As a business owner, learning how to delegate tasks to your team can make a huge difference in your ability to reach your company goals and deadlines. But there are a few subtle nuances that can make or break any delegation–which is why today I want to address one of the most common misunderstandings when it comes to delegation, about the difference between asking someone to do a task versus asking someone to own a task.
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Having someone on your team do a task is usually a one-off activity. I have a graphic designer named Lisa who does all of our manuals, binders, and marketing materials, and I might go to her and give her the details for our newest leadership binder. I would give her the copy for the binder, the images that we would like to see, and maybe even a rough draft of how I would like to see everything laid out. She puts together a draft, I review it and submit edits, maybe we go another round or two with editing, and then I ask her to save it in a few different formats so that we can use them for both physical binders as well as in email attachments. That was essentially a task that I asked of Lisa. It was a multi-step process, it was a bit complex, but it was still a one-off task that required guidance and feedback from me throughout the process.
Owning a task involves a completely different set of guidelines. This is usually something that is recurring or ongoing. Let’s say that our leadership binder for the year is a growing document that we will add to each and every month and I want Lisa to own the design portion of the project. Every month she will receive the copy and images for the module and I want her to lay it out in a manner that is both logical and aesthetically pleasing. I want her to send it to the appropriate parties for feedback and then make the changes as needed. And when the module is finalized, I want her to make sure that it is saved in several formats and filed in our online filing storage system. And lastly, she will close the loop by letting our operations manager know that it is ready to send to our clients and printer. So in this instance, I would lay out all the steps that I would like her to do each and every month and make sure that she understands what her responsibilities and operating procedures are moving forward. And as long as she follows those steps, I don’t have to get involved or micromanage the situation. She now owns it and I trust that it will get done in a timely manner. And it makes things a lot easier and cleaner for her moving forward as she is able to manage her time more efficiently.
The difference is subtle, but with a task, it takes a lot more time and attention to get the project over the finish line. But when you let another team member own the process from start to finish, both of you are able to focus on the things that are most important for your positions.