Picture this: You’ve just completed a task assigned by your supervisor in a couple of hours.
Feeling confident, you turn in your work… only to end up receiving a flurry of negative feedback.
Your supervisor claims you’re three hours late, having submitted at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time instead of 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The supervisor also pointed out your use of a Microsoft Word document, instead of turning in your work in a PDF format.
Worse, you were called out for misunderstanding the assignment, as you created a blog post about your company’s rebrand when a press release was expected instead.
The twist?
None of these requirements were ever communicated clearly to you.
This scenario isn’t hypothetical; similar incidents play out on a daily basis across companies and industries, leading to confused workers and frustrated managers.
Worse, this leads to lost time, effort, and most of all, productivity.
The culprit behind these mismatched expectations, misaligned timelines, and miscommunications?
Ineffective task assignment!
Since this is a problem many firms face, we’re going to take a deep dive on this in today’s edition of “Return Driven Strategy!”
Driving Effective and Efficient Assignments
Inefficient task assignment creates a cascade of problems: Confused workers, frustrated managers, and ineffective execution that waste both time and valuable resources, monetary or otherwise.
Photo from Unsplash
Over time, this cycle of inefficiency leads to declining company performance and a myriad of setbacks that negatively impact an organization as a whole.
The importance of giving effective and efficient assignments cannot be stated enough as this directly impacts a company’s ability to achieve its goals.
This is where Return Driven Tasking—a supporting principle of RDS—comes into play.
Return Driven Tasking encompasses five essential parameters for driving effective and efficient assignments.
Each time a task or project is given, both the task provider and task receiver should provide and receive the following:
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When is the task due?
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How long should the task take?
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With whom should I collaborate?
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What is the exact deliverable?
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Who is the ultimate audience?
When giving deadlines, task givers should provide the exact time and date to task doers. This is especially important if different time zones are involved.
Vague deadlines like “afternoon,” “this week,” or “Monday morning” should be replaced with “September 9, Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time” instead.
Just because a task doer was told to submit the task at the end of the day, that doesn’t mean he or she is expected to take the whole day to complete the task.
This is why it’s important to provide the hours expected to get the job done right, as this not only sets proper expectations but also serves as a way for the task giver and doer to clarify the finer points of the assignment.
After all, a project may take an hour or two or in some cases, 40 hours or more to get it done right.
Another practice that further defines the task is specifying collaborators for the task doer.
While some tasks require only one person to complete, others demand multiple people working together.
By taking this extra step, the task doer gains complete clarity with whom they should collaborate with or if it’s even needed at all.
Task givers should be clear on the type of deliverable they’re asking for from task doers.
Is it a print out? An email? A blog post? A Microsoft Word file? An Excel spreadsheet? A PDF document?
Confusion in project task completion, lost hours, and poor work quality often stem from a lack of clear communication regarding deliverables.
Knowing who the audience is crucial because the outcome of task assignments ultimately depends on who it is for.
By defining the audience, the task doer has a clear idea of what the project task needs and is composed of.
For example: A deliverable like a draft business proposal meant to be seen by a manager or C-suite executive differs a lot from one that’s supposed to be seen by a prospective client or business partner.
In cases like this one, there’s probably a litany of items in the draft proposal that should be ironed out or should be omitted from the final copy that would be sent out to an external party.
Now that you know about the 5 parameters of Return Driven Tasking, there is a crucial detail you need to know: These principles aren’t just for task givers, but also for task doers.
According to Professor Joel Litman, the Chairman and CEO of Valens Research and Chief Investment Officer of Altimetry Financial Research, it’s the job of both task givers and doers to clarify and define the tasks they’re working on.
He stresses that whenever work is assigned, all elements of Return Driven Tasking must be crystal clear from the outset. The task receiver should proactively restate the instructions provided by a supervisor or manager.
This practice ensures that any necessary clarifications are addressed immediately and creates space for both the task doer and giver to have a collaborative discussion that ultimately benefits both parties and strengthens the output of the assignment.
The bottom line?
When all of the principles of Return Driven Tasking are followed, the chances for wasted resources and productivity are greatly lessened because everything that needs to be done is clearly defined from the get-go, leading to better execution and ultimately, greater organizational performance at both a micro and macro level.
Keep these principles in mind the next time you assign or receive an assignment!
You never know, these just might be what you need to take your productivity to the next level!
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If you’re looking to gain a better understanding of Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy, we highly recommend checking out “Driven” by Professor Litman and Dr. Frigo.
Click here to get your copy and learn how this framework can help you in your business strategies and ultimately, in ethically maximizing wealth for your firm.
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Tuesdays: Return Driven Strategy”
In the book, “Driven,” authors Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo said that the goal of every long-term successful business strategy should incorporate the combined necessity of “making the world a better place” and “getting wealthy.”
That is why they created Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy―frameworks that were built to help leaders and professionals plan and evaluate businesses so they can also help others achieve their organizational goals and career goals.
The frameworks describe the plans and actions that drive returns for anyone in an organization such as independent contractors, marketers, brand managers, communicators, and other people in any field. These actions lead to the creation of wealth and value for customers, employees, shareholders, and the society.
Every Tuesday, we’ll highlight case studies, business strategies, tips, and insights related to Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy.
In planning, building, or managing brands and businesses, these strategies, case studies, and guidelines will help you choose what specific actions to take and when to take them.
Hope you find this week’s topic interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s “Return Driven Strategy!”
Cheers,
Adrian Kyle Vergara
Content Writer
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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