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Five ideas for delegating more

A young, smiling staff member in a dental exam room ready to help their boss

Trying to do it all at your practice can lead to burnout. For some business owners, letting go of the reins and delegating more can be challenging. Here are five ideas to help you delegate more, so you can get more done, empower your staff, and free up time for patient care.

1. Think long-term

Training staff to complete tasks in a way that matches your expectations can take time, but when done effectively small efforts today can generate big time savings over the long haul. Be patient. It will take employees a bit longer to finish tasks at first, but as they get faster, so will your practice’s overall workflow.

2. Perfect is the enemy of great

Expecting perfection from every task is unrealistic. Plus, there’s no guarantee that “your” way of doing something is necessarily the best. Do set clear guidelines, expectations, and deadlines for tasks you delegate and find a sweet spot where work is getting done without constant management.

3. Focus on recurring tasks

When choosing responsibilities to delegate, focus on daily or weekly tasks first. Effective is a permanent shift of responsibilities across your entire team. Not all tasks need to be delegated to a staff member who already has the skills to do that work. New responsibilities present a growth opportunity for employees who are hungry to move up.

4. Be results focused

Not everyone works in the same way. While it is important to monitor and support staff as they take on new responsibilities, do your best to judge the results instead of methodology. Allow a certain degree of autonomy for how staff complete tasks if the results match your expectations.

5. Provide feedback

It’s important to follow up with employees regarding delegated tasks to let them know how they are doing. Praise their successes and correct their mistakes. Letting go of perfection doesn’t equate to accepting subpar work.

The benefits of delegating go well beyond freeing up your time. Empowering staff increases job satisfaction and morale. As trust grows within your practice, so will productivity.