Sondra was holding her head between her hands, staring directly down to the surface of her desk. I tapped the door and she looked at me over her glasses.
“Why the long face, said the bartender to the horse?” I asked.
She smiled through her temporary state of mind. “Gotta work tomorrow, Saturday,” she replied.
“Not the end of the world, what’s the matter?”
“I assigned a project, a major project to Dale on Monday. He asked when I needed it. I said ASAP. Today is Friday. He hasn’t started it and he is leaving town for the weekend.”
“So, what does ASAP mean?”
“It means it’s important and I need it right away. The client meeting is first thing Monday. Another communication breakdown.”
“Oh, it looks like a breakdown in communication,” I replied. “But the responsibility lies with you, the Manager.”
“What do you mean? I told him it was important and that I needed it as soon as possible.” Sondra had pushed herself back from the desk, arms extended.
I shook my head. “This is basic goal setting and you have committed the classic mistake. When you assign a task, any task to achieve a goal, what are the elements in that assignment?”
“Well, I tell them what I want them to do, you know, how many of whatever, and any important details.”
“And what else?”
Sondra was stumped. But in all fairness, her mind was thinking about Saturday. I am sure by now, she just wished I would go away.
“How about when you want the project completed by?” I prompted.
“Well, if it has a deadline, but if I just need it done, it’s going to take whatever time it takes.”
I shook my head. “No,” I said slowly. “Every task assignment ALWAYS has an expected completion time. The classic mistake most managers make is ignoring the importance of the expected completion time. Tell you what. You come in tomorrow, on Saturday, finish your project, that should have been finished yesterday and on Monday, we will talk about the importance of expected completion times.” -TF
Nice to read this, for those that go camping and have to set up their tent, will agree with me that the stability of the tent depends strongly on the way you straithen those cords. In tasks assignment, if you leave a cord loose, that the part of the tasks that will slip. In this case, if you’ll forget to mention the timings, timings will slip.
We often assume that our lister completely understands what we wants. But in reality, nothings further from the truth…
In my case, my own timeshedule is often the reason why I forget to assign tasks in a proper matter, resulting in more time effort to get things proper done as If I’dd take time to do it right in the first place…
The way I see this one is: Some managers need literally everything “ASAP”. Every task assigned is “ASAP”, “ASAP”, “ASAP”. When everything is treated as a high priority, then nothing is a high priority. Everything becomes equal priority.
Don’t get into the habit of using “ASAP” every time you assign a task.
Giving specific timeframes helps to eliminate this. Examples of “I need this today.” or “I need this by COB Friday.” allows employees to prioritize more accurately.
Some managers however, are given this “ASAP” directive from above. Tom, do you have any pointers on broaching the subject with them?
Example: Upper Management says: “We want this ASAP.” Middle management says: “Could you be more specific? Do you want it by lunch? First thing tomorrow morning?” I guess I just answered my own question, but do you have any further ideas to share?
Thanks Tom.