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ARE YOU DOING TWO JOBS?

© Barbara Massie

Sometimes a boss is so gung-ho on directing an employee that the boss ends up actually doing all the work. Constantly checking to make certain the employee is doing the work correctly is a time waster.

More examples of time wasters are:

• Spending time explaining what needs to be done, then you keep looking to see it is.
• A thought pops into your head of something that has to be done tomorrow, you jump up, go over to the employee and tell what you thought of.

The Top 10 Time Wasters can enlighten you even more. Do you get the picture? You are spending valuable time and being less productive than before you hired help!

Organize. Line out the work for a week as much as possible. Decide who does what. Meet with the employee, discuss what has to be done and delegate her part. When the employee has been well trained, just trust her. Trust that your training was sufficient and she can do the work. Check at the end of a day, but don't constantly look over her shoulder checking all day. That not only wastes your time, but can create a disgruntled employee. I once had a boss who did that and it drove me crazy. I was very thankful when I was finally able to leave the job.

When you assign work, always give full information at the time of assignment and give a completion date. Telling when the project is to be finished, helps you schedule other projects and allows the employee a time frame within which to work. The structure and schedule helps control time. When several projects are being worked on, be certain the employee knows the priority of each. Then if a project is finished when you are not available, work will continue as the worker knows which project is to be finished next. Although written for students "Written work and assignments" might be of some value and give you some hints.

A blackboard also helps to keep track of certain things. If a big project has a deadline in the future and has a starting date several weeks away, putting the project and dates on the board will help both boss and employee know that a big push is coming.  The board also can act as a quick note reference:

• A "gone to bank, be back at 11:15" tells where you are in case of important messages coming in.
• When an employee requests time off on Tuesday, May the 3rd. Put it on the board as a reminder. Sure it's on the calendar, but seeing it on the board

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