July 2008
Three Simple Steps to Freeing Up Your Time.
In all the years I have been working with attorneys I am always amazed at how many of them hate to delegate work. What frustrates most attorneys is the time it takes to explain what they need and then to review and correct the work once it is done.
Most will concede that if they want to grow their practice they can not continue to do everything themselves. The more they can delegate the more time they have to spend on their legal work.
Here is the predicament though. Law practices are usually busy places and because the attorney has a lot on his/her mind there is never enough time to do everything. The reason for wanting to delegate is also the obstacle to doing it.
In this rushed atmosphere the attorney wants to give the staff member the work and briefly explain it. Oh wouldn't it be wonderful if the staff member could just understand it without a lot of details! Unfortunately unless you have hired a mind reader this is not possible.
The first step in delegating then is to explain the task in detail. This means giving all the steps that must be done, highlighting the places where mistakes could be costly, and then explaining what to do with the output once it is complete. For some people especially new hires you may have to delegate a simple task initially and save the complex for later when you are confident the person is ready.
Next once you have explained the task in detail, give the employee a written description of the task which must be exactly as you explained in step one. Have a loose leaf notebook for the purpose of storing your description that the person can refer to if he/she forgets something.
Finally listen to the questions the employee has about the process and answer them fully. Find the place in your written description that addresses the question and review it with the person to insure they are clear about what they must do. (Add it if you did not cover it in the written document.)
Now the employee has the tools to complete the task by him/herself. For complex tasks you may want to have some check-in points so you can review the work along the way. If the employee has further questions as he/she proceeds with the work, tell them when you will be available for questions.
In the beginning delegating a task to an employee takes more time than if you did it yourself. For that reason the only tasks to delegate are repetitive ones. Something that is only done once or twice a year is not worth delegating. Taking the time to delegate repetitive tasks will free the attorney to do only work that he/she can do thus maximizing the efficiency of the office.
Take Action:
- Make a list of repetitive functions in your office that could be delegated.
- Start with one that you can off load to someone else. No staff? Find
a function that could be outsourced to a bookkeeper, virtual assistant,
or other contract worker.