Are you a Producer? If you are a producer who can delegate effectively, then your accomplishments far exceed your efforts, because those you foster will also be producers for you, exponentially increasing your output. 

 

Most managers may think this obvious; of course you have been delegating tasks for years.  However, let’s focus on effective delegation that focuses on results instead of methods.  This kind of delegation allows people to choose the method of accomplishing the task you have delegated to them, and makes them responsible for the results. 

 

By developing mutual understanding in the following areas, you will be able to foster stewardship delegation versus task delegation:

 

Desired Results—Start by creating a mutual understanding of what needs to be accomplished.  Be clear, and focus on what needs to be accomplished, versus how it is going to happen. 

 

Guidelines—Identify parameters and possible pitfalls; are there mistakes you have made that you can share?  Are there resources that are off limits in this situation?  Share these with your subordinate, so he or she doesn’t waste time and energy going down a “failure” path. 

 

Resources—Identify the human, technical, financial or organizational resources that are available.

 

Accountability—What are the standards of performance?  Don’t leave the set-up meeting without conveying a performance expectation.  

 

Optimal middle managers are at home when linking the strategic information they receive and the people whose job it is to carry out the tactical plans on the front lines. Here are some practical takeaways to strengthen the connection between boardroom tactics and front line results.

 

Become an Owner –Take ownership of anything within your workspace. Be efficiently self-led, and always be willing to bear responsibility for the output of you and your employees. Owners are highly proactive and results focused rather than simply being reactionary or treading water.

 

Take Initiative –Always move toward getting things done, even in the face of potential failure and adversity. Your positive behavior will become a habit for you and for those you manage.

 

Practice Ingenuity – Your ingenuity provides ideas that can solve practical, technical, and social problems. Be a consistent source of new and better alternatives and be willing to make them a reality. Make it your mission to constantly re-evaluate processes related to tasks and people. 

 

Foster Trust – Nothing short-circuits your ability to have an optimal impact like broken promises. Meet your commitments. Follow through on promises. Confront yourself, or anyone else who derails your progress by being less than completely trustworthy.

 

Get Others “On Board” – Influence is your most powerful tool. Focus on the behavioral needs of your people and assist them in feeling as though they own their space, their tasks, and their success.

 

Become Service-Oriented – Successful leaders and managers see themselves as service providers. A strong sense of collaborative effort forces them to look not just at who can serve them, but in who they can serve in turn creates an atmosphere of support for ideas and everyday work task assistance.

 

Your company is thriving, even in the difficult economy. You have opened several new locations in order to keep your production in line with demand. The level of technical skill you require of your workers is high, as the product you manufacture is specialized.

 

While you were in your initial growth stages it was always easy to spot and recruit the right talent. However now that you are in a state of quick growth it seems as though the once-easily spotted talent is getting harder to find.

After searching for union apprentices to no avail, and contacting skilled laborers from competing firms became harder as the workforce expanded, you were left with two choices.

 

The first was to work directly with the technical schools and programs that teach the technical skills, or you can attempt to advertise in a newspaper for laborers in peripheral fields.

By working with the schools and programs you would be getting younger, less experienced workers. However, you may also be getting employees who are less expensive and who may have been learning next generation technical skills.

By advertising for employees outside of your narrow scope you will be getting laborers who are familiar and deeply experienced with the industry and some of the machinery, but who also may be more expensive and set their ways – which can cause conflict and expensive re-work.

 

Given the needs of your business, what would you do, and why? Send in your ideas.

 

 

Teaching employees how to deliver effective performance appraisals will pay big dividends in your organization. But, too often, employees perceive the training as uninteresting–even boring. Here is a terrific resource full of hands-on exercises that will make training in this vital area enjoyable and extremely motivating. Every employee–regardless of how experienced they are in appraisals –will be stimulated by learning how to question, listen, be objective, give feedback, communicate and manage the process.

 

Each activity is ready-to-use and includes a description, when to use it, objectives, materials and time required, and methods. Each activity takes under 60 minutes or so to complete. Need to find a specific activity quickly? No problem. The activities are categorized into two groups–the skills and the process–so they are easy to select.

 

Actions Speak Louder

Confirm It in Writing

Do You Really Mean That?

Just Stick to the Facts

Praise versus Criticism

What Do You Think?

Where Do We Go from Here?