Elite Virtual Assistants

EVA Blog Article
Interview with a Master of Delegation
February 17, 2022

Updated: May 19, 2022

Interview with a Master of Delegation By Megan Murphy

I became aware of Lisa Crilley Mallis from writing for EVA. She was someone Laura Licursi spoke of highly and often; and soon I was helping to promote Lisa and Laura’s joint project, Delegate Like A Pro. I know you’ve seen our posts about workshops and resources through DLAP, but perhaps you’re still wondering how delegating is even possible, why DLAP is so successful, or if there are other business owners like you who aren’t totally sure what delegating entails? 

I felt like that too. 

Delegating? Isn’t that just passing off work to someone else? I don’t need to do that.  I can do it all by myself. I can handle my own. I’ll just skip my lunch and go to bed late. Then I’ll be on top! 

But that never works out, friends. 

So between hearing about DLAP and reading EVA’s book selection for this quarter: Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt, I set off to learn more about this “delegating” skill. 

Credit: Megan Murphy

Lisa was kind enough to sit down over Zoom with me and answer some questions. 

Me: “I gotta ask, do you have a virtual assistant?”

Lisa, laughing: “I have four! I could never do it alone.”

Me: “What do each of them handle?”

Lisa: “One handles admin, one handles workflow and operations, one handles video editing and one handles my website.”

I wondered…Is it smart to have so many? Is that normal?

Lisa explained that for most people, you start with one. You decide what is best off your plate. What’s something you absolutely do not have time to do? What is something that you don’t want to do? That’s where you start. 

Then, Lisa suggests finding your “bottlenecks.”  Consider asking yourself: What is your zone of genius? What are your strengths? What are you spending time on that isn’t part of the basis of your position? Those tasks can then turn into full projects once you are building trust and rapport with your Virtual Assistant.

 “Delegation is a skill, but it’s an art too,” Lisa says. 

Michael Hyatt talks about these notions in his book. There are 5 levels of delegation according to Free to Focus. Level 1 starts with having your VA “only do what you’ve asked them to do” but by level 5 you are “handing the entire project off” to your VA. Just like any relationship, trust and communication are key!

 

Okay. Now is there anything I shouldn’t be delegating?

 Lisa says yes, “You especially don’t want to get rid of anything you enjoy doing, or that you’re good at doing.” She adds.

Hyatt agrees here too. He writes about the 4 zones of productivity, broken down into a chart by proficiency vs. passion. If it’s something you are both passionate and proficient at, you should simply focus on those tasks and consider delegating things in the other 3 zones, especially tasks in the “Drudgery Zone” where you are neither passionate nor proficient at the task. 

Maybe this is all still getting overwhelming for you. “I don’t know, I still think it would be easier for me to just do it all myself,” you say?

“Delegation is a skill that needs to be practiced just like any other skill. It won’t always come naturally to you.” Lisa says. She assures with practice, a stable frame and foundation from which to delegate, and patience, you can become a master delegator too!

The takeaway here, I think Lisa Crilley Mallis says best, “You’re not delegating to be able to work more. You’re learning to delegate to have more time for you.” 

Who doesn’t want more of that? 

Check out Delegate Like A Pro for more, and sign up for their next Delegation Express Zone where you can ask your own questions to Lisa on Zoom! 

Credit: Delegate Like A Pro Facebook

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