optimus, Author at Optimus Performance

How to Delegate Work to Employees

Jan 27, 2015 Comments

Delegating work is essential to the successful growth of any organization and thus it is imperative for leaders and managers to learn to delegate properly.

In a previous article I explained how to determine what to delegate and also the difference between assigning a task and delegating. You may want to refer back to that article before going ahead with these steps.

Step 1: Planning

Delegating work involves people taking on new responsibility and this requires training and coaching. When you assign work to someone it means they already have the skills and knowledge to get the task done.

Thus you need to plan what training and coaching is required for the person to take on the new responsibility. Who will provide the training and coaching? When and how will it take place? The answer to these questions will depend on the complexity of the tasks involved and the person who you are delegating to.

For example you might want to give more responsibility and authority to someone looking after general office work. Another person needs to be hired to take on some of the tasks. You want your employee to supervise the work of the new employee, but they have never supervised anyone before. Thus the scope of their job is changing and their role description should be revised. In this case there should be some training and coaching on supervision.

As part of your plan, set a date for when you want the employee to be fully autonomous n assuming the new responsibilities. You might consider using my goal planning worksheet to help you plan out the delegation project.

Step two: Meet with employee

Meet with the employee and explain what you want to delegate to them. Tell them that you will be providing training and coaching and this is an opportunity for them to grow and to contribute to the evolution of the business.

Certain people tend to be cautious when faced with change as it means they could fail or become stressed. Point out their strengths and skills and let them know you feel confident to delegate the work to them.

Review the new job description with them so it is clear what you are expecting. Schedule the training sessions.

Step three: Train and coach

When providing training and coaching it is important not only to explain what to do but to actually demonstrate it. If possible have the person perform the task so you can observe, give feedback and adjust as necessary.

Step four: Follow-up

You must follow-up with the employee to ensure they are performing as expected and meeting your expectations. Be flexible in that the person’s style of work may be different from yours and they might do things in their own way but still produce the desired results.

Provide them with plenty of positive feedback to build their confidence and self-esteem. This will reinforce that they are doing the right thing and will keep them open to new delegation opportunities in the future.

Following the above steps will ensure that your next delegation project will be successful and meet your expectations. You will also be regarded as a highly effective leader who takes the time to train, develop and grow the skills of your team members.

Stephen Goldberg

Turn Boring Meetings into Productive Collaborative Work Sessions

Jan 14, 2015 Comments

Do people you work with complain that meetings are boring and unproductive? This is common in many organizations and for good reason. Many people running meetings have not been trained on meeting management and do not follow specific protocols.

Yet meetings are an important part of working on projects and making decisions. Following these protocols will make you an effective meeting manager.

Create an agenda

An agenda should be created and sent out before the meeting to each participant. This will help people to prepare themselves and schedule their time. You can download the meeting agenda template on Excel that I use here.

Set meeting goals

Why is this meeting taking place? Explain the purpose or goal of the meeting as part of the agenda and at the beginning of the meeting.

Set a time limit

The agenda should include the start and end time of the meeting. For whatever reason, if the decisions cannot be reached within the time frame allotted, schedule another meeting to complete the discussion.

Action steps

Take note of any decisions and action steps from the meeting discussion. Make sure that each action step is assigned to a person along with a due date. At the end of the meeting summarize the action steps and who is responsible along with the due date.

Meeting notes

Have the meeting notes typed up and sent to each participant. The meeting notes should be simple. They should state the decisions that were made, the actions required, by whom and by when. They should also indicate who was present or absent from the meeting. The date for the next meeting if any, should be included in the decisions.

Dealing with difficult people

The hardest part of running an efficient meeting is dealing with personalities, especially the difficult ones. Remind people of the goals of the meeting and the time allotted so you can bring people back to the topic. You can also establish meeting norms that everyone agrees to follow and then remind people of these norms when things get off track. There are many articles about this on the web. Here is a good one.

Assigning roles

The key roles for running an efficient meeting are chairperson, note taker and timekeeper. If you are the one that called the meeting you can assign people to the roles, which may alternate for each meeting.

Dealing with resistance to change

If you want to introduce these protocols for your meetings you may meet with resistance from some people. At the beginning of your next meeting you should simply state to the attendees that you want to improve meeting efficiency by applying these new protocols and you require everybody’s cooperation.

Meeting evaluation

You can use this simple criteria to determine if your meetings are successful.

Did the meeting start and end on time?
Were the goals of the meeting met?
How satisfied are the participants with how the meeting was run on a scale of 1 to 5?

By applying the above protocols you will turn your meetings into productive collaborative sessions that people will be glad to attend.

Stephen Goldberg

Things to Include & Avoid When Setting Goals

Dec 30, 2015 Comments

As we approach the New Year we tend to set a New Year’s resolution or establish a few key goals. Experts in productivity promote goal setting as a way to become more focused and productive. As a management consultant and coach I do endorse goals setting as well.

However for all its intended benefits goal setting can also be a determent to our health and well-being. We can easily become obsessed with achieving our goal and do things that can negatively affect ourselves, our relationships and cause stress.

Focus on a must goal

One thing to avoid is setting too many goals. Leadership and personal development expert Steven Covey suggests setting one highly important or must goal rather than several important goals. Goals need to be planned and broken down into steps or sub-goals. So along the way to achieving your must goal you will automatically achieve the sub-goals.

Let’s take a goal to lose 20 lbs of body weight over the next 6 months as an example. Some of the sub-goals might be consult a dietician, eliminate or reduce sugar intake and be regular at doing cardiovascular exercise three times a week. Each sub-goal might have its own sub-goals or action steps.

Focusing on achieving the weight-loss goal would create many benefits, such as illness prevention, better health, more energy, more positive outlook, improved relationships, greater self-confidence etc.. It would affect a variety of life’s dimensions without having to set a goal in each of those dimensions. That is why when setting a goal it needs to be written down and the benefits for achieving the goal listed. Download my free goal planning form here. You can also refer to my goal planning guide video here.

A must goal for inner contentment

A highly important goal that I suggest to go along with any must goal you set is one forinner contentment and fulfillment. After all we were given this life to become self-actualized and we have the potential to feel joy and contentment every day. So a goal to be able to tap into the well of peace and happiness inside ourselves is a must for every human being.

As we grow and develop we learn that having material things and even great relationships is temporary and we cannot base our source of happiness and contentment on these external things. Also, making this a priority in our lives will help us set other must goals that are congruent with fostering a feeling of peace inside and not a detriment.

There are many ways people find to discover inner peace and contentment, from religion to mediation or simply spending quiet time alone. Whatever your practice, make that a priority goal in your life and enjoy the benefits.

Stephen Goldberg

Let’s All be Selfish, Hurt Each Other and Destroy the Planet

Dec 24, 2014 Comments

The Problem

Be helpful, thoughtful, spread joy and good will to man. These are the kind of messages advertisers and brands are promoting. They want us to like their brand and buy their products in the process.

But most of the year we focus on ourselves first and others next. Of course I am generalizing and this is not true for everyone. There are many people who genuinely want to help others and actually do it.

But if this was consistently the case in general we would have a much different world than what we do. How many of us live everyday thinking of how we can help our co-workers do the best they can? How well do we listen to others and empathize with the way they feel? How often do we appreciate vocally and through actions those we love? How often do we recognize the talents of people we work with?

And what about the planet? It is common knowledge today that the way we live and consume is destroying the air we breathe, the water we drink and a host of other things. Man is sawing away at the branch of the tree he is sitting on.

The Solutions

Funny enough the solution is right here right now. It always was and always will be. It begins with changing our perspective of life and ourselves. How do we do that?

We just make the choice to do it and become conscious of ourselves, of what we are doing and saying and the impact it has on others.

It is about seeking to collaborate, support, coach, recognize those we love and care about. I am not saying we should become completely selfless and disregard our own needs and well-being. If we did we could easily be taken advantage of and get hurt.

The Big Dream

Picture a team of employees coming to work every day seeking to help each other do their best job and giving high fives and regular kudos. Imagine people seeking to understand each other first and developing the ability to listen and respond with that purpose in mind. Envision the relations that would be created and the level of trust that would permeate such a team.

This all may sound like a pipe dream but yet we all know it is possible. We see this kind of thing in high level sports where team members never like to take the credit personally but are always shouting out their team members.

What loftier goal could there be for a leader of an organization, for a team, for an employee?

At this time of year when we start to look back and think of what’s to come, consider these solutions and how you can make good cheer and good will to man a reality for each new day to come.

The best part of all is we’ll feel better about ourselves and life in the process.

Posts By: optimus