All of us have a list of regular recurring tasks we are responsible for. These items can quickly fill our schedule. They often don’t feel as connected to our impact, but they just have to be done. Tax filings, weekly impact reporting, financial reports; some things just feel like they have to be done whether you’re excited about them or not. Here’s a suggestion to ADD time back to your schedule by moving these off your list:

Automate tasks that are highly predictable.

There are lots of software tools out there now that will make some of these items automatic without your direct involvement.

• My rent is due monthly but I’m in the office so little that it’s easy to forget when I’m busy. My online billpay will let me schedule a check to send every month on a schedule I need. I just have to make sure there’s money in the account!
• Payroll filings can be a real pain, especially if you have a small organization and you’re the only one available to do them. There are a number of inexpensive payroll solutions. These companies will cover the majority of payroll needs for you so that you simply approve the checks before they are written. I find the cost of this to be well worth the time I would spend plus saving the headache of knowing it’s done right.

Delete tasks that are not adding value.

In the life cycle of an organization, there are tasks we add to our routine that make sense when they are new. As we grow or as team members change, we should review these routines regularly.

• I worked with an organization that had a seven to eight page monthly financial report for the Board. They built this packet over thirty years of active ministry in multiple categories. As the organization matured and made decisions that streamlined their operations into only two categories of service, we were still generating a number of these reports. But we kept spending time doing those reports “because it was part of the process”. A few months in, I requested permission from the Board Chair to discontinue those reports. We quickly confirmed that no one was looking at them anyway!

• Many of us started organizations when “paper trail” was the rule of the day for financial accountability. Large photocopiers, file cabinets and closets filled with Bankers Boxes are the evidence of this today. I am not advocating paperless (I’m still a little old-school), but what about using email reports to key leaders to spare the generation of paper photocopies? Many leaders would rather look at items in their email and spare the paper inbox filler. This does require formatting your reports in a way that allow for smartphone viewing. If you can adjust your report templates so that they generate this way automatically, you can allocate the photocopying time to strategic planning or client service! (Or to going home on time.)

Delegate tasks that can be capably done by others.

If something can’t be automated or deleted, what about giving it to another team member or volunteer? For lower and mid-level tasks, someone might be able to do it nearly as well as you. Some speakers suggest that you should give something away if another person can do it 80% as well as you can. We cannot delegate some things because they require our knowledge AND our authority AND our skills. But if a task only requires two of these three things, consider this:

• Some people on your team may have similar skills (they may be better at Excel than you are). You could give them the knowledge and understanding to generate draft financial or other reports on the state of the organization. Then they submit them to you for approval before distribution. You maintain the authority piece but reduce the time invested. If there’s one account you typically watch closely and you normally check it when you’re preparing the reports, ask them to give you the summary reports AND a detail on that line item. Side note: I have found that I read financial reports more critically when I didn’t generate them. This could help you catch something you otherwise would have missed.
• Some people on your team may have the knowledge of your organization but may not be as trained in Excel or WordPress or whatever tool you use for the task at hand. How about sending them to a class so they can learn this skill? This will help them feel more invested in your organization and increase their heart to give back, plus reduce your task load. There are plenty of free and inexpensive training vehicles out there; one leader I have worked with goes to Youtube for help with everything.

But some things require special authority?

Authority is a hard one to navigate, but I went through a season where I did not have the required time to do a deep proofreading of our financial reports before they were submitted to the Board. Our Bookkeeper was preparing them and doing a quality job but she wasn’t quite to the level to feel comfortable with things going straight to the Board without my review. But who could cover this important work for me?

I met with our volunteer Treasurer who was also a recipient of the financial reports. Because he had a detailed eye, I was confident he could inspect her work. He also might catch things I wouldn’t see because he was less connected to the everyday activities of the organization. For six months, he took over that task and helped me clear multiple months of overdue reports to the Board. By the end of that season, the Bookkeeper was ready to generate for the Board directly. I never had to re-add “checking the reports” to my list. Instead, I now receive and review them when the Board does.

I onboard new volunteers because other leaders don’t know what I know.

• Onboarding new volunteers is one item that is mission critical for nonprofits. And you know and can explain things about your organization that make you a key piece of each new volunteer’s process. But if the typical process is 60 minutes, could your portion be 15? If someone else handled 45 minutes, the new volunteer will have more relationships in the org than just with you. Plus you will have shaved 75% of your time investment. With one ministry, I developed a one page summary of all the basic info that every volunteer needed to know. I took my presentation and spelled it out on paper. Then I could put the paper in the hands of any experienced volunteer to go over with other new folks. Many hands make light work, including in volunteer onboarding.

I hope these tips help you!

Related Link: More tips on working your to-do list!