A leader’s role can be tough. It is a constant juggling act between the business demands, meeting key deliverables, and balancing the needs of each team member. In some ways, leaders become air traffic controllers as they seek to oversee the allocation of endless tasks and moving goal posts. It is tempting to shove more work down the chute to your ‘yes’ person or to the ever trusty workhorse, but is that the fairest way to do it?
Arguably every business has social loafers who are comfortable enjoying a ‘free ride’ while other employees do the grunt work. Some leaders simply feel like it is just easier to give the strong workers extra as they can rely on output without exception. The problem is that if there is inequity in work distribution, over time this will generate resentment, burnout, and turnover of workhorses. On the flip side, the employees enjoying a free ride also miss out because they do not develop skills and experiences crucial for success.
Winging it may have worked in high school but leadership in the workplace requires a clear understanding of where the strengths and development areas are for each team member, and a carefully thought out strategy to match skillsets with tasks. Consider allocating an hour at the end of each week toreflect on:
It is easy to give the juicy tasks to the talent because there is a low risk of failure. Sure, this approach helps targets to be reached quicker, but is that really building competency within the team? Sooner or later the talent will catch the eye of another team or business and you will be left with employees without the ‘will’ or ‘skill’ to complete tasks. Now is the time to build the skillset of the whole team so that the capacity lifts as a collective while reducing risk.
Your team members may have many talents but they are not mind readers. Some leaders start with a list of deliverables and then move through the team to allocate tasks based on experience and skill. Just like a sports coach assigns positions based on strength and aptitude, a leader in the workplace should do the same. Do not allow work to be randomly allocated or for lazy employees to cherry pick the easy tasks.
Some leaders are so focused on engagement and being liked that they fall guilty of not setting clear expectations that help the employee to understand the requirement to deliver. A workplace is not like an ‘a la carte’ menu where you can choose what takes your fancy and push aside the things you don’t like. Even CEOs have tasks that they would prefer not to do but sometimes it is the challenging tasks that teach the most. Ensure the team understands that productivity is celebrated more than the hours spent at a desk, and everyone’s contribution is needed for success.
Each team member needs to be able to clearly articulate their tasks, deadlines and deliverables. But do not stop there. Help each team member to understand how their tasks are an important cog in the wheel and that without their output the team cannot achieve. Importantly, employees need to understand the ‘why’ behind the task allocation. For example: “Sam, I have decided to allocate you the task of completing the monthly report. I feel that this task is well aligned to your skills but I also think it will challenge you enough to be interesting, and allow you to further develop your report writing. Do you have any concerns fitting this into your current workload?”
Dealing with underperformance or poor behaviours is not easy but nevertheless it needs to be done. Left unchecked, this can develop into a bigger issues and generate resentment amongst workers. It is the responsibility of the leader to tackle this issue by opening the conversation. For example, “Deepika, I notice that for the last two weeks your productivity has dropped by 20%. Given that other team members are still reaching the sales targets, I want to speak to you about how we can get you to the required level. Is there something that I can do to better support you in reaching this requirement?”
Even the most well thought out workflow plan needs careful review and adjustment from time to time. External factors change, as do the priorities of customers and senior leaders, so it is important to be flexible in the approach to delegation. At times, there may be a couple of team members that need to put in the extra effort based on a unique business need. This is fine in the short term, as hopefully this balances out over time, but if you notice the same 2 people are burning the midnight oil, it is time for Plan B.
Team members drop the ball for countless reasons, but commonly they lack interest in tasks where they cannot see a purpose. Some leaders feel that they should not have to ‘sell’ the task to the worker but it is not so much as ‘selling’ but helping the employee to understand how it benefits both them and the business. It is human nature to want to take shortcuts in life, but clever leaders help their team members to see that rolling up their sleeves is the smart choice.
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Georgina is Senior HR Content Editor – Publications at Ai Group. She is an accomplished Human Resource professional with over 25 years of generalist and leadership experience in a broad range of industries including financial services, tourism, travel, government and agriculture. She has successfully advised and partnered with senior leaders to implement people and performance initiatives that align to business strategy. Georgina is committed to utilising her experience to create resources that educate and engage and is passionate about supporting members to optimise an inclusive workforce culture that drives performance.
