Transparent Commitment Ensures Buy In

Delegation must move in all directions of the organization. not just down.  In all cases, however, there needs to be clear acceptance of a task with clear deadlines.  Without this ‘negotiation’, there is no commitment.  The second part is trust.  Delegators must be able to see that a task was accepted and be able to see that it was completed as committed.   Transparency also creates a positive social pressure to maintain individual self-discipline and keep commitments.

 

Noise Filter

With execution, we need focus.  If I delegate a task on a project, I need to see my delegate’s task status; however, I do not need to see all unrelated tasks ongoing in this project or see how this task was further parsed and sub-delegated.   Meetings, Wikis, and other collaboration tools are for sharing.  Execution is for focusing and finishing priority tasks.

 

Self Aware and Perspective

One of the most important tools of any priority management system is that people need to list their own tasks and prioritize.  What feels overwhelming is often manageable once it is listed.  Likewise, despite feeling in control, listing tasks and commitment can sometimes reveal over-commitment at a point in time that is early enough to seek help and rebalance.  Everyone needs to see all of their commitments, all together, and be able to prioritize.

Mg displays all of your committed tasks in a single view.  These tasks link to MS Outlook tasks and consequently most other task management tools so you can always have a current, top-level picture of your commitments.

Trust Defined

Trust is a series of commitments kept.  It is important that everyone, at every level makes commitments, keeps these commitments, and be recognized as someone who can be trusted.

Mg delegated tasks to another staff member are formally accepted.  Transparency ensures that both people know the full commitment and see when commitments are not being kept.   No more surprises in meeting, expectation misalignments, or repeated status checks.

Teamwork is Task Delegation

Teams outperform individuals when they have the flexibility to divide tasks.  While the most common delegation is leader to staff, the staff-to-staff and staff to leader delegations are just as important.  Without effective delegation, teams add complexity without value. 

In the Mg product, task delegation is not an afterthought—it is a core capability.  Every users of the system can delegate a task for another person, see if that person accepted the task, see if the person completed the task as committed, and even see if the task was broken into smaller tasks and delegated further.  Your delegated tasks are as easy to follow-up as your own tasks.  Imagine if your managers could all delegate effectively.

 

Create an Execution Focused Culture

Collaboration and Strategic design are places where unstructured information and group buy-in are critical.  The switch to execution must have the different values of individual ownership, self-discipline, and collegial trust.  When you are holding strategic meetings or participating in internal forums/wikis, then we are creative, when we use Mg, we are self-disciplined.  Separate tools help manage the balance between the two, sometimes contradictory, management expectations.