Effective goal setting will help get you out of feeling like you have to micro-manage everything because you want to make sure that the task or project is completed to your satisfaction.  

While you may believe there is nothing wrong with thinking  “if you want something done, do it yourself,”  it won’t help your team or company grow.  

If you want to move up in the company, you need to let go of believing no one can do it as well as you, so you might as well do it yourself.  Remember, effective goal setting isn’t just about listing the things that need to be done. It’s actually more about delegating minor tasks and concentrating on those that are vital to your goals.

What is the “Right” Way to Spend Your Time?

No matter how big or small the task, every aspect of your business matters. However, this doesn’t mean that you should spend your time doing everything. Assign tasks to your employees.  Your focus should be on doing work that will help your department or business in the long run. Here’s a good comparison:

Minutiae tasks that can be assigned to someone else

Getting new sales leads and setting up business appointments.

Recruiting new employees and employee onboarding.

Paperwork with non-sensitive information.

Anything administrative that someone else can do. 

Tasks that you should do or handle

Coaching employees.

Presentation for prospective clients.

Final interview for recruitment.

Contracts and proposals that have a direct impact on your business’s revenue.

When you spend your time doing the wrong things you don’t have enough time, or the mental capacity to focus on the activities that are strategic and will help you, your department, or the team grow.  You are caught in a cycle of having to continue doing the work that others could and should do because you haven’t trained them to take on these tasks and unable to move forward because there isn’t enough time in the day for thinking and strategy development.

Create an effective goal-setting strategy that will work with your organization’s long-term goals. Set goals that will help you attract and lead your team effectively. Let your team know that each of them matters, and take the time to grow and develop them through effective delegation.

Effective goal setting includes:

A plan to minimize non-sensical tasks in your work calendar

Allotting ample time for tasks that will directly affect your business’ growth.

Training your employees to be more productive and independent

Spend Your Time doing Strategy Work

If you want your department or business to be successful you have to focus your time on strategy, developing others, and effective goal setting.  That starts with knowing what you should be doing and what others can and should be doing.  

Delegating is difficult for most everyone I know.  They either delegate the wrong things or to the wrong people, don’t take the time to train, or don’t clearly communicate their expectations. 

Take our Delegation Quiz and find out what type of delegator you are, and how it’s impacting the results you are getting.