Exec Wranglers Stephanie Fritts

Program Recap

WCA and Freelance Austin jointly kicked off their fall programming on September 20th by hosting a lunchtime presentation by Stephanie Fritts, founder of Exec Wranglers. Fritts spoke to a dozen members over Zoom on “Creating Harmony Through Delegation.

To begin, Fritts asked attendees to take a deep breath and visualize “how it would feel to have everything in your life wrangled.” This brought out positive responses.

Next, Fritts asked how attendees felt about the idea of delegating work to others. Answers included being nervous or worried about whether the person delegated to was truly dedicated to the business, and having difficulty trusting others to get the work done correctly.

These feelings established, Fritts said her presentation would seek to improve the attendees’ comfort level with the idea by explaining how delegation works. She then addressed: Why to Delegate, What to Delegate, How to Delegate, and When to Delegate.

Reasons why to delegate, she said, include preserving your own health, noting that “stress is bad for you.” Fritts stressed that delegating some responsibilities allows one to have time for family, friends, and self-care. She also stated that for entrepreneurs, “At some point, your inability to delegate will be a barrier to your growth.” She claimed that this is also true for employees who want to advance in their careers.

Then came the question of what to delegate. Fritts broke tasks down into different categories. She called the first three of these incompetencies (things you don’t know how to do), competencies (things you can do, but don’t enjoy), and proficiencies (things you’re really good at, but that don’t necessarily help you grow your business or advance in your job).

She put all of these under the banner of “administrivia,” which she defined as “the tiresome essential details that must be taken care of to run your business,” and suggested that all administrivia can and often should be delegated.

Such delegation allows one to focus on the fourth category of tasks, which Fritts called “the Zone of Harmony.” These are things that one does as part of one’s business “where you walk away feeling energized.” Fritts said these tasks are “closely connected to your why” – why you went into business or your job in the first place.

Fritts then discussed the question of how to delegate. She showed various levels of delegation, where each level fed into the next one. If the person delegated to rises to the challenge of easier tasks at the lower levels, they gain trust and take on more responsibility over time.

Download the Exec Wranglers Zone of Harmony worksheet here.

Rebecca Johnson
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