Media Podcast. As we navigate the subtle intricacies of assigning tasks, Valerie, with her distinguished background as an executive assistant, unveils the hurdles that stymie growth and how to sidestep them. Her seasoned perspective illuminates the delicate equilibrium between giving too much direction and not enough, ensuring that your communication fosters rather than hinders progress. This episode is a treasure trove for entrepreneurs eager to learn the alchemy of team building and task management to not just survive, but thrive in the competitive business landscape.

We also examine the nuts and bolts of managing project systems and striking that sweet spot with virtual assistant fits. The conversation shifts to practical tools like time trackers and SOPs, which are game changers for maintaining oversight and fluidity in task adjustments. Plus, we unpack the gritty realities of hiring decisions, including the tough calls to part ways with team members, and how a precise diagnosis of performance issues can save you from premature judgments. Experience a candid discussion on managing expectations and be prepared to discover the astonishing levels of dedication that can emerge within your team - sometimes even outshining your own. Get ready for a session brimming with insights that will reshape your entrepreneurial journey with a sharpened focus on delegation and team dynamics.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Elevate Media Podcast with your host, Chris Anderson. In this show, Chris and his guests will share their knowledge and experience on how to go from zero to successful entrepreneur. They have built their businesses from scratch and are now ready to give back to those who are just starting. Let's get ready to learn, grow and elevate our businesses. And now your host, Chris Anderson.

Speaker 2: 0:24

Welcome back to another recording of the Elevate Media Podcast. I am Chris Anderson, your host, and today we're going to dive into an important topic for entrepreneurs, especially if you're a little past the very beginning and you're looking to expand and scale in your business, and that is the topic of delegation. And this is something we can't gloss over or forget about, because you cannot scale, you cannot get to those new heights, those next levels, without delegating, without building a team, and so we brought on an expert she's the author of Delegation Nation and we're going to dive into this topic, valerie, welcome to the Elevate Media Podcast today.

Speaker 3: 1:03

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Chris. I'm excited to chat.

Speaker 2: 1:06

Yeah, absolutely Excited to have you here. Thank you so much again for taking time out to be here. You know delegation Great topic, Important topic for entrepreneurs. But what got you so passionate about this topic of delegation?

Speaker 3: 1:24

So I started my career as an executive assistant and a chief of staff. So I was used to being delegated to although I wasn't thinking about it, of course, in that framework, right, oftentimes as entrepreneurs, right, like that idea, you know, you don't see all of the clarity, right, like you know, hindsight is totally different. But I started being delegated to. I could see the efficiencies of the way that people were delegating to me. That worked. There were things that really didn't work, lots of things that didn't work, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:59

So, there's a lot of kind of oh, I would do it different if I was on. You know the other side but there was also a lot of wow, this is extremely efficient and this works really well. So I feel like the combination of those. And then when I started Chatterboss, it was inspired from those experiences and I then had an opportunity for the last seven years to observe entrepreneurs and assistants how their delegation works together. So, of course, my, when I speak on the topic of delegation, it's really grounded in the observations and the research and like what I'm seeing is working and you know, inside of those relationships. But I think it's like the best training ground to think about delegation between entrepreneurs and assistants, because it's such a vague role a lot of the times right, so you're having to do so much with often a kind of like missing communication, and so that's where you know I kind of I get my inspiration and I get my research and I get my ideas for how to improve this in the future.

Speaker 2: 3:12

Yeah, and it is. It's such a you know it's a puzzle, right, delegating Even. You know, when you start delegating that first person, it's a whole new, new ballgame and a new world to kind of navigate. What were some things that you learned along the way that maybe you didn't do correctly? And if someone's starting out you'd be like, hey well, avoid this, watch out, don't do it this way, like I did.

Speaker 3: 3:35

I fell into so many things that I didn't do correctly I didn't do. I did everything incorrectly when I started, and so I learned a lot from that. And one example that I mentioned in the book, which is like this is a small example, right, this is something you know we've all been through, but it's it really dives into the topic of, like, how communication is so important inside of delegations. And so I once my boss had in it, you know I worked for high networked individuals and A-list celebrities. I mean, little details were extremely important.

Speaker 3: 4:16

You sending somebody to the wrong location was a huge deal because of everything that was arranged in order to, you know, kind of ensure you know all of the details are running and everything like that. And so I once had we had a driver for the principle that I was supporting and you know I gave an address and he said, great, I got it Like I'm taking them there now and ended up in a different borough. This address was the same in two different boroughs and I, as a new beginner assistant, I didn't think to give you know, like the borough and the zip code, and so you know. And then you know. So I used to get a lot of phone calls like Valerie, where am I?

Speaker 2: 5:06

Yeah, communication is so important. You know, as you delegate and it's like in our mind, as people running the show or running the organization or running the project, we know the details and we're like we. You know we do the mistake right of assuming, and we all know what assuming does, and we have to remember to portray or get those points or those facts across clearly. So you know, besides going to the wrong borough, the wrong location, you know what other things can happen if you're delegating but don't communicate all of the information or not clear enough for those who are taking over the task.

Speaker 3: 5:49

You can get up, especially, I would say, you know, like in the executive assistant realm. But because I say that, I believe that it's the most complex, You're not working, for example, with a bookkeeper that has like a limitation of like 20, 30, 40 things that they're gonna do for you. This is like anything could happen. So poor communication, and I would define that as either way too much, Like I just gave you way too much information. I've now overwhelmed you. You don't even know where to start and what's my objective. So I mentioned this example of, like Goldilocks. You really wanna be like in this, like perfect spot, and too much is too much and then too little is too little, being completely hands off, laissez faire, do whatever you want. And you know, today I had a conversation with a client that said look, this is not what I wanted. They gave a task and the task was very open-ended and the assistant solved it in the best way possible and for them it ended up.

Speaker 3: 6:57

For example, there was like filter creation and there's two schools of thought. One is create many filters, Another one create one. But do it in this way. He's like why do I have all these filters? I'm like did you ever check in with yours, you know, did you have a conversation? Did you talk about how it's going to be done? Did you check in? And that's not to say like micromanage every step. You're working with professionals and a chatterbox. You're working with real professionals that are gonna be able to, you know, guide you. But a lot of the times, if you're giving off this, you know, I don't care how it's done, just get it done. Be prepared that the person's gonna can take a completely different route than you would have. And that's the responsibility still on you, right?

Speaker 2: 7:44

Yeah, and that's a great point. It like, like you said, go really likes that middle ground, like that you know perfect setting. So how can we go about you know someone's starting to get into the delegation? How can they go about getting that perfect kind of recipe of communication?

Speaker 3: 7:59

They're not gonna get the perfect recipe of communication. They're starting out because they're just starting out. It's just like if you're gonna run a marathon, you're not gonna run. Whatever is your goal right, like an eight minute mile or seven minute mile, you're just not gonna do that the first time you go out for a run. So the very first thing that you wanna acknowledge is that it's not gonna be perfect. It's gonna be sloppy, there's gonna be mistakes. I'm working with other people, and there are definitely, though, ways to make it easier right, there are.

Speaker 3: 8:29

So that's what I write about in delegation nation, which is not necessarily like how to make it perfect from the start, but how to minimize the amount of issues that you're gonna have, the amount of miscommunication, and like where you can learn like best practices for delegation.

Speaker 3: 8:46

One thing is, you know, start with one or two very clear and measurable things that you are comfortable overseeing and, again, not micromanaging, watching every step. You know, standing behind someone's shoulder or their virtual shoulder, right, what are you doing? But you know, knowing that, I at least know what I want my end results to be, and I have a vague idea of how I would like it done, because not all projects that we delegate, we can say that there are projects that we delegate that are completely out of our areas of competency. Those are not good ones to delegate first, because if someone does it in a way that doesn't feel comfortable for you, you're never gonna be able to articulate it off the bat. So you wanna do something in control that you can monitor and then grow from there layer on your delegation.

Speaker 2: 9:41

Yeah, I think that's a very great point is starting with smaller things, monitoring it, almost kind of like having milestones that the individual can hit, that you can like keep progress tracking to make sure that they're understanding what you gave them as guidelines and then be able to tweak that along the way until and it is it's like growing pains when you bring someone on it's. I mean there's gonna be hit and miss and miscommunication and things that you're gonna have to, you know, circle back around. Fix until you get that. Right Now do you have people? Do you guide people into creating like SOPs or anything like that? So if they bring someone new on, it kind of lowers or shortens that onboarding process.

Speaker 3: 10:25

Lots of new entrepreneurs and I love that you bring up SOPs, because especially entrepreneurs that are earlier on in their journey find no value in standard operating procedures. They believe that SOPs are, you know, something for me later down the line, or something for a larger organization. Some of the pushback that I've heard for, you know, spending time and resources on standard operating procedures has been that you know, by the time I finish making it, everything's gonna change. I'm in a startup. It's just really not wise. Starting to have, as SOPs are only cumbersome, when we are like three or four years in we don't have a single SOP and now we're documenting everything from scratch. You now have a year-long project, which is true, by the time you finish it's outdated. But when you're doing SOPs in real time and you are making sure that you're updating them along the way, that is the key to ensuring that you have continuity, that there's safety in your relationships, you know, with the contractors and the people that you work with. So, as an example, with us, our systems, by the virtue of working with your Chatterboss assistant. They will always create SOPs for anything that's recurring and inside of our platform, you will see all of your SOPs for any recurring task or project. I also like to say when you're working. So one is like it's amazing to have SOPs and you need them, so don't delay.

Speaker 3: 12:01

Two is that you, as a founder and entrepreneur, you may not be somebody that can make SOPs. We are entrepreneurs, are very often times scattered. They have a hard time with these stuff. If you haven't done it before, you're unlikely to do it in the future, so get someone you know to support you. And then number three when it comes to SOPs is that especially, let's say, you have your team members creating SOPs for you. It's not a one way street where someone creates an SOP and you forget about it until you needed it a year later. And now you can't figure it out. Your SOP is a contract between you and the person completing the work. So they are telling you this is how I'm doing this process and it's your responsibility to look at it and say I'm happy with the way that you're doing this process.

Speaker 2: 12:53

Yeah, and I think it just again just puts that layer of clarity even more in the process. So having the SOPs are good, but when you bring someone on besides SOPs, is there any other way that benefits the process, like training, or what does that look like? When you bring someone on new to delegate tasks to beside the SOPs, are there other things that can improve the situation?

Speaker 3: 13:22

Yeah, so a few things that we follow. We believe a chatterbox in lots of transparency, that in today's remote world, especially if you are not so one, you're remote number two, you're working with people for fractions of a time, so you're not necessarily working 10, 20, 30, 40 hours, right, you are like. That can change, and when they're working changes as well. So what you want to look at is like transparency in all of your systems is a way to try to bring back some of that essence. When we were working in person, because I could walk by you and I could see they were there and I can ask you a question. And right now, in a remote setting, it's not the same.

Speaker 3: 14:10

So one thing is having good project management systems. So for us, inside of our portal, we have our project management system. You can see what your assistant is doing, when they're doing it right, and again then you have your SOPs who see how they're doing certain things. We also, for example, have our time tracker inside of there. The time tracker is not one of those things that's like I'm going to monitor your whole screen and do like watch again, I'm going to stand over your virtual shoulder. It's not like that. It's the assistant toggling to show when they're doing which tasks or what tasks or project for you. You have a semblance to understand. Do I value you spending three hours doing this right? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Now it creates two-way communication. I can actually be like you know what. Let's dial this back, or actually we don't need four hours a week on this. So as much transparency. So project management systems, any kind of like Communication about how calendar and like time tracking is managed. We've seen that go a long way.

Speaker 2: 15:17

Hmm, yeah, I think that's a really cool cool way to do it To just manage again metrics and understanding what's happening where the time is being allotted. Now, sometimes you bring people on and they're just not a good fit, right? So what is the best way to go about? Let me somebody go firing them because they're not a fit for the organization doesn't mean they're bad, just not a fit for your organization.

Speaker 3: 15:43

So you want to distinguish, you know they're not bad and it's time to let them go. There is something that needs to be done in between that, before you make the decision because we also see lots of entrepreneurs doing frequently is like they're not bad, I'm not getting what I need done, so the next logical step is to let the person go, which may be one of the things that you may need to do is to let them go, but it may be, depending on the source of the problem, that you're just going to end up in the same position again. So that's what you really want to evaluate. What you mean by something isn't working. Now, is it that they didn't have the right experience? Okay, so how did they even get on your team with the wrong experience?

Speaker 3: 16:34

I have to, as an entrepreneur, take a look at like what was my filtering and screening process right, or did my requirements change? I wanted this, but in the middle I Changed my mind, and the person that I have is excellent for what I originally wanted, but not for this new thing that came into my entrepreneur brain five seconds ago, and now I want something different. Are my expectations realistic right of any person that has those qualifications. So we go a lot into expectation setting in the book, but I've seen these scenarios play out so many times and then the extra, like final layer is You're not even looking at, like, how the person is performing. You're looking at your communication and some things that are working in your communication and then again, is that happening because the person's a poor communicator? Are you a poor communicator, right? Very important for me to always find where something is breaking and if this is not the right fit, very well, let's make a change, but be very clear that you're not going to step into the same mind field again.

Speaker 2: 17:47

And I think it goes back to that you mentioned earlier the transparency and that communication. Because if there is something that you're feeling like, okay, they're not a good fit, they might be from the same thing, but what's that reason? You know, maybe it's just there's not communication or a properly laid out Structure of what they're supposed to do. So there's, you know, whatever that is. So trying to fix that. So you're not the same. But, like you mentioned, is huge.

Speaker 2: 18:07

And you know Another thing you said right there that is important to remember when you're bringing people on. Like you can't expect them to care and work as hard as you do in your business, because it's not their business. Like they can be bought into the values and you know where it's going to go and the excitement, but still you as a CEO and founder has a whole different skin in the game or a viewpoint or work ethic or level of that than they do. So to expect them to put the in the hours that you did or are isn't necessarily a viable option, right? I think I heard Gary Vee talk about that all the time. Like you can't expect them to have the same commitment that you do to your business.

Speaker 3: 18:53

I love that and I know that Gary Vee says that and I have a thought on it, which is that's a lot about expectations and what I found actually is that I have been so surprised to find people in my business that care so much, so much more, about certain things Like. I'll give you an example Arch Nemesis inside of my business has anything to do with numbers. Right, I ignore it. I ignore my finance team, sometimes like for like 48 hours because I don't want to deal with it. They care like, if you look at it, they care like I'm the founder right, like they're bringing me like something to solve that needs to be solved and I'm having a stopper. So, if you monitor this interaction, they care like. They're behaving like they care way more than me because I'm having this like existential crisis about all being something or like not using cognitive abilities in that direction. So I think that there is a when you find people with the right competencies, with the right interests, that really want to join your team, I think that you're not going to find such a big like. The issue is not the gap in like motivation or how hard people work. People work hard A lot of the times. Well, they want to serve, if they believe in your bigger mission and your vision, but also for themselves, right, like they might not own the business but they're trying to hit a certain KPI, they're trying to prove something to themselves.

Speaker 3: 20:22

But I think it's more like where the expectation setting like how I kind of like perceive some of what he's sharing is like, what do you find as like, what do you believe is like good enough for projects, or like things that you've delegated, because it's not that they care less, it's just that they're going to do it different. And some things you're stronger and some things you're weaker, and at the things that you're the master. So, in your as an entrepreneur, let's say, you're the best at marketing, right, and you started your business because your strongest competency is marketing and that's why people pay you money. And now you brought in an assistant that's helping you on the marketing side. Now, probably there you're just going to have a competency gap because you have an assistant that's a generalist and you're a highly specialized person. So then what's going to be good enough? 60%, like I've heard him say, right, like 60% for, and like choose that number, but you know, depends.

Speaker 2: 21:22

So you're saying Gary V's wrong? No, just kidding. No, I love the statement. I do like that a lot because it is. It's true, like as a whole, we might have a different level of how we see the business as a CEO and founder, but I think individually, like you said, you're not, you're the numbers, for you just is not where it's at. So, like each person in King, I think this is why it's so important to figure out what the different areas that you're delegating, the metrics, what you're trying to achieve, because that's going to be able to put somebody in who you know they love the numbers, or they love, you know, sales, or they love the technical stuff, and that's going to put them in their zone of genius, which is going to make them have more, you know, energy towards it and excitement towards it and ownership of it, even if it might, at the end of the day, you know, might not be everything, but in that zone is where they thrive.

Speaker 3: 22:17

Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 2: 22:19

So you know how with that too then. So what is a good process to go about finding someone who fits, you know, fits the culture, fits the position. So you don't like obviously understanding what is needed in that position, but what are good ways to kind of source those individuals?

Speaker 3: 22:40

So you really, and I go I have a few chapters in the book dedicated to it because it's such, you know, it is such a big piece and the one thing that you want to consider is, you know, make I would always say, like, start with a job description right, like no matter what it is like before you think about, like sourcing, where, from who, what. Think about like what is the gap that you are trying to fill, and make that as laser as possible. Now, as part of Chatterboss, we'll create that right. So, like one thing, you can come in and say, look, I don't, I don't know, and find the person right. So, but there are many people that are like DIY, I want to learn the process. How do I do it myself?

Speaker 3: 23:26

So, first is, like the job description, what are the gaps that you're trying to fill when you're looking to create that role? Or like you're starting to have the idea for the role, I would say, try to keep it into like two to three main buckets Sometimes we see positions or like people like where expectations are wild is like I want you to do marketing and client success and sales and finance and everything, and you know, and I want you to you know. Clean the office when you go in the day and it's like who is this person right?

Speaker 3: 24:00

So once you create the job description, if you can allocate, you know a few things that are the most important and then you know, put priorities in there as well. You're not going to get everything, but you are going to get the main things that you need and you part of that process and like creating a job description or a document for yourself is just to know that you're not going to. When you meet someone charismatic, you're not going to be like, oh to hell with all of my requirements, I heard, even though I'm either the salesperson, you have no sales experience, but you look so friendly, you speak so nice, you know I'm going to bring you on and you've sold me right. That is when an entrepreneur, you can go the wrong way, right. You can let people sell you on their needs and their ambitions versus you getting what you need inside of the organization. So like, in short, like one of the things, like I would say, is like start there.

Speaker 3: 24:54

The other exercise that I have in the book is like creating a checklist and like scoring for the different things that, like, you want right. So waiting, like, okay, if you know sales experience, this much sales experience. I'm going to give you five points for that right, and I'll psychology will tell you that you want to have a structured interview with every person. You don't want to just be like hey Chris, how's it going? Okay, yeah, I feel like I walked away with some like with a nice interaction, but nothing really grounding me to know whether you're going to do the job or not. So making yourself have structured interviews will go a really long way.

Speaker 2: 25:34

Fantastic. Yeah, those are very great tips and suggestions for it. And it's true, you know you got to have the structure and be able to guide you Duplicatable. So again, you know, Valerie, this has been awesome. I think a lot of people can take a lot away from this, especially as they're starting to delegate. Obviously, you know you do this well with your business, so if you want to connect with you, learn more, hear more about what you do, where can they go and find that and connect with you best?

Speaker 3: 26:03

Definitely on LinkedIn. I love connecting there and I do sessions all the time. This morning we did an end of year delegation boot camp so that was a lot of fun. So I'm always doing events and kind of, you know, sharing educational material there. Of course, on chatterbosscom and I would say you know there are a number of you know there are benefits that you know starting to delegate early on and what chatterboss does is we have a flexible model so that we allow entrepreneurs, even in those early stages, to have the opportunity to start delegating. So I would say, you know, if you're kind of exploring delegation, you're curious what it would look like. Chatterboss is a really great entryway into delegating. So of course, you can always go on our website, schedule a strategy call and it will really show you what's possible for you and your business. Yeah, Awesome.

Speaker 2: 26:58

Well, everyone, make sure you get connected with Valerie, just continue to learn from her and connect. And again, valerie, thanks so much for being on the Elevate Media Podcast today.

Speaker 3: 27:07

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 27:11

Absolutely. Thank you for listening to the Elevate Media Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. See you in the next episode.