Lesson 5 of 5

And just like that, we’re at the last leg of our plunge, Carol!

Let’s recap. In the last few days, we have:

• Identified work that is “clogging the drain” (in Lesson 1)
• Created tasks that will enable delegation (in Lesson 2)
• Installed a proven template for recording “How” (in Lesson 3)
• Wrote an SOP so that success is repeatable (in Lesson 4)

(If you missed any lessons, please feel free to go back and review them!)

Today, we’re bringing it allll together.

Lesson 5: Completing the Delegation Cycle

We have clearly documented four pillars of task delegation:

• What needs to be done
• When this needs to be done
• Who is responsible for doing it
• How to do it successfully

Today, it’s time we bring your creation into the real world as we tackle the final chapter: Why.

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Set Clear Expectations

You have all the ingredients you need to ensure a reasonably skilled person can take this Task off of your plate. Now, it’s time to make it clear to others why you view this “plunge” to be important.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to “make public” the Task you created in Lesson 2. Then, start talking about these Tasks with your team!

To make it easy, I’ll provide scripts you can use as a starting point:

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SCRIPT 1 To the person who is responsible for the new Task:

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SCRIPT 2 To the rest of your team, which can be sent after you complete your discussion from Script 1 👆.

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YOUR HOMEWORK

Implement the “New Way”

Assign the Task to the new owner and, using the scripts above, change your “normal”!

Prepare to Hold Your Boundaries Kindly

Delegating your “stuck” Task means both you and your team will have to form new habits. If you’re not mindful, it’ll be very easy to slip back into the “old ways”.

Here are five rules to make this transition easier. Replace the word [Task ] with whatever your “stuck” Task was.

1. When the new owner has a question about [ Task ], I need to coach them to find the answer, not do it for them.
2. When the team has a question about [ Task ], I should say, “Go ask the owner of the Task, not me. I don’t want to undermine!”
3. When questions arise about how to do [ Task ], my first response must be, “Did you check the SOP first? If not, do that and come back if it’s still unanswered. 🙂”
4. When the SOP is missing information, my job is to provide information only I know to the new owner. I will not write or edit the SOP on their behalf.
5. If [ Task ] is not done correctly, my job is to tell the new owner immediately. I must communicate what is wrong and then say, “Can you fix this and then update the SOP to ensure this isn’t missed in the future? Thank you so much!”
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And with that, you’ve reached the final lesson of the Task Plunger™.

Any time you find yourself struggling to delegate or feel overwhelmed with tasks, this process is here for you.

Kind of like…

Yup, a plunger. 😉

Enjoy the process!

PS — If you found this entire exercise helpful, consider taking our free operations audit for insights on your team-wide systemization.