Chapter 5
HOMOGENEOUS ASSIGNMENT

Managers must develop practicable ways to cope with and dispose of tasks that are faced every day. Managers should keep their desks clean, figuratively and in fact. You must not leave tasks to stack on your desk or in your mind. Do not procrastinate. Do not kid yourself. Some tasks you will not do. Set them aside. Out of sight, out of mind! Address the things you intend to accomplish. You must delegate your authority. You must select the right people. Sometimes you select and sometimes you are selected. In the latter case, you still do the selecting. You must do something! You must act!

Excellent managers do not happen by accident. They do not hire the right people by accident. They do not enjoy successes by accident. Throughout your career you will be given the opportunity to perform certain tasks and achieve certain goals that may be described as special projects. You must first clearly understand the overall corporate goals. Then you know how to position and prioritize your special tasks and begin to use your delegation of authority skills.

Assigning the right person to the job is essential to successful management. An old saying, "Don't send a boy to do a man's job", is appropriate. More apt today, "Don't send a child to do an adult's job!" It doesn't have the poetic ring but the point is made. When you create or pass on an assignment, make sure the person receiving the task is the right person for the job. If you select people who are rightly suited, your work will be very easy. If not, they will run and hide. They may go home sick because they are over their head. They will drag their feet and you spend your time dragging them along. This is not to say that you shouldn't test people every now and then, or that you shouldn't give them a chance. For the most part however, you aren't looking for someone to "give it a shot". If it's just for fun, it probably shouldn't be assigned at all. Pick your person or your team confident that they have the basic knowledge and mental capacity. Give them the appropriate tools and you will get excellent results. Be sure to heap praise on the people who do the work and give them full credit. Your leadership will be accepted by those in positions below you and above you. You'll get more tasks and eventually more recognition and remuneration.

Since you are the excellent manager you can control the assignments under you and sometimes at your level. What if your manager is not so excellent and doesn't understand the principle of homogeneous assignment? What if you are given an assignment to which you are obviously not suited and not knowledgeable and maybe do not even have the mental capacity to handle. Don't get angry, or sick or feel put upon. Accept the assignment, make sure you understand exactly what the final result should be. Maybe it is to develop a plan to increase satisfaction among your customers. Maybe it's a new training program. Maybe it's to form a competitive kite flying team. None of these have anything to do with your background and education.

Here's a possible scenario. Take charge of the situation. Assume that the authority of the assignment empowers you to form a team with several departments represented, if necessary. Select the right team leader, suited to the task; research oriented and persistent. Make certain the team leader becomes knowledgeable by researching the subject. Select a volunteer scribe to record your progress sessions. Develop a list of things that must be accomplished. Assign each person specific task areas. Have a time line developed. You may need a budget for consultants, travel to study companies with a successful record in similar programs If possible, find people around the country, or the world, who have already done whatever you have to do. Pick and choose carefully whom you will model your program after. You do not want to imitate failure. If the program is so unique that you have to start from scratch, skip the modeling part. You still need experts in associated fields. You may discover that you have some talent in your own company. Shepherd the project by reviewing progress and suggesting changes, additions or deletions. Encourage your team members along the way. Don't fall too deeply in love with an assignment. You may have the best plan conceived and get only half the people you need, or only half the budget you need. Stay creative and stay loose. Ask for a compromise to concede only one fourth of your budget needs. (If you have planned well, perhaps you will really be getting 100% of what you needed to begin with.)

When your project is completed, let your leaders present their respective area of the program to top management. Eliminate the possibility of a botched presentation. Presentations must be rehearsed, timed with questions and answers anticipated. Your people will come off like the professionals they are, they will get some quality time in front of the "big bosses" and you will be a hero. When promotions are discussed in the future, the management will remember "your people" and they will remember you. Remember, excellent management of people and situations is no accident. Success is no accident. Once the project is approved, turn it over to a suitable person who has emerged and who would enjoy keeping it going. After the new program is in effect and you have gone on to new tasks, do not go back and make sure it is going according to plan unless you are told to rejuvenate. This is like the plate spinning game. In real life, you make sure the plates are all spinning and you go on to a new game. You have made someone else responsible for keeping them spinning.

Evaluate and congratulate yourself. You made yourself fit the task. You demonstrated that you are an excellent manager and leader of people. You raised your profile and made yourself more valuable to your company. In the process, you discovered some leadership type people who are enthusiastic and will want to work with you on future assignments. You have brought new leaders in your organization forward and given them an opportunity to be recognized. Many of those will get early promotions. One day, one or more of them, could become excellent managers. You will be proud of your contribution to their success.

1. Clear your desk
2. Match the person to the task.
3. Don't send a boy to do a man's job.
4. Just because you are mismanaged doesn't mean you have to mismanage.
5. Begin to look forward to additional projects.
6. When your boss tells you to do something he usually means, "Get it done."
7. Do not forget to delegate your authority.
8. Do not ask twice. Get it done!