October 8, 2025 • 20 mins
Emily shares practical delegation tips like breaking up complex tasks such as invoice processing into smaller, easier pieces, moving teammates upstream in a process, and letting others help with basic steps like data collection. She explains how small steps—like making quick guides, recording simple training videos, or copying others on emails—can add up, lighten your load, and help others grow. Emily also stresses that if delegating a task is more trouble than it’s worth right now, it’s okay to wait until the timing makes more sense.
Links Mentioned:
Free Resources:
- Strategic Planning Checklist
- Chief of Staff Skills Assessment Checklist
- A Day in the Life of a Chief of Staff
- Chief of Staff Toolkit
Get in Touch With Emily:
- Connect on LinkedIn
- Follow on YouTube
- Learn more about coaching
- Sign up for the newsletter
- Clarity Call with Emily
Who Am I?
If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want.
Time Stamps:
00:41 Breaking Down Invoices for Delegation
03:48 Simplifying Verification Processes
07:30 Delegating Case Management Tasks
10:35 Training and SOP Development
14:44 Finding Small Opportunities for Delegation
16:50 Long-Term Benefits of Delegation
19:44 Conclusion and Final Tips
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
emily-sander_1_08-14-2025_12 (00:25):
If you know you need to delegate
more and you might want todelegate more, Emily, I want to
delegate more, but I don't knowhow.
How are some tactical andpractical ways that I can be
doing this or thinking aboutthis?
Here are some quick wins foryou.
Let's say that you haveinvoices, and invoices are what
(00:47):
you are overwhelmed with andbeing pummeled with every day
and more.
Invoices come in over and overand over again.
You're like, oh my gosh, I can'tget out from under this thing.
I need to delegate this.
But training people and takingthe time to explain the nuances
and all the different things arelike more trouble than they're
worth.
So I'll just do it type ofthing.
(01:08):
Okay.
Within that, are there certaintypes of invoices that are more
basic or simple?
And instead of having a complex,nuanced, crazy branch logic, if
this, then that, if this, thenthat sequence.
(01:29):
What if it has a one, two step?
These types of invoices haveone.
Two, you're done.
Now, let's say these basic typesof invoices represent 25% of all
the invoices you have.
Would it be a good idea to takethe time to either document in a
(01:50):
quick step-by-step guide, maybetake some screenshots, maybe do
a Loom video, maybe take half anhour to literally walk someone
through.
The first one live and answerany questions.
Would that be worth it?
Would that be more trouble thanit's worth or less trouble than
it's worth?
Would that be worth it to takethat amount of time?
(02:12):
Okay.
Yes, Emily.
That that would be a lot easier.
That's like a basic easy one,but it's only 25%.
Is 25% greater or less thanzero?
Like, like, so you have to chunkthese things up.
Sorry to make that overlydramatic and my voice just
squeaked there.
But, um, you wanna chunk thesethings up.
It might not be.
(02:33):
It might not be a good answerright now to take the most
complex type of invoice thatdoes take, all right, I just
have to sit down and this onetakes me like four hours just to
sit down and do it with all myinstitutional knowledge, with
all my, I take that for grantedwith all my, I just see it and
know it.
It might not make sense to tryto delegate that right now, but
(02:56):
just saying I can't delegate anyinvoices.
Is usually too monolithic of athinking or of an answer.
So in this example, the, thepoint of all this is to try to
break down.
Invoices and invoices isrepresentative and symbolic here
of anything you might have,right?
So it, whatever you take as, ohmy gosh, this big, huge thing
(03:20):
that overwhelms me.
I can't move it.
It's a rock.
I can't move, can I tap, tap,tap, you know, clink, clink,
clink.
Kind of break that rock apartinto different segments and say,
actually this chunk over here,while not the entire boulder,
while not the entire cliff facewould help.
It would start to get this otherperson or other team familiar
(03:41):
with invoices or whatever it isin general, that might be a good
step to look at.
So look for those opportunities.
Second one would be here, oh,Emily, everyone is saying
automate these processes and AIand automate this and streamline
it, and all these things.
And it's like, but it's likethere's seven different manual
things in here.
And to overhaul that would.
(04:03):
Would, would be great.
I'm all in favor of that intheory, but in practice right
now, we just don't have capacityto do that.
Okay.
So let's say right now, um, the.
There's a process where I have aspreadsheet and we're in Google
Sheets, let's say, and I check acertain box and that signals to
another person to their to dotheir part of the process.
(04:26):
Okay.
Let's say it's a, I'm just gonnacall this a verification
process.
This is symbolic again, orwhatever you want it to be, but
there's a multi-step processyour piece.
Involves checking a box in aGoogle sheet, and then that
alerts the next person to dotheir part of the verification
process.
All right, delegation.
(04:47):
While we can't automate thisentire thing right now, there
still has to be these sevensteps.
Can you move the person who istaking the handoff from you
upstream?
Can you move them upstream orsooner in the process?
Can they take over your step?
Well, Emily?
No.
I checked the box and they doit.
(05:08):
Yeah, that's what happens now.
Got it.
Great.
Can you move them upstream?
Well, well, okay.
I get alerted about theverification.
I get alerted about myverification in this system and
they don't have access to thesystem.
Okay.
Can they get access to thesystem?
Well, yeah, I guess we could addthem as a user.
(05:29):
All right.
Is there like additional cost tothat?
Is it?
No, it's free.
We have unlimited users.
Okay.
All right.
So you can get the access to thesystem.
Great.
But Emily, they don't, they,they might not know what to look
for in the system.
Like, I'm a, I know what to lookfor.
Okay.
How complex of a process is itfor you to look for the
(05:51):
different triggers that lets youknow that this part of the
verification is ready to go?
Well, okay.
There's really four things Ilook for.
Okay.
Are those four things simpleenough to explain and are those
worth your while or is it moretrouble than it's worth?
And if it is, then this mightmight not be a good candidate to
delegate that part of theprocess.
(06:12):
But if it's like, no, no, no, Ican make a checklist.
You kind of have to know likewhat tabs to go to and what
buttons to push.
But it's, it's fairlystraightforward.
There's not a lot of.
D deciding or discernment orjudgment call or wishy-washy or,
I just know this from, you know,years and years and years of
doing this process.
I know what to look for.
It's four basic things.
Okay?
So could you not make a GoogleDoc or again, take a make, make
(06:35):
a loom video or take someonethrough it once or twice and go,
here are the four things to lookat.
Okay, so I can give this personaccess, I can train them on the
four things.
Then I'm out of thatverification process.
I've just delegated that off.
Alright, cool.
So again, haven't automated thewhole thing.
(06:56):
These might be baby steps.
These are tactical and practicalthings, but just little nudges
here and there.
So now if you're one person andyou've got the 25% of invoices
off your plate and you don'teven have to think about the
verification stuff anymore, itjust goes without you.
And by the way, other people aregetting to step up and help.
That's, that's adding up right?
(07:16):
These little tiny nudges, theselittle tiny slices, these little
tiny pieces of each of thesepies do add up and just kind of
take mental bandwidth, mentalstress off of you and open up
mental bandwidth.
Okay, so those are two examplesso far.
Okay, let's take a thirdexample.
Let's call this, um, like a casecomes in and again, like
(07:37):
invoices, verification, process,case are, are all just take,
take that in your world andtranslate it.
But okay, these, these casescome in and you have to work the
case and kind of open it up andfigure out like, this person is
doing this and this person'srequesting this, and there's
this component, there's thatcomponent and there's all the
different factors and variablesyou have to look at to work the
case and close the case.
(07:57):
Okay, you've been trying to getout from under cases.
It's like, oh my gosh, thesethings kind of come in spurts.
When it rains, it pours.
There might be a pause in it,but then I'm pulled into other
things and then more cases comein.
Um, let's say I have, I havethese three people that have
been identified.
People who can help me withthis.
So other resources from otherteams who are like, Hey, you can
(08:19):
have this resource or a, youknow, partial bandwidth of this
resource to help you with thecases to help you with the
caseload.
And you've been trying to like,make step-by-step guides and
you've been trying to like, getthem up to speed on stuff, but
you just haven't had the propertime to do the training or build
the material or assets theywould need to be properly
trained.
And Oh my gosh.
Okay.
Yesterday, Emily, it's, it'soverwhelming.
(08:42):
I got like.
Eight cases, and they're huge,gnarly, complex ones that I
can't easily hand off.
Like they would have no ideawhat's happening.
Like I'm overwhelmed.
Okay?
In this case, ha ha ha, no punintended.
Um, in this scenario, you couldsay, all right, while this is
overwhelming, is there any partof this case that they can help
(09:09):
me with?
If the answer is like they can'tdo the overall case, Emily, it's
way too complex.
I get that.
Are there any initial piecesthey could help you with?
For example, data collection,you might need different data
pieces to sort out what you needto do to close the case.
So if it's like, oh, well, Imean they can go pull the data,
(09:33):
is that a step That would be.
Helpful in the sense that it'snot your time, it's their time.
Yes.
Technically.
Okay, go tell them to pull thedata.
You don't need to know what thisdata means.
You might, you might have asense of what it means, or you
might just be like, I'm going tothis system.
I'm logging in, I'm pullingthis.
Data report and I'm sending thatin email.
Cool.
If that's not you doing it andit's them, it saves a little bit
(09:55):
of time.
And they also get used to thefact that sometimes you have to
pull different data sources.
They might not know what itmeans yet, but you will tell
them as you go along.
So if there's any little bit ofthat where it's like, Hey, I
need this, this, and this andthis, and they're like, okay, I
know what those things are.
I don't know why I'm doing that.
I don't know how they fit in thebig picture for this particular
case, but I can easily go pullthat report for you and just
(10:15):
compile the data, throw it inthis folder, attach it to the
case in our CRM or whatever toolwe use.
Um, just send that to me inemail, Whatever you want that to
be, just have them do that partof it.
Okay.
Then in these eight cases, itmight be.
I don't have time to train thembefore the cases need to be
closed.
Therefore, I'm going to copythem on everything I'm doing
(10:38):
with these cases so they can seeand hopefully they can pick up
on what's happening and we haveto go to, uh, this vendor for
this part of it, come back, thenpackage this up and say this
over here to this client, andthen package it up and then go
over here and say it to ourinternal teams.
And then we're able to move thiscase to a different status.
And then once we move it acrossthis.
(10:58):
If this part of the, thecaseload, then we can close it.
Basically, whatever workflow youhave, and it might be different
for these different cases, um,but copying them on everything
might be the first part ofdelegating cases in general as a
whole.
Cases as a whole to anotherperson.
If you are gonna do somethinglike this where you're like, I'm
gonna copy you on everything.
(11:19):
I would tell them, Hey, likeeight cases came in, I'm going
to copy you on all of mycommunication to the various
parties and the various steps.
You can see one, give them aheads up, you're doing that.
Two, Tell them what you wantthem to do with that, if you
want them to just watch it as itgoes through.
Cool.
I would make it a little moresticky than that if you can.
(11:39):
I would say, um.
I've been trying to make SOPs.
For cases for you guys.
I haven't had the time.
I'm so sorry.
Here's the very rough outlinethat I have so far.
It's like a straw man outline.
As you go through these cases,as you see the steps that are,
that I'm going through thatyou're CC'd on.
(12:00):
Can you please build the bestdraft you can for the SOP?
I know it might not be perfect,and I know that you might not
understand quite what'shappening, but if you can do
your best to put in these stepsand to fill out this outline for
this SOPI have, that would begreat.
And then we can look at thattogether after these cases are
(12:20):
done and when.
I have a second to breathe.
That gives them somethingsticky.
Like, oh, I have to like processthis information.
I have to pay attention towhat's happening here.
'cause I have to put it in aSOP.
It's not going anywhere.
It's not doing anything yet.
It is totally just a draft andEmily's gonna go through it with
me afterward.
But it gives them some skin inthe game, so to speak.
(12:42):
So you're having them dosomething and then hey.
If they get it right or evenhalf, right, where it's like, oh
my gosh, like this part is notaccurate at all.
Let me explain why, which ishelpful to them.
Then they can update.
The draft, but if they get like75% of it, right, where it's
like, oh my gosh, like, yep,spot on.
Like I would change this wordhere.
(13:03):
I would put this one above thatone, or in front of that one.
There's kind of like A, a stepseven A and BI would add that,
but you didn't know that.
Good job on the seven A atleast.
Then you have 75% of the SOPwritten and you didn't have to
do that.
Where your initial problem was.
I'm trying to get, I like, I, Ineed time to build the training
material.
I understand that, but I justhaven't had time.
(13:25):
Well, inherent in this now youhave at least more of the SOP
than you did before andsometimes.
The 75% of the SOP is again,better than nothing or better
than a bare bones outline.
And if it's like, Hey, we havean intranet, and that's good
enough to go like that givespeople the bulk of what they
(13:46):
need to do with these cases.
You might put that on theintranet as like V one or beta
or whatever you wanna call it,but it's better than nothing.
And then as you or your teammembers.
Get more caseloads in, maybeit's on them to fill out the
rest of that.
SOP send you the link.
You need to scan it and look atit and say like, there's no
(14:07):
egregious errors on this thing,but you get the ball rolling.
So those are just three examplesof delegating where it's not
boiling the ocean, it's not,we're gonna rip out this entire
process and automate it with AI'cause.
While that's great and you, youshould try to work towards that
(14:27):
overall, in a lot of cases,streamlining, automating,
overhauling, all these things, Itotally get that.
Sometimes you just can't dothat.
It's like, that's great, but inreality, we're slammed.
Everyone's over capacity.
We're trying to tread waterhere.
We don't have time for that.
If you, if you're in thatsituation, I would look for
(14:48):
these little nudges.
These little tiny slices, theselittle tiny things that you can
put in place relatively easily,relatively quickly that add up
where it's like, okay, I have alittle bit of slack right now.
I have, I have a little bit morebreathing room.
Not a lot, but a little bit morebreathing room.
We're using the manual process,that's fine, but we're putting
(15:10):
these little pieces togetherthat add up.
So you take the SOP and casecase example.
All right.
If you like, outta the threepeople, right?
Let's say two of them are kindof like, yeah, we kinda get it,
but we're gonna need to see somemore.
Totally fair, totally fine.
Um, but one is like, Hey, Ireverse engineered what you did
from you CCing me.
(15:31):
I know how to do this case.
Now.
They're like, whoa, okay.
You did this SOPL by yourself.
It's spot on.
You did some other internalresearch.
You added steps that I didn'tthink about.
You added contingency plans thatI wouldn't have thought of.
Okay, like you are off to theraces.
I'm gonna give you more casestuff.
I'm just gonna CC you oneverything and then you're gonna
take over this and train theother two.
(15:53):
So you might get a, you mightget a opportunity like that
where it's like, oh, alright, wehave a winner here.
Let's just give you stuff andlet you run and I'm just gonna
back away slowly type of thing.
Or I'm gonna CC you or forwardyou these things, um, over here.
Okay, so little nudges here andthere.
Look for pockets, look foropportunities.
And do look for them.
Don't go, no, I just have totake that on.
(16:15):
I just do invoices.
No, the verification is like itis, we can't do anything with
it.
It's set in stone or, oh mygosh, I'm just gonna continue to
get overwhelmed and, and.
Burnt out by any cases that comein.
When they come in all at once.
I just, I know I'm gonna getpummeled that week and I'm gonna
get no sleep and be worse formyself and my team.
(16:38):
Like put little stop gaps inplace for yourself.
There are usually multiple areasyou can do this in.
Even when you're like, Emily,there's no way, there's no way I
can do this.
I, I'm just stuck in whatever Ihave.
Mm.
I would go through what you haveand look for little
opportunities like thisdelegation.
A good skill to get good at.
(16:58):
It also helps you get promoted.
It also helps you lift out ofstuff that you're doing.
Now, a lot of people know thatdelegation is a pathway to
becoming a more senior leader,which is absolutely true.
And so getting good at this andfinding ways to do this in
effective ways is a good thingto pay attention to and to work
on and to practice, andhopefully in all these examples.
(17:22):
I tried to mention that if itdoesn't make sense to delegate,
then don't.
A lot of people try to forcedelegation like I have to force
myself to do this.
If it's literally more troublethan it's worth right now, then
don't do it.
Pick something else.
The right now, part of thatcould change six weeks from now.
(17:42):
Six months from that from now.
Ask yourself again.
Is it more trouble than it'sworth right now?
Well, no, not right now.
Emily.
We finished that big productlaunch and now that's done, like
that's out there.
I don't have to watch it everyday.
I don't have to figure out if wehave to do a hot fix or you
know, do a rollback or whatever.
I can breathe.
(18:02):
Now I have time to do the, thefirst five SOPs for cases.
Now I have time to gather folksevery week and take them through
a more complex invoice.
So the.
Is it more trouble than it'sworth right now?
That right now could change?
Is it more trouble than it'sworth?
(18:23):
Could change just inherently byitself.
So it could be, look, it'strouble.
Like, don't get me wrong, thisis gonna be a pain in the butt.
There's always gonna be theinitial to get it out there into
the world.
But is that worthwhile longterm?
If the answer is yes, and theanswer is you just gotta buckle
(18:43):
up and do it, and then it'sdone.
Then they're on their way andthen other people can start
doing it.
And you are the, you're thecatalyst, you are the unlock for
that piece.
Sometimes it is worth it to justdo it and you've gotta clear
your decks for, maybe it's a.
A focus period of time for aweek, for two weeks, I am going
(19:04):
to show the team live how to dostuff.
I am going to make some videos.
They have a video database.
I'm going to allow them to do itand reverse shadow.
I'm going to take the one or twoweeks to do that with the
expectation that after this oneor two weeks is over, you can
take on the majority of theseinvoices, uh, cases, whatever it
(19:24):
is, not all of them.
There's gonna be exceptions.
I'm here if you need me, but forthe bulk of bulk of these, after
the two weeks, it's gonna beyour primary responsibility and
I will be here for exceptions ortotally weird ones where you
would have no reason to know howto do that one.
That's fine.
I'll, I'll help you with thattype of, type of one.
Okay, so take these threeexamples and there's many more
(19:47):
like them, but take the the gistor the spirit or the sentiment
of these examples and apply themto become a more effective
delegator.
And if you have a teammate.
Or a direct report who you'retrying to help be a better
delegator so they can lift outof stuff and they can be more
strategic, then you can look forsome of these things in their
workload as well.
(20:08):
Alright, but hopefully thosewere helpful and I'll catch you
next week on leveragingLeadership.
If you know you need to delegate
more and you might want todelegate more, Emily, I want to
delegate more, but I don't knowhow.
How are some tactical andpractical ways that I can be
doing this or thinking aboutthis?
Here are some quick wins foryou.
Let's say that you haveinvoices, and invoices are what
(00:47):
you are overwhelmed with andbeing pummeled with every day
and more.
Invoices come in over and overand over again.
You're like, oh my gosh, I can'tget out from under this thing.
I need to delegate this.
But training people and takingthe time to explain the nuances
and all the different things arelike more trouble than they're
worth.
So I'll just do it type ofthing.
(01:08):
Okay.
Within that, are there certaintypes of invoices that are more
basic or simple?
And instead of having a complex,nuanced, crazy branch logic, if
this, then that, if this, thenthat sequence.
(01:29):
What if it has a one, two step?
These types of invoices haveone.
Two, you're done.
Now, let's say these basic typesof invoices represent 25% of all
the invoices you have.
Would it be a good idea to takethe time to either document in a
(01:50):
quick step-by-step guide, maybetake some screenshots, maybe do
a Loom video, maybe take half anhour to literally walk someone
through.
The first one live and answerany questions.
Would that be worth it?
Would that be more trouble thanit's worth or less trouble than
it's worth?
Would that be worth it to takethat amount of time?
(02:12):
Okay.
Yes, Emily.
That that would be a lot easier.
That's like a basic easy one,but it's only 25%.
Is 25% greater or less thanzero?
Like, like, so you have to chunkthese things up.
Sorry to make that overlydramatic and my voice just
squeaked there.
But, um, you wanna chunk thesethings up.
It might not be.
(02:33):
It might not be a good answerright now to take the most
complex type of invoice thatdoes take, all right, I just
have to sit down and this onetakes me like four hours just to
sit down and do it with all myinstitutional knowledge, with
all my, I take that for grantedwith all my, I just see it and
know it.
It might not make sense to tryto delegate that right now, but
(02:56):
just saying I can't delegate anyinvoices.
Is usually too monolithic of athinking or of an answer.
So in this example, the, thepoint of all this is to try to
break down.
Invoices and invoices isrepresentative and symbolic here
of anything you might have,right?
So it, whatever you take as, ohmy gosh, this big, huge thing
(03:20):
that overwhelms me.
I can't move it.
It's a rock.
I can't move, can I tap, tap,tap, you know, clink, clink,
clink.
Kind of break that rock apartinto different segments and say,
actually this chunk over here,while not the entire boulder,
while not the entire cliff facewould help.
It would start to get this otherperson or other team familiar
(03:41):
with invoices or whatever it isin general, that might be a good
step to look at.
So look for those opportunities.
Second one would be here, oh,Emily, everyone is saying
automate these processes and AIand automate this and streamline
it, and all these things.
And it's like, but it's likethere's seven different manual
things in here.
And to overhaul that would.
(04:03):
Would, would be great.
I'm all in favor of that intheory, but in practice right
now, we just don't have capacityto do that.
Okay.
So let's say right now, um, the.
There's a process where I have aspreadsheet and we're in Google
Sheets, let's say, and I check acertain box and that signals to
another person to their to dotheir part of the process.
(04:26):
Okay.
Let's say it's a, I'm just gonnacall this a verification
process.
This is symbolic again, orwhatever you want it to be, but
there's a multi-step processyour piece.
Involves checking a box in aGoogle sheet, and then that
alerts the next person to dotheir part of the verification
process.
All right, delegation.
(04:47):
While we can't automate thisentire thing right now, there
still has to be these sevensteps.
Can you move the person who istaking the handoff from you
upstream?
Can you move them upstream orsooner in the process?
Can they take over your step?
Well, Emily?
No.
I checked the box and they doit.
(05:08):
Yeah, that's what happens now.
Got it.
Great.
Can you move them upstream?
Well, well, okay.
I get alerted about theverification.
I get alerted about myverification in this system and
they don't have access to thesystem.
Okay.
Can they get access to thesystem?
Well, yeah, I guess we could addthem as a user.
(05:29):
All right.
Is there like additional cost tothat?
Is it?
No, it's free.
We have unlimited users.
Okay.
All right.
So you can get the access to thesystem.
Great.
But Emily, they don't, they,they might not know what to look
for in the system.
Like, I'm a, I know what to lookfor.
Okay.
How complex of a process is itfor you to look for the
(05:51):
different triggers that lets youknow that this part of the
verification is ready to go?
Well, okay.
There's really four things Ilook for.
Okay.
Are those four things simpleenough to explain and are those
worth your while or is it moretrouble than it's worth?
And if it is, then this mightmight not be a good candidate to
delegate that part of theprocess.
(06:12):
But if it's like, no, no, no, Ican make a checklist.
You kind of have to know likewhat tabs to go to and what
buttons to push.
But it's, it's fairlystraightforward.
There's not a lot of.
D deciding or discernment orjudgment call or wishy-washy or,
I just know this from, you know,years and years and years of
doing this process.
I know what to look for.
It's four basic things.
Okay?
So could you not make a GoogleDoc or again, take a make, make
(06:35):
a loom video or take someonethrough it once or twice and go,
here are the four things to lookat.
Okay, so I can give this personaccess, I can train them on the
four things.
Then I'm out of thatverification process.
I've just delegated that off.
Alright, cool.
So again, haven't automated thewhole thing.
(06:56):
These might be baby steps.
These are tactical and practicalthings, but just little nudges
here and there.
So now if you're one person andyou've got the 25% of invoices
off your plate and you don'teven have to think about the
verification stuff anymore, itjust goes without you.
And by the way, other people aregetting to step up and help.
That's, that's adding up right?
(07:16):
These little tiny nudges, theselittle tiny slices, these little
tiny pieces of each of thesepies do add up and just kind of
take mental bandwidth, mentalstress off of you and open up
mental bandwidth.
Okay, so those are two examplesso far.
Okay, let's take a thirdexample.
Let's call this, um, like a casecomes in and again, like
(07:37):
invoices, verification, process,case are, are all just take,
take that in your world andtranslate it.
But okay, these, these casescome in and you have to work the
case and kind of open it up andfigure out like, this person is
doing this and this person'srequesting this, and there's
this component, there's thatcomponent and there's all the
different factors and variablesyou have to look at to work the
case and close the case.
(07:57):
Okay, you've been trying to getout from under cases.
It's like, oh my gosh, thesethings kind of come in spurts.
When it rains, it pours.
There might be a pause in it,but then I'm pulled into other
things and then more cases comein.
Um, let's say I have, I havethese three people that have
been identified.
People who can help me withthis.
So other resources from otherteams who are like, Hey, you can
(08:19):
have this resource or a, youknow, partial bandwidth of this
resource to help you with thecases to help you with the
caseload.
And you've been trying to like,make step-by-step guides and
you've been trying to like, getthem up to speed on stuff, but
you just haven't had the propertime to do the training or build
the material or assets theywould need to be properly
trained.
And Oh my gosh.
Okay.
Yesterday, Emily, it's, it'soverwhelming.
(08:42):
I got like.
Eight cases, and they're huge,gnarly, complex ones that I
can't easily hand off.
Like they would have no ideawhat's happening.
Like I'm overwhelmed.
Okay?
In this case, ha ha ha, no punintended.
Um, in this scenario, you couldsay, all right, while this is
overwhelming, is there any partof this case that they can help
(09:09):
me with?
If the answer is like they can'tdo the overall case, Emily, it's
way too complex.
I get that.
Are there any initial piecesthey could help you with?
For example, data collection,you might need different data
pieces to sort out what you needto do to close the case.
So if it's like, oh, well, Imean they can go pull the data,
(09:33):
is that a step That would be.
Helpful in the sense that it'snot your time, it's their time.
Yes.
Technically.
Okay, go tell them to pull thedata.
You don't need to know what thisdata means.
You might, you might have asense of what it means, or you
might just be like, I'm going tothis system.
I'm logging in, I'm pullingthis.
Data report and I'm sending thatin email.
Cool.
If that's not you doing it andit's them, it saves a little bit
(09:55):
of time.
And they also get used to thefact that sometimes you have to
pull different data sources.
They might not know what itmeans yet, but you will tell
them as you go along.
So if there's any little bit ofthat where it's like, Hey, I
need this, this, and this andthis, and they're like, okay, I
know what those things are.
I don't know why I'm doing that.
I don't know how they fit in thebig picture for this particular
case, but I can easily go pullthat report for you and just
(10:15):
compile the data, throw it inthis folder, attach it to the
case in our CRM or whatever toolwe use.
Um, just send that to me inemail, Whatever you want that to
be, just have them do that partof it.
Okay.
Then in these eight cases, itmight be.
I don't have time to train thembefore the cases need to be
closed.
Therefore, I'm going to copythem on everything I'm doing
(10:38):
with these cases so they can seeand hopefully they can pick up
on what's happening and we haveto go to, uh, this vendor for
this part of it, come back, thenpackage this up and say this
over here to this client, andthen package it up and then go
over here and say it to ourinternal teams.
And then we're able to move thiscase to a different status.
And then once we move it acrossthis.
(10:58):
If this part of the, thecaseload, then we can close it.
Basically, whatever workflow youhave, and it might be different
for these different cases, um,but copying them on everything
might be the first part ofdelegating cases in general as a
whole.
Cases as a whole to anotherperson.
If you are gonna do somethinglike this where you're like, I'm
gonna copy you on everything.
(11:19):
I would tell them, Hey, likeeight cases came in, I'm going
to copy you on all of mycommunication to the various
parties and the various steps.
You can see one, give them aheads up, you're doing that.
Two, Tell them what you wantthem to do with that, if you
want them to just watch it as itgoes through.
Cool.
I would make it a little moresticky than that if you can.
(11:39):
I would say, um.
I've been trying to make SOPs.
For cases for you guys.
I haven't had the time.
I'm so sorry.
Here's the very rough outlinethat I have so far.
It's like a straw man outline.
As you go through these cases,as you see the steps that are,
that I'm going through thatyou're CC'd on.
(12:00):
Can you please build the bestdraft you can for the SOP?
I know it might not be perfect,and I know that you might not
understand quite what'shappening, but if you can do
your best to put in these stepsand to fill out this outline for
this SOPI have, that would begreat.
And then we can look at thattogether after these cases are
(12:20):
done and when.
I have a second to breathe.
That gives them somethingsticky.
Like, oh, I have to like processthis information.
I have to pay attention towhat's happening here.
'cause I have to put it in aSOP.
It's not going anywhere.
It's not doing anything yet.
It is totally just a draft andEmily's gonna go through it with
me afterward.
But it gives them some skin inthe game, so to speak.
(12:42):
So you're having them dosomething and then hey.
If they get it right or evenhalf, right, where it's like, oh
my gosh, like this part is notaccurate at all.
Let me explain why, which ishelpful to them.
Then they can update.
The draft, but if they get like75% of it, right, where it's
like, oh my gosh, like, yep,spot on.
Like I would change this wordhere.
(13:03):
I would put this one above thatone, or in front of that one.
There's kind of like A, a stepseven A and BI would add that,
but you didn't know that.
Good job on the seven A atleast.
Then you have 75% of the SOPwritten and you didn't have to
do that.
Where your initial problem was.
I'm trying to get, I like, I, Ineed time to build the training
material.
I understand that, but I justhaven't had time.
(13:25):
Well, inherent in this now youhave at least more of the SOP
than you did before andsometimes.
The 75% of the SOP is again,better than nothing or better
than a bare bones outline.
And if it's like, Hey, we havean intranet, and that's good
enough to go like that givespeople the bulk of what they
(13:46):
need to do with these cases.
You might put that on theintranet as like V one or beta
or whatever you wanna call it,but it's better than nothing.
And then as you or your teammembers.
Get more caseloads in, maybeit's on them to fill out the
rest of that.
SOP send you the link.
You need to scan it and look atit and say like, there's no
(14:07):
egregious errors on this thing,but you get the ball rolling.
So those are just three examplesof delegating where it's not
boiling the ocean, it's not,we're gonna rip out this entire
process and automate it with AI'cause.
While that's great and you, youshould try to work towards that
(14:27):
overall, in a lot of cases,streamlining, automating,
overhauling, all these things, Itotally get that.
Sometimes you just can't dothat.
It's like, that's great, but inreality, we're slammed.
Everyone's over capacity.
We're trying to tread waterhere.
We don't have time for that.
If you, if you're in thatsituation, I would look for
(14:48):
these little nudges.
These little tiny slices, theselittle tiny things that you can
put in place relatively easily,relatively quickly that add up
where it's like, okay, I have alittle bit of slack right now.
I have, I have a little bit morebreathing room.
Not a lot, but a little bit morebreathing room.
We're using the manual process,that's fine, but we're putting
(15:10):
these little pieces togetherthat add up.
So you take the SOP and casecase example.
All right.
If you like, outta the threepeople, right?
Let's say two of them are kindof like, yeah, we kinda get it,
but we're gonna need to see somemore.
Totally fair, totally fine.
Um, but one is like, Hey, Ireverse engineered what you did
from you CCing me.
(15:31):
I know how to do this case.
Now.
They're like, whoa, okay.
You did this SOPL by yourself.
It's spot on.
You did some other internalresearch.
You added steps that I didn'tthink about.
You added contingency plans thatI wouldn't have thought of.
Okay, like you are off to theraces.
I'm gonna give you more casestuff.
I'm just gonna CC you oneverything and then you're gonna
take over this and train theother two.
(15:53):
So you might get a, you mightget a opportunity like that
where it's like, oh, alright, wehave a winner here.
Let's just give you stuff andlet you run and I'm just gonna
back away slowly type of thing.
Or I'm gonna CC you or forwardyou these things, um, over here.
Okay, so little nudges here andthere.
Look for pockets, look foropportunities.
And do look for them.
Don't go, no, I just have totake that on.
(16:15):
I just do invoices.
No, the verification is like itis, we can't do anything with
it.
It's set in stone or, oh mygosh, I'm just gonna continue to
get overwhelmed and, and.
Burnt out by any cases that comein.
When they come in all at once.
I just, I know I'm gonna getpummeled that week and I'm gonna
get no sleep and be worse formyself and my team.
(16:38):
Like put little stop gaps inplace for yourself.
There are usually multiple areasyou can do this in.
Even when you're like, Emily,there's no way, there's no way I
can do this.
I, I'm just stuck in whatever Ihave.
Mm.
I would go through what you haveand look for little
opportunities like thisdelegation.
A good skill to get good at.
(16:58):
It also helps you get promoted.
It also helps you lift out ofstuff that you're doing.
Now, a lot of people know thatdelegation is a pathway to
becoming a more senior leader,which is absolutely true.
And so getting good at this andfinding ways to do this in
effective ways is a good thingto pay attention to and to work
on and to practice, andhopefully in all these examples.
(17:22):
I tried to mention that if itdoesn't make sense to delegate,
then don't.
A lot of people try to forcedelegation like I have to force
myself to do this.
If it's literally more troublethan it's worth right now, then
don't do it.
Pick something else.
The right now, part of thatcould change six weeks from now.
(17:42):
Six months from that from now.
Ask yourself again.
Is it more trouble than it'sworth right now?
Well, no, not right now.
Emily.
We finished that big productlaunch and now that's done, like
that's out there.
I don't have to watch it everyday.
I don't have to figure out if wehave to do a hot fix or you
know, do a rollback or whatever.
I can breathe.
(18:02):
Now I have time to do the, thefirst five SOPs for cases.
Now I have time to gather folksevery week and take them through
a more complex invoice.
So the.
Is it more trouble than it'sworth right now?
That right now could change?
Is it more trouble than it'sworth?
(18:23):
Could change just inherently byitself.
So it could be, look, it'strouble.
Like, don't get me wrong, thisis gonna be a pain in the butt.
There's always gonna be theinitial to get it out there into
the world.
But is that worthwhile longterm?
If the answer is yes, and theanswer is you just gotta buckle
(18:43):
up and do it, and then it'sdone.
Then they're on their way andthen other people can start
doing it.
And you are the, you're thecatalyst, you are the unlock for
that piece.
Sometimes it is worth it to justdo it and you've gotta clear
your decks for, maybe it's a.
A focus period of time for aweek, for two weeks, I am going
(19:04):
to show the team live how to dostuff.
I am going to make some videos.
They have a video database.
I'm going to allow them to do itand reverse shadow.
I'm going to take the one or twoweeks to do that with the
expectation that after this oneor two weeks is over, you can
take on the majority of theseinvoices, uh, cases, whatever it
(19:24):
is, not all of them.
There's gonna be exceptions.
I'm here if you need me, but forthe bulk of bulk of these, after
the two weeks, it's gonna beyour primary responsibility and
I will be here for exceptions ortotally weird ones where you
would have no reason to know howto do that one.
That's fine.
I'll, I'll help you with thattype of, type of one.
Okay, so take these threeexamples and there's many more
(19:47):
like them, but take the the gistor the spirit or the sentiment
of these examples and apply themto become a more effective
delegator.
And if you have a teammate.
Or a direct report who you'retrying to help be a better
delegator so they can lift outof stuff and they can be more
strategic, then you can look forsome of these things in their
workload as well.
(20:08):
Alright, but hopefully thosewere helpful and I'll catch you
next week on leveragingLeadership.
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