“I know I need to hand things off. I just don’t know where to start.”
It is one of the most common things owners say when they start looking for help. The decision to delegate has been made. The first step is what stalls.
There is a good reason for that. The first handoff is the hardest one you will ever do. You have to stop, explain something you do without thinking, and then watch someone else do it more slowly than you would. In the moment, doing it yourself feels faster.
It is faster, once. It is much slower over a year. So here is a way to choose your first few handoffs that keeps the risk low and the payoff quick.
What’s the best way to delegate tasks?
The best way to delegate is to start with work that repeats, follows rules, and is low risk, and to hand over the outcome you want along with the task.
Look for those three things:
- It repeats. Weekly or monthly work pays you back every time it comes around. A one-off task rarely earns back the time spent explaining it.
- It follows rules. If you can describe it as “when this happens, do that,” someone else can do it.
- It is low risk. A small mistake should be easy to spot and easy to fix. Save the high-stakes work for later.
Then hand it over with three things: what a finished result looks like, when it is due, and one example of it done the way you like. Most delegation that fails was missing one of those.
What is the 70% rule of delegation?
The 70% rule says that if someone else can do a task at least 70% as well as you can, you should hand it off.
Most owners hold out for 100%. That is why so many still book their own meetings.
The other 30% isn’t lost. You get most of it back by giving feedback the first few times. After that, the task is off your plate for good, and the hours you get back are worth more than the small difference in polish.
What does the 80/20 rule of delegation mean?
The 80/20 rule means that a small share of your work, roughly 20%, produces most of your results, roughly 80%. In delegation, the point is to protect that small share and hand off as much of the rest as you can.
A quick way to find your 20%: ask which activities bring in revenue or keep your best clients happy. For most owners that is selling, serving clients, and setting direction. Nearly everything else supports those three, which makes it a candidate for handing off.
What are some good examples of delegation?
Good first examples are tasks that are frequent, rule-based, and easy to check. Here are common first handoffs:
- Inbox triage. Sorting, flagging what needs you, and drafting routine replies.
- Calendar management. Booking, rescheduling, and sending reminders.
- Invoice follow-up. Polite nudges on a set schedule.
- CRM updates. Notes and next steps entered after every call.
- Social scheduling. Posting content that is already written and approved.
- Vendor and supplier follow-up. Chasing quotes, confirmations, and deliveries.
Each one eats small pieces of your day, and none of them needs your judgment more than once in a while.
What to keep
Some work should stay with you, at least for now:
- Relationships with your most important clients.
- Pricing and anything that commits the business to spending money.
- Hiring and firing decisions.
- Where the business is going.
You can get help preparing for all of these. The decisions themselves are yours.
A one-week handoff plan
- Monday. List everything you did last week that you will do again this week.
- Tuesday. Circle three that repeat, follow rules, and are low risk.
- Wednesday. Do each one with a screen recording running. Talk through what you are doing and why.
- Thursday. Hand them over with the recording, the due date, and an example.
- Friday. Review what came back. Give specific feedback on one or two things, not ten.
Next week, the same three tasks should take less of your time. The week after, add one more.
Start smaller than you think
The owners who delegate well didn’t begin with a big reorganization. They handed off one small recurring task, saw that it worked, and handed off the next.
If you want help working out what your first three should be, book a free 30-minute discovery call. Bring your list and we will sort it with you.
