3 Steps to Determine the Cost of Lost Opportunities

All too often, people at all levels jump in and do tasks that truly are not at their highest and best level. While they feel that they may be helping pitch in or think it would be easier to just get it done themselves, ultimately they are starving their company by deciding not to stay in their zone of genius. The cost of these lost opportunities can be difficult to determine, but when you take a deeper look at them, you’ll see that it’s often significant.

The concept is pretty basic, and yet people continuously convince themselves that [insert task here] is easier to just do themselves.

Doing the Math

Let’s break it down.

How often do you find a manager or team lead stepping in to do an assistant’s task? It might seem more efficient – after all, the manager is probably more skilled at the task and can complete it more quickly. But what does that “quick task” end up costing the company?

If a person’s hourly rate of value to the business would essentially be $60 and they’re doing a $20 an hour task, there is there a direct loss of $40. It doesn’t stop there, though.

In that same time, your higher-paid person could have been developing new opportunities. Perhaps they could have reconnected with an acquaintance or cultivated a relationship – either of which could result in bringing in more referrals or creating happier customers who would gladly do more with your company. Those opportunities could yield anywhere from $500 to $1500 worth of value, or more.

Obviously, there will be differences depending on industries and price points, but the concept is the same. When someone who otherwise could be growing the company or helping expand goodwill spends that time completing short term tasks, opportunities are lost. And once they’re lost, they may be impossible to get back.

The person in question may feel like they’re contributing by checking a task off the list, but that task just doesn’t have the value you hired them to bring – and it could be done by someone who’s even better at it than they are.

Let’s take this one step further: how often do you find yourself doing things that you should be delegating to your team because you’re afraid to hand it over or because you think it’s easier to just do it yourself? (Trust me, you’re not alone.)

How to Determine the Cost

The hard part in all of this comes when we put the mirror to our faces – and when we recognize how to put this into action. Most individuals, especially business owners, understand the concept but we still let ourselves and our teams justify the choice. 

Step 1: Document all of your time for one to two weeks. This might seem like a burden at first, but it will help you see exactly which tasks you need to keep and which you can delegate.

There are several platforms that can help you do this, some of which are free. (I like Toggl, but feel free to choose the one that works best for you.) This will also help you break down your projects into smaller increments for project planning and delegation.

Step 2: Take a few minutes to highlight in yellow all of the items on your report that could be delegated to someone else, regardless of whether that person currently exists on your team.

Note that this includes not only the tasks you would love to give away, but also those that you enjoy but don’t need to do. This will not only clear tasks off your plate, but also help you put your focus where it needs to be as the leader of your company.

These may include things like responding to basic questions, solving various issues, backing up materials, or copying files over to other folders – all of which are useful, but not the best use of your time. However, they may also include things like marketing tasks, bookkeeping activities, intake calls, and running reports. These may be a bit more specialized, but as CEO, they’re not details you need to focus on.

Step 3: Highlight all of the items in green that are truly your zone of genius – the things that you can do as CEO to drive your company forward. Then, look at all of the non-highlighted items to determine what else can be delegated.

This is where you might need to get creative and create a game plan, especially if you don’t currently have individuals on your team that can take those tasks on, but that’s ok. You have the information you need to determine an action plan to move forward!

Following these steps alone can be difficult, but this is where you may find value in an accountability coach or executive assistant. These superstars can help nurture your ability to delegate tasks and hold you accountable to not bringing them back on your plate.

And once you get through this process, you’ll be amazed at the difference. Not only does it help make for a more profitable business, but it also helps to make a happier you and a happier team!