The Lowest Hanging Fruit in Managerial Leadership – Effective Task Assignment
By Michelle Malay Carter on August 25, 2008
With all the curriculum out there -?from supervisory training to MBAs to leadership courses, you would think that?effective task assignment?techniques would be at the top of the list.? My experience is that it is not.?
Managers I’ve met have usually had?more Myers Briggs training than they have effective task assignment training.
What does an effective task assignment look like?
Why:? provides context, allows for decisions to be made relative to it
What:? fairly self-explanatory
When:? a task without a timeframe?attached to it, is just an ask
Quantity:? how many?
Quality:? what criteria will you be using to judge whether a satisfactory job was done.
Resources:? what resources will be provided to the employee (training, staff, budget, consultants, materials, software)
Integration:? where does this work overlap other work.?
Reporting:? how and how often should status reports be provided
We use this format in our leadership training, and we encourage our clients to build the use of the format into their performance management system.
Improved Effeciency and Effectiveness
Although it is often met with initial skepticism, because of the “up front” work it requires, those who commit to using the format, in written form, find that it saves incredible amounts of time.??
Many managers admit to half-assigning work before they have really thought it through, and they end up wasting their direct reports’ time.? Written, full-format?task assignments put an end to that, as it forces the manager to be “serious” about the work before assigning it.?
Furthermore, it forces managers to provide the necessary resources to get the job done.? How often have you been given an assignment without the appropriate resources?
No Surprises
When managers are clear about what they want done, and they provide this clarity to their direct reports, the work gets done correctly the first time.? And, since the quality standards and deadlines are elucidated up front, there are no surprise on the back end.
The Holy Grail of Communication!
We talked last week about the holy grail – communication.?? One the best forms of communication a manager can offer an employee is clear task assignments.
I’m OK.? You’re OK.? Let’s fix the system.
What is the silliest task assignment you have ever received?
?
Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Talent Management
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