If you want to escape the time-for-money trap you’re going to need to delegate work to other people. That’s a challenge for many lawyers because they never learned the secrets of effective leadership and delegation.
One place lawyers struggle with delegating is that they are not clear how they want to be informed or keep control of the thing they are delegating.
You can solve this problem by setting up three categories of tasks you are delegating. That way you can use shorthand when you assign a task and you’ll all be on the same page.
I recommend these degrees of delegation:
- Act as Instructed. This is the most basic level and is one of the reasons you may be having trouble. At this level, you are doing the thinking and they are doing precisely what you tell them to do, and no more. If you want to grow your practice you’re going to need people around you who can act at higher levels.
- Report. The staff will gather the data you want and give it to you for discussion and decision. The burden remains on you to decide.
- Recommend. You’re looking for well-thought-out solutions to the problem you’ve presented. Your staff should come to you with options ready for approval from their independent work.
- Act then Advise. The staff is free to act to accomplish the objective. They will advise you at intervals or milestones you specify or if they are struggling.
- Fire and Forget. The staff member will take complete responsibility and complete the task. No further reporting is required, except a general update as part of their weekly check-in. Once assigned, the task is off of your list and you can forget it.
Remember, the most common cause of trouble with delegation is in the handoff to the staff member. That means you have the ability to make it better by improving your delegation skills.
When you do your staff will be more productive, you won’t worry as much and you will be one step closer to escaping the time for money trap.
P.s. … If you liked this tip check out my 5 Lawyer Success Hacks – a step-by-step guide to getting more productive. Click here to get your copy.