As a business owner, you may be the type of person who wants to do everything yourself. 

You want to be involved in every decision and know about every task that’s being done on your behalf. It can be tempting to micromanage work being done or hover over employees to make sure they’re doing their job well. 

But, if you’re always hovering over the work you delegate, you’re not really freed from it, are you?  

In this blog post, we will teach you how to detach from the work you delegate

1. Set expectations

One of the biggest problems leaders have when it comes to delegating work is setting expectations. 

What does success look like for this project? Is there a deadline that needs to be met? How many revisions are allowed before you’ll step in and handle them yourself?

We advise leaders to set expectations in one of two ways.

• Ask that work is done in the way that you (the leader) would do it.
• Or, give your assistant the freedom to do the job the way they would do it.

Whichever you decide, equip your assistant accordingly with the right tools and a process document. Engage if they have questions but then give them freedom to actually do the work.

2. Invest in hiring the right person for the job

If you can’t detach from the work you delegate, it’s possible you don’t trust your teammate or assistant.

This is a red flag in a working relationship. If you can’t trust a person to do work well, why are they working for you at all? 

It’s possible you hired the first person available to help who came in at the right price. This can serve you for a time, but that person is unlikely to stick around for the long-haul. 

We also question if people who are hired based on availability or price are really passionate about the work they are doing for you.

This is why we advise leaders to hire for passion, purpose and proficiency. If a candidate is passionate about what they do, finds purpose in their role and has the proficiency, you know they are invested in the outcome you’ve outsourced.

Does this abdicate you from equipping them with the right tools and process documents, and empowering them to own their role? Of course not. 

But you can feel more confidence that what you’ve delegated is in good hands.

3. Empower and encourage your assistant

If someone delegated a task to you and hovered constantly, you would execute that task with a lot of fear and anxiety of messing up, wouldn’t you? 

Now imagine being given a task and told, “You got this. I believe in you.” 

How different would the output be? 

Leaders are prone to looking for the problem. They see the cracks before they see the growth. 

You need to engage with your assistant, empower them, and encourage them when you delegate. Sometimes, it’s as easy as saying, “I wouldn’t have hired you if I didn’t believe you could do this!”

So many helpers, like assistants, are fueled by simple affirming words. Don’t neglect this step!

Detaching from what you outsource can free you mentally to focus on the work that fills you up, without being inundated with minutia. 

For more inspiration about how to profitably leverage an executive assistant, download our free guide.