Business bottlenecks can be hard to spot when answering questions and reviewing work feels like part of your job. But if a project stops every time you get busy, it’s worth finding out what’s waiting on you. Jennifer Staats explains how to spot those delays, decide what to delegate, and give your team the training and tools to keep work moving.
Spot the business bottlenecks on your desk
When a project stalls, ask your team what they need to move it forward. The answer might be a document you haven’t reviewed or a decision you haven’t made. Those delays can be easy to miss because each request takes only a few minutes, but they add up as you take on more work.
Staats calls her approach the “yellow pad technique.” For a week or two, jot down tasks someone else could handle. Start with work you already do repeatedly, like entering data, fielding routine emails, or sending contracts from an approved template. The list gives you a concrete place to start when you’re ready to hand something off.
Turn a recurring task into a checklist
Pick one process you already know well and write down the steps. Staats used a checklist for real estate transactions even when she knew the process by heart. It helped her remember details that were easy to miss on busy days, like asking for a review or sending a client gift.
Once those steps are visible, you can assign specific pieces of the work and show your team what a completed task looks like. If the same questions keep coming up after a handoff, review the training first. You might find a missing step or an outdated instruction. You can also try explaining the process in writing or recording a walkthrough.
Give your team ownership and keep track of progress
Use shared checklists and high-level reporting to see whether work is on track. Give each team member a clear area of responsibility and invite them to speak up when a process causes delays. They can help you improve the system as they use it.
The same care applies to automation. If you use AI to draft customer emails or build message templates, start with a small workflow and review what will go out before you turn it on. Staats recalls receiving a customer service email that still said “insert customer name here.” A quick review can catch a detail like that before it reaches your customer.
Guest resource
Jennifer Staats shares a 14-day free trial of SureSend AI, a CRM where you can build checklists and automate workflows. She says the trial includes onboarding and 24/7 support.
Watch the full episode
Watch the full episode for more of Staats’s real estate examples and her advice on where to start if you’re ready to delegate. As you watch, think of one recurring task you could document this week and give someone else ownership of.
