The rules for assigning tasks in a company are determined primarily by the management style and existing skills of employees. We provide a universal task assignment software for delegating tasks to other performers, working «as a service». Everything in one place and ready to work.
In this material, we will describe all the nuances of «human» and «software» delegating. Keep calm and delegate tasks!
Setting tasks, delegating responsibility and authority to subordinates — one of the main functions of any manager.
Don’t be afraid to delegate
Management theory suggests that employees can actually have only personal problems or tasks. Against this background, the main difference between them and managers is that the latter can make the company’s problems their personal ones (transfer them to the appropriate status for themselves) and solve them as their own. But how to solve them? If the management will set all the tasks they face on its own, then:
- Firstly, it will not have time for anything, banally due to lack of necessary resources and hands of executors;;
- Secondly, they will do something wrong or very badly simply because they do not have the appropriate narrow qualification. For example, a manager will not be able to weld piles, because they do not have the skills and experience of a welder, and a worker will not be able to effectively manage a workshop. And this is normal, everyone should do their own thing.
- Thirdly, why do you need subordinates at all?
Achieving any result in any company is a process common to all. In essence, the company should be viewed as a single holistic system. Coming together, different specialists can perform different tasks which are beyond the capabilities of individual employees, even if they have a very good level of knowledge and experience.
In general, a manager has many more functions. These are: planning, setting tasks, providing performers with the necessary resources, motivation, coordination, and control. Graduates of management institutes can add many other items to the list, for example, development of strategy, work with personnel, preparation of a new shift of managers, etc. But in practice they are diluted along the vertical of power within large companies and delegated to the relevant departments or even entire services. But control is something that can never be removed from a manager’s responsibilities. Everything else can and should be DELEGATED.
Characteristics of Proper Task Assignment by a Manager
Primary objectives of task assignment:
- Freeing up the time of the person responsible for the task for other, more important (and relevant to them) activities. In other words, the fight against routine. For example, when one of the basic tasks of a manager is to train new employees in the department, they can organize a mentoring system. Then the most experienced employees with the appropriate skills will be in charge of training. Of course, such an approach requires a combination of several factors: proper motivation of mentors (it may not always be financial), formalization of their status, transfer of part of the responsibility for the result, etc. In any case, control should remain with the manager.
- Parallel work of many performers on the same task to accelerate the achievement of the goal. No examples are even needed here. Everyone understands that one person will not lift a car, but 20–30 people will do it without straining. Although there are always possible «bottlenecks» when increasing the number of specialists cannot give the necessary acceleration.
- Improvement of qualification and motivation of employees. The wider the employee’s range of tasks becomes, the more professional skills they develop. They can develop not only basic, but also auxiliary skills. With the help of proper delegation it is easy to bring up a new generation of managers or just a self-sufficient collective of professionals, i.e. a team, which is the dream of any manager.
- Checking the basic and additional skills of the staff and the performance of individual team members.
The ability to delegate tasks is limited not only by the manager’s authority, but also by their experience. The latter factor is even more important than documenting all available functions of the manager, as specified in their job description. A manager cannot fail to delegate tasks. But, of course, they must act within his competence, legal norms and concepts accepted within a particular organization.
The rules of delegating tasks in a company are determined primarily by the management style and the available skills of subordinates. It can be a democratic style, in which delegation will be «sold» to the employee or agreed with them, sometimes the option of recommendations or advice is possible. In an authoritarian management style, the predominant method of delegation is orderly and rigidly documented, with mandatory reporting, often with intermediate control.
The effectiveness of each method is left to the discretion of top managers of each individual company. There can be no clear favorites or universal solutions. There are too many factors and various input conditions.
How to Choose an Employee to Delegate a Task
Whatever the management style and format of delegation, it is a business process. This means that it must obey certain rules and principles. Some of them may be explicit, and some may be less noticeable. But in any case, the delegation procedure involves the following stages (note the direct overlap with the functions of the manager):
- Forming of a list of tasks for execution («What to do», planning function);
- Assigning the executor based on their professional skills and relevant personal qualities («Who should do», the function of setting the task);
- Providing instructions and correlating them with rewards for the result («How and why should I do it», motivation function);
- Providing the employee with everything necessary to fulfill the task («With the help of what», the function of providing);
- Checking the result in terms of quality, quantity and other parameters agreed upon when setting the task (function of control and timely coordination if the result differs from the norm).
Do not give an employee impossible tasks, as this will reduce their motivation and your authority. You must not select employees who cannot cope with the assigned functions; the end result will suffer. Time will be wasted. It is not allowed to impute to an employee actions that are not stipulated by their job description. This can end sadly, such actions can be punished by substantial fines, both for the manager who gave the order, and for the entire organization.
Example of an Ideal Dialog With an Employee When Delegating Tasks
Ideal phrases when delegating tasks are difficult to find. Any manager must realize that each employee needs an individual approach.
The right expressions are half of the success. An example dialog which can be taken as a model may look like this (it is assumed that all the previous background, in the form of planning, selecting a suitable performer and thinking about motivation, has already been done):
Manager: <Name of the employee>, a new duty is planned from such and such a date <describes the delegated function>.
Employee: OK, what is my motivation? Will I be provided with everything I need to fulfill this function?
Manager: <Describes the employee’s motivation and the order or conditions for providing resources, whether there will be help from colleagues, etc.>.
Employee: <Agrees with the assignment, asks clarifying questions if necessary>.
If the employee is not interested in all the nuances of the new function entrusted to them, the manager — the one who sets the task — must specify them. Otherwise, it may not be realized in the way it was intended.
And then training (if necessary) and managing.
Algorithm of Delegating Tasks in Projecto
Projecto service will not be able to do all routine tasks for you, but it will help to automate them as much as possible and make the control procedure much easier.
Projecto is the best tool for any manager.
When you have assigned a task for yourself in the appropriate tab, you can delegate it to other executors. There is nothing easier:
- To do this, use the «Reassign task» button in the block with the properties window of a specific task.
- Use the search form, or simply select the required employee from the list (multiple selections are possible).
- Leave the resolution field as it is or change the wording as it will be necessary for the task execution by a particular employee.
- Click the «Add Participants» button.
- Done.
Note, you can assign the task to different executors with different resolutions and deadlines, there are no restrictions here. Just use the special «Task Structure» button to make it easier to keep track of the structure and deadlines of complex tasks.
You can learn in detail what and how to do with tasks in Projecto in the tutorials section here.
