robwilkerson.net: productivity

Success Begins with Delegation

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Success begins with delegation. At the core of their being successful people do not really believe that they can do everything by themselves. Those who do may manage businesses, organizations, or teams...but they are micromanagers who create a ceiling for themselves which they will never be able to rise beyond.

Successful people also know how delegation works. They never assume that the person to whom they are delegating a task or project just simply knows how to do it and has the ability to get it done. Those who lead like that may manage businesses, organizations, or teams...but they are usually irritating leaders who expect others to be mind-readers while tasks and projects rarely get completed with excellence, if they ever get completed at all. Then they become blameshifters as they relocate the problem from themselves to their team members or employees.

One of the most important keys to success in any area you lead is to delegate...and to do it right. Over the years I’ve learned the art of delegation and have come to summarize it succinctly in three gears, all of which are required to make the delegated task or project come to completion and fruition. Make no mistake. Delegation is an art, simply because each person to whom you delegate is different. However, when you make your attention the heart and soul and life of the person to whom you’re delegating, the following three gears to delegation will run smoothly with the oil of servant-leadership.

1. Instruct

The first gear of good delegation is instruction. Everything that needs delegating usually needs explaining...unless they’ve done the task or project before. And even then, more instruction is probably needed to help them do it better the next time. When instructing someone I’ve found it helpful to use the following thinking process.

● Offer the plan and be specific: “Here’s what needs to happen in order to get this done.”

● Ask for input and be specific: “Do you see anything I’m missing when it comes to getting this done?”

● Make a decision and be specific: “What we’re going to do then is….”

● Affirm buy-in by reviewing specifics: “So at this point are you clear on what you need to do?”

If you explain well what you’re delegating, you’ve laid a solid foundation for the expectation and outcome. If you fail here, it will most often show when what you’ve delegated is complete, if it was completed at all. The quality of completion is directly connected to the quality of your ability to plainly instruct. Therefore, if and when things don’t turn out quite like you hoped, be open to the fact that your instructions need more explaining next time around.

2. Illustrate

The average person around the world is a visible and not an auditory learner. That may surprise us first-world, 21st century, technologically advanced, Westernized citizens. This fact is never more likely to show up than when a person you’ve delegated something to is strangely unable to complete it. You may have done a great job explaining it. But if you haven’t shown them how to do it, then they have no visible standard by which to compare their work. More often than not this will leave them frustrated and you irritated, and most likely blaming them for not being a good listener or a good team member. Good illustration skills should follow this helpful thinking process.

● Show the plan, and be specific: “Let me start the project or task for you by showing you what I think is a great way to approach and accomplish this task.”

● Watch for feedback, and pay attention to it: “I notice some hesitation here or slight confusion. Show me what you need me to review again.” Or “I notice you seem to be pretty confident about this. Why don’t you review with me what I just showed you to make sure we’re both on the same page.”

● Affirm buy-in and send them on their way: “Let’s get you started and I’ll be available by such-and-such if you have any more questions.”

3. Inspect

The final gear to ensuring that solid delegation has been exercised is remembering the old adage, “inspect what you expect.” Yet this gear is one of the most neglected. We normally get so busy, that we just assume the person to whom a task was delegated somehow got it done...and that it was done right. Those who attempt to manage a business, organization, or team this way often experience the ripple effects of this neglect down the road in the form of organizational potholes that hinder productivity and effectiveness. Inspecting the work of your delegated task involves the following thought process, which lays the foundation in the team member’s mind that you have certain expectations...and that you’ll be inspecting them at some point.

● Communicate when it needs to get done and be specific: “Here’s when this needs to be completed.” Put it on your calendars right then and there:

● Ask for their input on the due date and be specific: “Any issues you foresee in getting this completed on time?”

● Decide a due date and put it on your calendars then and there: “So we’re agreeing that this will be completed by 0/0/00 (@ 0:00 am/pm [if necessary]).”

● Communicate a follow up date/time to ensure it has been done: “I’ll follow up with you on 0/0/00 at 0:00 am/pm to hear how it went.”

● Present contact information should they have more questions: “Here’s my contact information if you should have any more questions.”

● Affirm buy-in on the expectations one final time: “To review then, you’re going to get this completed by 0/0/00 @ 0:00 am/pm, and I’m gonna follow up with you on 0/0/00 @ 0:00 am/pm to follow up?”

If delegation is the most crucial element in any business, organization or team, are you willing to take the time required to delegate thoroughly and properly? Is the value or goal you have in mind worth the time and effort to see it through to the end? If not, then you probably need to do it yourself. If so, then it’s time to delegate...and watch your efforts blossom into a fruitfulness you’ve probably only dreamed of before!

About the Author: Rob is a follower of Jesus at Jubilee Church. From there he pursues Jesus' mission at Revive Consignment as the Business & Operations Development Director, as well as at Jubilee Church of Atlanta, in Woodstock, GA. From there he envisions and pursues missional-shaped business for the kingdom. He and his wife Sherri have been married for 20 years and together have three sons and a daughter. Rob believes the mission of the gospel is summed up in four simple phrases: know God, obey Jesus, make disciples, and plant churches. This is the pursuit of his life, as well as the point of his blog.

business

Ambuiguity is the Thief of Productivity

Monday, November 25, 2013

I heard it said once that, common sense is so uncommon it ought to be considered a superpower! How many times before have you tried to give instructions or an explanation to someone, such as an employee or work associate, and somehow, inexplicably they did not understand what you said?

I have been baffled before as to how detailed I've been in my explanations and instructions, and yet somehow, someone who reported to me still did not understand. Can you relate? So who's fault is it at that point?

Many weeks ago, I assigned a task to a team member and did so with the greatest care and detail. Whenever I am giving instructions, I try to err on the side of too much detail, especially in writing. (Over the years I've sort of defaulted to that method because of so many problems in this area.) When the deadline rolled around, I learned that the team member had hardly even begun the task. Their excuse? They did not understand the scope of the task. I was shocked and frustrated beyond words. So much for overcommunication!

So I asked them what they did not understand, and they asked more questions, I answered those questions, and we set the new deadline. That deadline came and went, but this time they had more questions that to me were completely unnecessary to the completion of the task. Who's fault is it now?

I answered those questions, put a new deadline on it, and did something I did not do before. I scheduled a Google Hangout with them, in order to have a face-to-face conversation. Previous to our meeting I created a new mock-up of what I wanted, including even more explicit detail. In our meeting I presented it all to her, and then asked if she had any further questions or any additional ambiguity. Guess what? The task got done within 24 hours.

So who's fault was it that the task did not get completed on the first deadline? In part, it was both of our faults. The team member should not have waited until the day of the deadline to express their concerns and questions. Ultimately however, it's MY fault as the manager, because I evidently communicated a task with ambiguity. As a result, my ambiguity became the thief of our productivity, since we actually wasted time that neither of us would be paid for because we obviously could not charge the customer for it.

It's easy to blame the person you gave a task to if it doesn't get done. It's easy to assume that you are the best communicator in the world. It's easy to think the world is full of idiots who don't have any common sense. But when push comes to shove, when the pedal hits the metal, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, if YOU are ambiguous in what YOU have communicated, it's YOUR fault!. It makes no difference if you are a manager or a team member, ambiguity will rob your productivity... and therefore, your success.

Here are a few helpful tips I've learned along the way about eliminating ambiguity and increasing productivity.

First, never assume you have communicated completely. If the world is supposedly full of idiots who can't follow instructions, it's also full of managers who breathe life into the old saying about what happens when we assume. Communicate the very best that you are able to, and error on the side of assuming that your team member will probably need some kind of help down the road. You will show your self to be a patient boss, and they will love you for it.

Second, communicate in as many ways as possible. Use the phone, talk face-to-face, use videoconferencing. Just commit to yourself that whatever you need to communicate to someone else, you will do so by talking. Did you get that? Talking. Not by email, or instant messaging, or texting. Those methods are helpful for reinforcing, supporting, or documenting what you said, but not saying what needs to be said to someone. Ambiguity hides well in these methods of communication.

Third, provide examples of what you want done. Draw pictures. Provide diagrams. Create flowcharts. Write support documentation. Give work samples, Envision mock-ups. And here's a common sense idea: show them how to do it! This allows them to watch you as you do it, providing them a living-color example of how you want it done. In short, do whatever it takes to enable the person to visualize and understand what you want done.

Fourth, ask other team members to audit or review your communications. If you find that the people to whom you give things to do don't seem to be able to get them done without frequently asking for more help, then you probably have a problem with ambiguity and YOU simply need coaching. Use the three previous points above as a start. That said, on the flip side, if your team members believe that you are communicating without ambiguity, and yet others are still unable to meet deadlines, then it's time to hold THEM accountable.

If you've been wondering what's been holding back your productivity and success, it could be ambiguity in your communication. Work through these four helpful tips for the next thirty days and see if your productivity does not begin to increase rapidly. Then celebrate with your team as productivity from clear communication becomes YOUR new superpower at work and in life!

management

Meetings with a Mission, Part 6: Set a Meeting Time

Monday, November 11, 2013

6. Set a meeting time...and start on time.

In one survey conducted by staffing agency Accountemps, nearly a third of senior managers said that their list of workplace pet peeves was topped by meetings that began or ended late. (Just under a third of senior managers aid that the second thing on their list was meetings that weren't even necessary to begin with!)

Starting a meeting late is one of the most unproductive things you can possibly do, as a business owner or manager, and on so many levels.

It's unproductive because you have team members sitting around doing nothing while waiting for the meeting to start. Multiply how much each team member makes per hour, then per minute. Then multiply the number of minutes they are waiting times the number of people who are waiting, then how much they make per minute. That's how much money your company or organization is wasting when meetings start late.
It's unproductive because the meeting will generally have to then be rushed in order to get it finished on time, which means quality will suffer, which means clarity will lack, which means productivity will suffer.
It's unproductive because if people come late, the information will have to be repeated, further wasting everyone else's time and making everyone unproductive.
It's unproductive because it will create an environment in your company that ultimately promotes laziness, or worse, apathy. The less people care about the small things, the less they will connect their work with productivity, and the less they will care about the company overall.

The primary goal here is to have all of your team members arrive before the meeting and then start the meeting on time.

1. Pick a strategic time for your meeting. Strategic timing is relative to your business or organization or team. Sometimes, it's best described by what it is not. Here are a list of things to avoid when strategizing the best time for your meeting.

Avoid early mornings. People are still sleepy. Yes, you probably wish they were the bursting ball of energy that you are in the morning. But they're probably not. So don't try to push it. You'll only irritate them. And irritated team members at a meeting don't really get much done and probably will be too frustrated with you to buy into the plan completely.
Avoid meeting at the start of the business day. This means people will have to prepare the day before, which may cut into what they're already doing and affect the quality of that work. Also, it means people may have to come in early. But remember point two. They're sleepy. So preparation for the meeting won't be qualitative.
Avoid meeting at the end of the work day. People are thinking about the end of the day. They're probably tired and mentally worn out. They're not going to be as productive in four or four-thirty meeting. The meeting will probably run over, which means they will be thinking about whatever plans they need to change, which means they'll be texting during the meeting to change plans, which means they won't be listening, which means they won't be productive. Get the point? Plus, if you're meeting is supposed to create enthusiasm about something, it'll wear off on the drive home and they'll completely forget about it the next morning.
Avoid meeting after lunch. If you've ever worked, and if you've ever eaten lunch at work, then you know what happens after you eat lunch and try to work. It's really hard.

In a recent study conducted by WhenIsGood, the company found that the majority of those who responded accepted meeting times on Tuesdays at 3PM. By that time, pre-lunch energy has generally returned. And often, it's during that time that people have caffeinated themselves and their minds are racing again and ready to go. This in turn suggests that it is productive to offer a light snack and some coffee or beverages at the meeting. Many employees find it productive to eat and drink during a meeting.

My other experiences have proven that mid-morning is also a great time of the day to meet. Team members are settled into work, they are alert, and they're not yet overwhelmed with a ton of tasks. This breeds creativity for the meeting and allows enthusiasm to remain throughout the day.

2. Announce the meeting day and time...in as many outlets as possible. There are two important features of this step.

First, determine ahead of time that you want your people there five minutes before the meeting. Create an environment of preparedness and readiness. You do not want people arriving exactly at the meeting time, or worse, late. You want them all arriving five minutes before so that you can start the meeting on time...with everyone.
Second, say it out loud to your team. Talk to them individually if the size of your team allows that. Put it in print in a company newsletter or memo. Put it in an email to the company. Put it on your internal communications outlets. Schedule it in the company calendar and invite other team members. Put it on your company Facebook page. Tweet it. Vine it. Instragram it. In short, announce the meeting in as many ways as your team members enjoy receiving information.
Third, tell them in your announcement what they need to bring to the meeting. If they come to a meeting without something to write with and without something to write on, they probably need to be fired. There's a lot of arrogance and presumption in a team member who shows up to a meeting without some sort of tool to help them remember what they were meeting about. Writing is thousands of years old and is never overrated. Also, if they come to a meeting expecting to talk, but don't bring any corresponding documentation with them for the rest of your team, that's also not helpful. It may not be necessary, but often times a simple handout can help team members focus on what's being discussed. It also shows that other team members' attention is valued and that the person who wants to talk doesn't just want to...well...talk. So if you're the owner, manager, team leader, or meeting facilitator, tell people ahead of time what to bring with them to the meeting.

3. Start the meeting...on time. If there are late-comers, deal with them graciously, in private, and in writing. That should probably only happen about once or twice, at the most. While the subject of this post is not about dealing with late-comers, you do want to take it seriously. In my honest opinion, failure to come to a meeting on time says you're an exception to the rule and that you don't care. It communicates that you aren't smart enough to plan ahead far enough to get your personal items attended to before you come, or to simply block out five extra minutes on your schedule to get into the meeting room that early. If that's true, then you probably don't need to be be working for that company or organization.

Again, it's the simple things that make the bigger things a success or a failure.

Read Part 7: Set a Timeframe

business

Meetings with a Mission: Introduction

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Introduction

Meetings can either be the bane of a company's existence, or the boost for a company's creativity and productivity. I have worked for companies that wasted everyone's time with meetings that were pointless. And I have worked for companies and organizations who understood how to run a great meeting so that it engendered creativity and held us accountable to productivity.

In 2012 a survey was conducted by GiveMore.com to ask employees in various organizations what their main complaints were about meetings in their companies.

Doesn't start on time, stay on track or finish on time.
There are no specific action items or takeaway points.
There is no clear purpose or objective.
The meetings are not inspiring or motivating.
They are not organized and there is no agenda
They are too long.
There always seems to be the need to repeat information for late arrivals.
A weak presenter who is unprepared, monotone, or overly redunant.
They are boring and provide no new interesting information.

These will be addressed in this series of articles. But of most concern to me as an organizational leader were the top three complaints from those who were surveyed. In short, their view was that those who led the meetings appeared to be just plain incompetent. Employees surveyed whined about (1) leaders who seemed to schedule meetings just to have meetings, (2) leaders who weren't prepared and wasted everyone's time, and (3) leaders who let the meeting get out of control by letting attendees dominate the conversation by complaining and steering it off course. This is sad for two reasons. First, meetings can be a place where a leader spreads, connects, and cultivates the vision and mission of the organization with everyone's roles. Second, meetings that do not do this waste precious time, money and resources and actually create a snowball effect of organizational apoplexy.

After 25 years of leadership in various capacities and organizations, I've fell into all kinds of potholes, and even jumped into some, thinking it was good, risk-taking leadership. Thankfully, there's a motor inside my heart and head always asking me one important question: is this really effective? And I always ask myself that before every meeting, during every meeting, and after every meeting. Out of this experience I'd like to offer some solid guidance and wisdom on how to hold effective meetings, regardless of what kind of business you run, organization you manage, or group you lead. The bottom line, I've found, is that no matter where you lead, and no matter how many people you lead, the following elements are effective in stimulating an environment for those you lead to be creative and to lead them into productivity, leaving everyone feeling satisfied and the sense of team deepened.

Part 1: Get Contributions From Your Team

About the Author: Rob is a follower of Jesus at Jubilee Church. From there he pursues Jesus' mission at Revive Consignment as the Business & Operations Development Director, as well as at Jubilee Church of Atlanta, in Woodstock, GA. From there he envisions and pursues missional-shaped business for the kingdom. He and his wife Sherri have been married for 20 years and together have three sons and a daughter. Rob believes the mission of the gospel is summed up in four simple phrases: know God, obey Jesus, make disciples, and plant churches. This is the pursuit of his life, as well as the point of his blog.This is the pursuit of his life, as well as the point of his blog.

Success Begins with Delegation

Ambuiguity is the Thief of Productivity

Meetings with a Mission, Part 6: Set a Meeting Time

Meetings with a Mission: Introduction

Translate

Search This Blog

Background

Charismatic Issues

Gospel Series

Other Series

My Best Reads

Blog Archive

Labels