Who should you delegate tasks to your your law firm?
One of the biggest mistakes I see law firm owners make is when it comes to deciding who to delegate tasks to. We’ve never been trained on how to do it, and many times we pick the wrong person.
Here are 4 criteria to consider before deciding who to delegate tasks to:
1. The personality and style required to do the task
Some people are naturally introverted and some are extroverted. Some are detail-oriented and some are big picture.
If you are going to delegate tasks that require attention high level of organization and attention to detail, make sure you don’t choose an extroverted big picture person. They may be able to pull it off, but it goes to be a challenge for them, and they’ll be more prone to error. Instead pick an organized and detail-oriented person.
2. The knowledge required to do the task
How much specific industry knowledge does someone need to do this task? Are they filing papers for immigration court and need to be well trained in that area? Or are they doing simple data transfer from documents and all you need to do is show them how to move data from point A to point B?
If they don’t need much industry knowledge, then pick someone who has the skills and train them with the knowledge.
3. Do they have the capacity to do it?
Don’t overwhelm someone who is already overwhelmed. Who on your team has the time to do this task? And the energy to do this task?
4. Do they want to do it?
There are few things worse than giving someone a task they don’t want to do. Some can take it as a challenge and learn how to do it, but if their heart is not in the task or learning it, they’re going to get drained and their morale will decline, making them more likely to leave your law firm.