How To Be An Effective Leader And Delegate

TWT Newsletter #10

Something I've done to scale my personal brand and business is hiring more and delegating tasks. As your brand, businesses, and craft expand - the level and need for talent/skills increases.

Here are a few reasons to hire out and learn to delegate:

1. It’s frees up your time and energy

2. It allows you to focus and stay in your zone of genius (what you are good at)

3. It allows you to get more things done by leveraging

I believe you have to pay for talent/skills either through time or buying it. Same as many other things, you either pay through time or money. The faster you realize this and the fundamental rule below, the faster you will generate wealth.

The rule: Don’t use your time to make money. Use your money to make money.

Using money for things will equate to getting more results over time. And will inevitably lead to your success and a more wealthy life quicker.

At the beginning of this year, my two high-level goals were to hire more and start my personal brand. In January, I hired an amazing assistant that made my life easier by making the business and social media component frictionless. It allowed me to focus on what I was good at (zone of genius) as a visionary. This resulted in us building systems that: scaled my Twitter to 1,000 followers in about 3 months and started a weekly newsletter. Also started rolling out a short-form content system on all major social media platforms.

But as I made breakthroughs into higher levels, my role required more from me and even more from my existing systems/processes. Naturally to handle the overwhelm I had to improve the systems and hire more (remember the rule, your time is static).

I started by hiring another virtual assistant, then a video editor, and a social media management agency as my needs grew. It was not an easy task, and I wanted to share my experience and what I have learned so far. Also, to give more background I’ve had prior experience in leadership and management positions such as: Engineering Manager/Lead, and Executive of Communications in my College’s Student Government, etc.

For hiring and delegating tasks, the key is communication - to be more specific; communicating expectations. Consistently communicating expectations is the number one thing. The second closest is understanding and using the right communication style to remain consistent about expectations and any issues/blockers.

Delegating tasks is a crucial skill for an effective leader. Here are 5 things to do when delegating a task:

1. Clearly define the task: When delegating a task, it is important to clearly define what needs to be done, the deadline, and any specific guidelines that to be followed. This ensures that the person you are delegating the task to has a clear understanding of what is expected of them.

2. Choose the right person for the task: Consider the skills, strengths, and experience of the person to you are delegating the task to. Assign the task to someone who has the necessary knowledge and skills to complete it successfully. Track record is critical as well. If the person has a history or accomplishments in this field - it’s most likely a good candidate. (Also remember the quality of work you get is correlated to the amount you pay to a degree).

3. Provide training and resources: If the person you are delegating the task to does not have all the necessary skills or knowledge, provide them with training and resources to help them succeed. I have all the repetitive task instructions documented in notion and examples recorded on Loomly. As part of my delegation process, I make sure the person I delegate the task to read/watch these instructions and update them if necessary.Easy way to build your S.O.P (Standard operating procedures) and you would review them periodically.

4. Establish checkpoints: Establish a system with checkpoints along the way to monitor progress and provide feedback to your directs. This will ensure that the task is on track and completed on time.

5. Trust and empower: Once you delegate a task, trust the person to complete it on their own while setting checkpoints to consistently communicate. Empower them to make decisions and take ownership of the task. This will increase their motivation and confidence, leading to a more successful outcome.

Other things, I recommend is to hire slow and fire fast. Hiring and being an effective leader takes a lot of responsibility, so make sure when you start hiring to be vigilant and screen well. Be committed to your delegates/employees when you’ve hired. Some employees not only look for top pay, they also look for growth opportunities, fulfilling and purposeful work, and a great work culture/environment.

So build relationships. Take time to learn what their goals are, and what they want to improve in their lives. How is their family doing? Recognize their strengths and work.

As a Leader you should:

• Recognize work

• Promote/reward good work

• Give constructive feedback on bad or negative behaviors/work

• Listen to feedback and remove blockers

Currently, I have a few VA’s and delegates and there are a few things I’d do differently in terms of hiring and onboarding when building my team. I’ll share more in future newsletters, so stay tuned!

Hope you learned and enjoyed my newsletter!

If you want to learn more about building a wealthier life for yourself through mindset and investing - subscribe here. Also, share with someone who might gain value from this newsletter. Remember you can make magic happen daily. Have an awesome day!

- William Thing