Business success in today's challenging economic environment depends to a great extent on obtaining meaningful advances in productivity. Financial resources for growth are not abundant. Where a business comes up short in achieving productivity gains, the results are often painful for all concerned. Lack of productivity pulls down performance. When this happens, managers reputations and even their futures are threatened. the managers business unit and people on the team are affected the same way. One important area of management that can make a big difference in productivity is to work on effective delegation.
A focus on effective delegation is a blind spot for many managers and organizations. When seeking increases in performance, areas such as budgets, resources, people issues and competitive pressures are often the concentration. In reality, very often the skills and techniques of effective delegation are never even considered. Getting increases in performance for the business unit come down to getting more performance out of each person. This is the managers responsibility. The application of effective delegation techniques are at the core of how a manager can get more done. Most often this will be over-looked in favor of some big productivity effort or efforts that looks in the wrong spots for improvement. If a manager becomes more effective in planning, delegating and managing tasks and assignments, permanent and long term improvements can begin. These improvements in performance start to happen almost immediately.
The first solution to improved management delegation is in the planning area. Managers need to step back and look at how thoroughly and effectively they "plan" the delegation of work assignments. The manager needs to have a crystal clear view of exactly what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and by when it needs to be completed. This is very often taken for granted. The area that receives the least pre-planning is the How question. Managers usually have a pretty good picture in their own mind as to how an assignment should be executed. They may know what standards, methods, effects and resources need to be employed. What they most often assume is that this well be self-evident to the employee they assign the task. A tremendous amount of time is lost because assignments need to be re-done or re-directed due to the miscommunication of how the manager expects the work to be completed.
The lack of attention to exactly "how the employee sees the assignment" is at the heart of a lot of poorly executed work tasks. This really does negatively affect performance. Each person in a business unit has their own set of characteristics, values and experiences. these form a screen through which work assignments are sorted out and understood. When you watch a top manager delegate assignments, they are always thinking about how a given person will filter the communication. A high percentage of delegated tasks come up short because of not paying attention the the employees unique way of processing. Each individual on the team will "see" the communication through their own mind. they may misunderstand what is expected because of their perceptions. A manager can gain productivity right away by effectively delegating through the employee's "lens."
Managing the time-line of execution progress and delivery is another important skill. the productivity and execution of assignments is positively affected by good time-line management. This is not simply laying out when the work on the project should be finished. The most important aspect of any meaningful assignment will be to establish how frequently progress will be reviewed. Nothing says"important and urgent" to members of the business unit than established review dates. How often and thorough a manager outlines the review schedule depends on how detailed and people intense the project. It may be once per week or more or less frequently. In many cases, a project may have a number of separate but related assignments involved in the over-all project. To the extent any of these layers is dependent on another for completion, a "milestone" for the key assignment should be set.
These skills and techniques will have a marked impact on productivity. Where the manager is very clear about exactly what needs to be accomplished, in what manner it needs to be done and when it needs to be done (including checkpoints), the delegated task is started on the right foot. By paying more attention to how each employee receiving the work assignment will filter it through their "lens", the delegation communication is of greater quality. By managing both periodic reviews and milestones, the manager will attain project execution that moves forward in an organized fashion and the teams focus is maintained. This contributes directly to increased productivity because the "velocity of execution" speeds up. Employees are focused, and there is gradient stress on getting things moved along to conclusion.
Managers who are not achieving as much productivity as is needed can go to school on the top productivity boosters. The lack of needed productivity is often the result of basic delegation miss-steps. The pre-delegation planning is incomplete. The communication of the assignment is not thorough. The unique "lens of the employee" has not been taken into account. A tightly organized schedule of feedback and review sessions has not been established. These problems can be remedied, and performance can increase. It is the managers responsibility to commit to effective delegation of assignments. Many times this is over-looked at the expense of improved productivity. The best way to over-come these obstacles will be to apply more effective delegation to these raod blocks. It works. It works right away, and it continues to pay dividends.
A focus on effective delegation is a blind spot for many managers and organizations. When seeking increases in performance, areas such as budgets, resources, people issues and competitive pressures are often the concentration. In reality, very often the skills and techniques of effective delegation are never even considered. Getting increases in performance for the business unit come down to getting more performance out of each person. This is the managers responsibility. The application of effective delegation techniques are at the core of how a manager can get more done. Most often this will be over-looked in favor of some big productivity effort or efforts that looks in the wrong spots for improvement. If a manager becomes more effective in planning, delegating and managing tasks and assignments, permanent and long term improvements can begin. These improvements in performance start to happen almost immediately.
The first solution to improved management delegation is in the planning area. Managers need to step back and look at how thoroughly and effectively they "plan" the delegation of work assignments. The manager needs to have a crystal clear view of exactly what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and by when it needs to be completed. This is very often taken for granted. The area that receives the least pre-planning is the How question. Managers usually have a pretty good picture in their own mind as to how an assignment should be executed. They may know what standards, methods, effects and resources need to be employed. What they most often assume is that this well be self-evident to the employee they assign the task. A tremendous amount of time is lost because assignments need to be re-done or re-directed due to the miscommunication of how the manager expects the work to be completed.
The lack of attention to exactly "how the employee sees the assignment" is at the heart of a lot of poorly executed work tasks. This really does negatively affect performance. Each person in a business unit has their own set of characteristics, values and experiences. these form a screen through which work assignments are sorted out and understood. When you watch a top manager delegate assignments, they are always thinking about how a given person will filter the communication. A high percentage of delegated tasks come up short because of not paying attention the the employees unique way of processing. Each individual on the team will "see" the communication through their own mind. they may misunderstand what is expected because of their perceptions. A manager can gain productivity right away by effectively delegating through the employee's "lens."
Managing the time-line of execution progress and delivery is another important skill. the productivity and execution of assignments is positively affected by good time-line management. This is not simply laying out when the work on the project should be finished. The most important aspect of any meaningful assignment will be to establish how frequently progress will be reviewed. Nothing says"important and urgent" to members of the business unit than established review dates. How often and thorough a manager outlines the review schedule depends on how detailed and people intense the project. It may be once per week or more or less frequently. In many cases, a project may have a number of separate but related assignments involved in the over-all project. To the extent any of these layers is dependent on another for completion, a "milestone" for the key assignment should be set.
These skills and techniques will have a marked impact on productivity. Where the manager is very clear about exactly what needs to be accomplished, in what manner it needs to be done and when it needs to be done (including checkpoints), the delegated task is started on the right foot. By paying more attention to how each employee receiving the work assignment will filter it through their "lens", the delegation communication is of greater quality. By managing both periodic reviews and milestones, the manager will attain project execution that moves forward in an organized fashion and the teams focus is maintained. This contributes directly to increased productivity because the "velocity of execution" speeds up. Employees are focused, and there is gradient stress on getting things moved along to conclusion.
Managers who are not achieving as much productivity as is needed can go to school on the top productivity boosters. The lack of needed productivity is often the result of basic delegation miss-steps. The pre-delegation planning is incomplete. The communication of the assignment is not thorough. The unique "lens of the employee" has not been taken into account. A tightly organized schedule of feedback and review sessions has not been established. These problems can be remedied, and performance can increase. It is the managers responsibility to commit to effective delegation of assignments. Many times this is over-looked at the expense of improved productivity. The best way to over-come these obstacles will be to apply more effective delegation to these raod blocks. It works. It works right away, and it continues to pay dividends.
About the Author:
Michael D. Moore, who has over 4o years of executive experience with managing teams, has written a number of Articles on the Art & Science of delegating authority and managing work. For a limited period, you can receive a Complimentary copy of the Project Development Scratch Pad tool by visiting his Websitee and simply signing in on the Home page.. Also published at Increasing Team Productivity Requires Effective Delegation.
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