Build Your Team’s Skills

By Gail Doby, ASID
CVO and Co-Founder of Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting
Photo Credit-@bakerbroductions

Would you like to have more time to devote to areas of your business you feel need shoring up or are being neglected? Do you wish you could offload some of the routine tasks that keep you from doing work that is more creative or more profitable? You can, if you invest in developing your team members’ skills.

I’m sure you can think of tasks or activities you’re responsible for now that could be handled by someone else. Talk it over with the members of your team. Get a feel for who has a facility for or an interest in learning a new skill. Then develop a plan to get them the training and/or experience they’ll need to assume that responsibility and succeed at it. Assign some dates and deadlines to ensure progress is made toward a definite time in the near future when those tasks are transferred to that individual.

Granted, it’s not always easy to let go of tasks you’re used to doing. Even if they’re tasks you don’t particularly like to do, it’s normal to worry about losing control. To help you get past that, focus on what you’re gaining, what more you’ll be able to do, not on what you’re giving up. Check in regularly with the team member in the beginning until you’re both sure the job is being done correctly. (But don’t micromanage! Remember, it’s the result that counts, not whether the team member goes about the task exactly as you would.)

And if you really want to boost your team’s capacity and watch its productivity soar, try my 3×3 method. Choose three things that you can delegate to someone else. Now have that person, or persons, identify three things that they can delegate or offload in order to take on the new task or responsibility you’ve assigned them. And so on. Each member of your team will be working at a higher level and spending more time on the activities that really matter when it comes to growing your business and profit.

Developing your team members is the gift that keeps on giving. You’ll have more time to spend on the areas of your business where you can make the most impact. Your team members will learn new skills and gain new experience, making them even more valuable to your firm. Having new challenges and opportunities will make all of you feel more engaged and satisfied with your work. That’s a formula for success.