Delegation Matrix - Bryan Miles - May 2012

The other day, I was trying to help a young guy in my mentoring group … to understand & think through time management. This is what I came up with.

Time management, is a lot of things. But, one thing for sure, that I know is time management, is the ability to DELEGATE. I’ve written a ton about delegation. So, in an effort to consolidate my one-on-one time with my mentee … here’s my two cents on delegation coupled with my “Delegation Matrix.” I hope you find it useful.

Quadrant 1 -  KEEP the things you love & only you can do them.

Quadrant 2 -  DELEGATE the things you love but you know that others can do. This is easily, the place/quadrant that you should lead, coach, and develop … primarily because you love what you are giving them, and likely there is passion in this set of actions/efforts/results expected.

Quadrant 3 -  DELEGATE the stuff you hate that you know that you think you should be doing or find yourself doing. These are the things that you procrastinate on … that others may like doing. If you hate stuff that you know you should do … it will show up later. This is typically areas like bookkeeping, legal work, detail junk, project management, proof-reading & etc.

Quadrant 4 -  DELEGATE the stuff you hate & others can do. This is a no-brainier. You’re the King of Wasting Time if you do stuff in this quadrant.

One reminder, when you delegate … delegate the results not the tasks.

QUESTION: how are you doing with your delegation? What quadrant is getting most of your time?