For most supervisors and managers, having to discipline employees is the worst part of their jobs. It is an uncomfortable process they would rather avoid. And unfortunately, many do avoid it, to everyone’s disadvantage: theirs, the organization’s and the employee’s. Or, some managers act emotionally when disciplinary problems arise. But either reaction creates more problems than it solves. (more…)

When delegation isn’t done properly, there can be high costs to both the organization and the individuals involved. Don’t let that happen to you!

Ensuring a successful delegation requires that you fully define/analyze the task ahead of time and think about what will be required of the person to whom it’s assigned. Each of the following should be considered before assigning anything to anyone.

1. What is the task?
-Be sure you can be specific about the task and have all the information you need to help your “delegatee” succeed at it.
-Know why this project needs to be done and why you want to delegate it.
-Know any issues that will have to be analyzed or resolved before the task can be delegated.

2.When is it due?
-Have a specific deadline, and know the consequences of missing it.
-Know how the task might be affected by outside factors, such as upstream tasks that may fall behind schedule.

3.What resources are available?
-Know what supporting resources are available – personnel, documents, etc.
-Be aware of any budgetary constraints on the task.

4. What is the outcome or deliverable?
-What are you looking for as a result – a report, a presentation?
-Figure out how you will measure success.

5. Who is the best person for this task?
-Think about the specific skills and experience that will be required.
-Consider the attitude that will be needed.
-Look at your team – whose skills fit the bill? Who has have the right attitude?
-Once you’ve picked the person, determine if they need any additional training.

Use of these questions will greatly eliminate misunderstandings and misconceptions about the task to be performed and the expected outcomes.

Excerpted from the CRM Learning program, A Leader’s Guide to Delegating.

Need more help in this area? For detailed information on this crucial step in the delegation process (along with several others) we recommend the entire A Leader’s Guide to Delegating program which introduces and illustrates a highly effective five-step delegation model.

1.  Share stories of great service within your company, agency or location. Use bulletin boards, email or meetings—whatever you’ve got at your disposal.

2. Ask customers what they want! You can use surveys or focus groups to get feedback from customers directly OR ask employees what they’ve been hearing from customers in the way of wants, needs and desires.

3.  Look! Listen! Learn! Have employees actively check out what other organizations are doing –both good and  bad. (It’s especially great when you can have them observe what the competition is doing.)  Recognize or reward them when they bring forth observations your team can use to improve its service level.

4.  Regularly reward employees for giving great service. Small and inexpensive rewards can work well.  For example: movie tickets, coupons to leave work a half-hour early, a pass to park in the boss’s space for a week, etc.

5.  Post key customer service concepts in prominent places.  Add visuals and snappy phrases.  Post in the break room, cafeteria or on entry/exit doors.

6.  Ask employees to keep a lightbulb list nearby so they can jot down new ideas to improve customer service as they occur.  Reward and recognize employees whose ideas are implemented.

7.  Train employees by: providing brown bag lunch learning sessions where you bring in a guest speaker or motivational video; sending them offsite for a community college training course  or paying for them to take a course online; maintaining a lending library of self-study audio CDs, DVDs, books and periodicals.

8.  Job Rotation Day.  Designate one day a month when a number of employees cross-train and learn a little bit about somebody else’s job.  Draw names randomly so everyone gets a chance to do this over time.  This gives employees a chance to see the big picture of the workplace and gives employees who don’t typically interact with customers an opportunity to do so.

9.  Revolving Brainstorm Bulletin Board.  Set up a webpage or suggestion box for employees to bring forth customer service problems (anonymous is usually best). Post the problems and provide methods for other employees to propose possible solutions.

10.  Have fun at work!  Studies show happy employees are healthier and they give better service. Here are just a few ideas:

·         Awards – Create a rotating award relevant to your organization.  The awards can be funny or serious.  Once a month, give the award to a team member.

·         Decorate – Decorate the workplace for holidays or seasons.

·         No Reason Parties – Throw a little party for no reason at all.

·         Ice Cream Social – Walk around and hand out a selection of ice cream treats.  If your employees work on a retail floor, put them in the freezer for everyone to have on their break.

This material excerpted from the Leader’s Guides to the video programs Remember Me and Fun is Good.

Need more help in this area? CRM’s new video program, WAYMISH (Why Are You Making It So Hard…for me to give you my money), comes with a special video just for supervisors.  Find out why WAYMISH was voted a “Best Product 2009” by Training Media Review.