As a business owner, your primary concern is to focus on the tasks that get you paid. This often times looks like handing off other tasks to a virtual assistant, an accountant and other types of contractors.
For example, if you want to run a content marketing agency, then you need to hand off work to contractors or employees that are working under you. You go from a solorpreneur to now having a team of people.
The Problem With Trying to Manage a Team
Unfortunately, starting to build a team to help you with projects sometimes leads to a problem.
While you were trying to get stuff off your plate, you actually end up putting more on your plate because you’re managing everyone. Now you have double the work.
This is usually when it’s time to start letting other people manage your team. In some cases, you may already have a team member that can do the job. That’s what happened to me recently when I hired new contractors and starting letting my long-term VA manage the team.
Here’s how you can make sure you’re letting other people manage your team for you so you can focus on the stuff that matters.
Let go of the control.
When you start letting other people manage your team, you must let go of the control. I understand how hard this can be for a business owner, but I also know how liberating it can be to just trust other people to do their jobs.
I recently starting experimenting with letting someone else manage contractors and it was actually a huge relief. I would log into our project management system and see that everything was getting handed so I could focus on a big client project. I was able to breathe easier knowing that things were getting done.
Let someone you trust manage your team.
As I already mentioned, you may already know someone that can manage your team.
For example, if you’ve been working with your virtual assistant for a long time, maybe it’s time to move them into a management position.
This is what I did recently. My VA wanted to move into a management position and,quite frankly, I needed her to do it. So I gave her the chance.
Since we’ve been working together for so long, I already knew I could trust her to manage other people. She knew my brand, my business and my vision and could relay that to other people.
Get organized with communication.
If you’re going to let someone else manage your team, you need to organized with communication. This is actually something I’m working on with my team as we speak, but I can give you a couple of pointers based on what I already know.
- Get a good project management system. We use Asana for all internal communication. It’s free for up to 15 members and keeps the email clutter away.
- Figure out the chain of command. I delegate to my VA (now manager) and she handles speaking with my team. That way the deal more with her than with me.
The truth is letting someone else manage your team is exciting, a little scary and totally liberating. If you’re at a stage where you’re doing too much, it may be time to let someone else take some of the reigns.
