“It’s people that are difficult,” Marion began. “Keeping a machine productive is easy. I can calculate its capacity and then stack work in front of it accordingly. But people aren’t machines. How can I calculate capacity and then stack work in front of people?”
“Machines are easier,” I replied. “Machines work the same way, day in, day out. People don’t. People are subject to daily changes and long term changes. As a Manager, you have to stay in front of that growth curve.
“When you look at the role of each of your team members, let’s start with these three questions.
- What is the work that is necessary in each team member’s role?
- What is it that you do, as a Manager, that is helpful in their work?
- What is it that you do, as a Manager, that hampers their work?
Marion smiled, “Well, I already know that.”
“Perhaps, but you might compare notes with your team members.” -TF
Presumeably each team member has different skill sets that contribute to the final product. A manager develops, and is aware of these skill levels within his team and needs to be sure that the right people are doing the right job. Although cross training is important at the appropriate time, mismatching a team member with a task could be asking for trouble. It could hurt the progress of the job and discourage a good intentioned team member.
In my opinion each team member has a different level of bandwidth(time divided by skill set multiplied by time management skills) available for use by the machine(company). It is important that a member’s strengths and weaknesses are analyzed in order to put them in the right seat on the train. This maximizes performance and encourages growth and motivation, personally and professionally. A challenged employee who is excited will be a ten-fold ROI versus an employee who is mismatched with tasks that they are not comfortable with nor line up with their “bandwidth”.
Philip R. Danforth
GFA International, Inc.