Customer Reviews

Why Can't We Get Anything Done Around Here?: The Smart Manager's Guide to Executing the Work That Delivers Results

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Do you feel that your employees just don't grapple with the tasks at hand? Take heart. This handbook offers one way to solve one of the major conundrums of modern management: how do we get things done? Authors Robert E. Lefton and Jerome T. Loeb focus on a productivity-oriented Task Management Model that requires managers to categorize employees along a spectrum of capabilities, including which jobs they like best and do well. Then, the model helps managers understand their own leadership styles and assign the right tasks to the right people to increase efficiency. The book cites examples of its model in use, but it is short on analysis, insights and detailed cases. However, .We think it would be useful to managers and human resources professionals in large organizations who need a quick way to categorize staff members in hopes of improving productivity.

In this brief book the authors offer up their "Task Management Model" to assist with the assignment of tasks. It has 3 dimensions: Task Importance, Employee Capability, and Employee Enjoyment. The important tasks are split into four quadrants with capability as the X axis and enjoyment as the Y axis. The authors give names to each quadrant. For example, the task assignments in which employees enjoy and are highly capable of completing are called gold stars. Those in which employees are not capable and don't enjoy are red flags. Unimportant tasks are not part of any quadrant. They are called black holes and should never be done.

Obviously, the world would be a better place if all task assignments could be gold star tasks. Unfortunately that is not reality, so the authors explain how to address tasks within each quadrant. They also explain management styles that are most effective and common management mistakes that prevent them from getting things done.

The book is an important reminder that managers day-to-day task assignments have a significant impact on employee productivity and when executed properly are critical to the success of their organizations.

-- Nick McCormick, Author, Lead Well and Prosper: 15 Successful Strategies for Becoming a Good Manager