As a manager, not a day goes by that you don't have to think about delegating projects and tasks. How do you decide? How do you choose what to keep yourself? What if multiple people have the time and the skill to do the job? A number of years ago I asked Laurie Page, a managing partner at the Bridge Group, Inc, this question and she gave me the answer I now live by. It really is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
#1 – Does the individual have the skill to do the job well?
#2 – Do they have the time?
#3 – Do they have the passion?
I started using this set of questions as my litmus test a few years back and realized they really did make my job easier when selecting who should take on a key role. Most often you can create a long list of those who meet 2 out of the 3 criteria but the list rapidly shortens when you consider all three. Go ahead; think about a major new role in your company or a project that requires a lead or a manager who could use some help from a team leader. If you’ve hired well you will probably have a long list of those who have the skill to take on the assignment. But who truly has the time AND the passion in addition to the skill. In a prior role we were looking to find someone to run a new team; a team that we believed would be critical to our growth in the coming year. When I added the third criteria, passion, the ideal individual quickly rose to the top of my list.
#1 – Does the individual have the skill to do the job well?
#2 – Do they have the time?
#3 – Do they have the passion?
I started using this set of questions as my litmus test a few years back and realized they really did make my job easier when selecting who should take on a key role. Most often you can create a long list of those who meet 2 out of the 3 criteria but the list rapidly shortens when you consider all three. Go ahead; think about a major new role in your company or a project that requires a lead or a manager who could use some help from a team leader. If you’ve hired well you will probably have a long list of those who have the skill to take on the assignment. But who truly has the time AND the passion in addition to the skill. In a prior role we were looking to find someone to run a new team; a team that we believed would be critical to our growth in the coming year. When I added the third criteria, passion, the ideal individual quickly rose to the top of my list.
RSS Feed