Assigning work to subordinates: Principles, processes and skills

How to assign work effectively and properly?

According to John Hunt, a professor at the London School of Economics, “Only 30% of leaders think they can do a good job of assigning tasks to employees. And only a third of them are recognized by their subordinates as good delegating leaders. This means that only 1 in 10 leaders really know how to delegate tasks to employees.”

Delegation is understood as how managers use the talents of each individual in the jobs that are right for them. Effective delegation is when you make the most of the knowledge and skills of your subordinates, your team's overall productivity is improved, and your workflow is smoother and less hassle-free.

There are two ways to assign work to employees: face-to-face meetings to exchange and indirect via chat applications, email or software. Regardless of how the task is assigned, to bring the maximum efficiency, the job must be assigned to the right person, determine the purpose when the job is completed (work results, opportunities for personal development, improve teamwork). ,…).

What are the principles of assigning work to employees?

Assign work according to employee's ability

Everyone will have strengths and weaknesses. The manager's job is to learn and observe to discover the strengths of employees and promote them. The assigned work in accordance with the employee's capacity and strengths will be completed in the best way.

Clear division of work, set specific deadlines

Work should be divided clearly and transparently, avoiding refugee cases and internal conflicts. Besides, when assigning work to employees, you need to thoroughly discuss your requirements to save repair time.

Deadline is indispensable to create a scientific, methodical and principled working culture. As a smart manager, skilled in assigning work to subordinates, you should know how to set appropriate deadlines, save time and make the most of employees' s capacity.

Regularly check and monitor the work

To ensure the progress of the work, managers need to pay attention to check and monitor the work regularly. However, do not interfere too deeply in their work. You should judge your employees by their performance rather than the process or method of performance.

Summarize and draw lessons in a timely manner

Once the assignment process is over, the manager should meet and discuss directly with his staff about your assessment of the recent performance. If it is not good, remind and learn from experience, and vice versa, encourage and praise. Leaders need to keep an objective, frank attitude, praise and criticism will clearly lead their team to improve.

Employee assignment process

Step 1: Prepare by clarifying the following issues:

- Job Description:

+ Objective of the job.

+ Why do you assign work to employees?

+ When does it start?

+ Requirements for job security.

- Check the current workload of employees, avoid the case of pressure on them.

- Do you need additional training in skills so that employees can handle the job?

- How would you assign work to make employees happy to do their best:

+ You should understand your employees well: their strengths and weaknesses, their abilities and motivations.

+ The reason why you trust them to do this job.

+ How will your employees benefit from doing this job well?

Step 2: Assign work

The first thing a manager needs to do in this step is arrange a face-to-face or online conversation to assign work. In this step, both will have to understand and agree on work-related issues such as:

- Thoroughly discuss the goals of the work.

- To what extent will you empower employees? When do they have the right to decide and when must your opinion be approved?

- What support and resources can employees request?

- Determine the implementation time, deadline and periodical reporting time to evaluate the work performance.

Step 3: Monitor and control work

To ensure the work is completed on schedule and achieve the expected results, you need to closely monitor and check the work progress to provide timely solutions.

Depending on the employee's ability and experience, managers will consider how to control work and support accordingly.

However, you should also not interfere too much in the process of doing the work. This only shows them that you are not trusting your employees.

Assigning work to employees is a simple matter, but how to effectively assign tasks requires smart, skillful and understanding managers. When you master the art of assigning work, all resources in the business will be optimized, the work will be deployed effectively, both the boss and the employees will feel more comfortable and connected to each other. However, in the current technology trend, company managers should consider using software to assign tasks to employees to save time and improve work efficiency, thereby creating competitive advantage over competitors in the market.