In order to be able to manage your time to get things done that are important to you, you must first preserve some time to manage by getting your team members to get the things done that should be important to them.

This requires you to pass on responsibility to others in such a way that they understand, accept and are motivated to complete the work. This is the toughest part of management for most people. Very few people do it well.

There are a number of factors that influence the relationship between the manager and given employee that will affect the outcome of the delegated work – including personality styles, the overall work environment etc. – which can be covered in a short discussion.

However there are two certainties about delegating work:

1. The effort will fail if the individual lacks a full understanding of what is to be done

2. The effort will fail if a procedure is not in place and understood for checking work

Here then are seven questions to ask yourself to ensure the individual understands the assignment and that its completion will be checked:

• What is to be done?
• Why does it need to be done?
• Who is to do it?
• When is it to be done by?
• When is the doer to report on progress?
• How is the doer to report?
• What will constitute and verify successful completion – what are the desired results?

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This is an excerpt from my book, “9 Rules For Business Prosperity in the New Economy”.  The book may be purchased in both printed and Kindle editions at: http://arizonamarketingassociation.org/9-rules-business-prosperity/