Business owners hear a lot of advice about working more efficiently.
Automate more. Delegate more. The problem is deciding which option to choose.
When a task lands on your to-do list, it can be tempting to hand it to whoever is available or rush to set up an automation to remove it completely. But choosing the wrong option can create new problems.
You might end up paying a person to complete something a system could easily do. You might spend hours building an automation that still needs human judgment. Or you might make a process more complicated instead of simplifying it.
The goal is to choose the option that saves time, money, and energy.
When Delegation Makes Sense
You should delegate when a task requires judgment or discretion.
If it involves nuanced communication, especially directly with clients, it should probably stay with a human. If it needs context or decision-making, that points to delegation too. The same applies if the process is likely to change often or needs flexibility.
Things that you might delegate include:
responding to complex client inquiries
following up on proposals
creating customised proposals
scheduling meetings with tricky availabilities
Humans are great at adapting, interpreting, and empathising. Automation is not really that strong with those things yet.
When to automate
Tasks should be automated when they are repetitive, identical every time, rules-based, and very predictable. They don't require much judgment or creativity, and are often high frequency and low complexity.
Strong contenders for automation include:
sending confirmation emails after a form is filled out
creating tasks from form submissions
reminders to enter timesheets
new client onboarding sequences
weekly report generation
logging leads into your CRM
If something is done the same way every time and doesn't need human input, it should be automated.
The automation/delegation hybrid
Some tasks start with automation but are best finished with delegation.
For example, someone fills out a form on your website. Automation creates them in your CRM system and assigns a follow-up to a real human, who then sends out a templated email.
Or when a project wraps up, automation sends a feedback form, and then a real human follows up personally with clients who do not respond.
These are situations where humans and systems work together, and you don't have to pick just one every time.
The simple rule of thumb
When you're unsure whether to delegate or automate, ask yourself:
Does this task need thinking, judgment, or emotion?
If so, delegate it.
If it follows the same rules every time, automate it.
Start with something that annoys you (the task that makes you sigh when you see it!).
Then ask:
Can a system do this with some rules?
Could a VA or a human do this with context?
Or can both be combined, with a human doing part of it and automation doing part of it?
Go through one task at a time and break it down. It doesn't have to be overwhelming all at once.
Need help figuring out where to start?
If you’re stuck deciding what to automate or delegate, getting an outside perspective can make it much clearer. Book a call with us today.
