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Why Can't We Get Anything Done Around Here?

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Why Can't We Get Anything Done Around Here?

The Smart Manager's Guide to Executing the Work that Delivers Results

McGraw-Hill,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Have you managed yourself into a productivity jam? Check your assignments. Do people like their tasks? If not, fix that.

Editorial Rating

6

Recommendation

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, getAbstract.com thinks 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.

Summary

Combining Action and Results

While many managers are reluctant to admit it, despite their oversight, style and the amount of activity in their departments, things often don’t get done. Paperwork piles up, inquiries from key clients go unanswered, that backlog of orders never seems to diminish and computer upgrades never get completed.

When talented managers further investigate this problem, they are somehow surprised to discover that employee productivity is stagnant and assignments often go uncompleted.

If a manager has competent employees working in a professional environment, what’s the problem? The diagnosis may be as simple as re-evaluating what a department is doing, and then assessing whether the tasks that are being accomplished are the ones that matter. The next corrective step is to assign the right people to complete key tasks.

The Task Management Model provides a framework for developing a methodical approach to accomplishing tasks, while also improving efficiency and productivity. This model asks managers three questions to ensure that the right tasks get done:

  1. Is the task important?
  2. Are the right people...

About the Authors

Robert E. Lefton is the co-founder, president and CEO of Psychological Associates, a management and organizational consulting firm serving many Fortune 500 corporations. Jerome T. Loeb is the former chairman of the board of The May Department Stores Company. He is currently an adjunct professor of marketing at the Olin School of Business, at Washington University in St. Louis.

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