The Communication Problem Solver 25. Managers need top-flight communication skills to keep their staffs productive and collaborative. But often, those who manage lack the ability to get things back on track once miscommunication occurs. This book helps readers analyze their communication skills and challenges and explains how they can use simple problem-solving techniques to resolve the people issues that derail productivity at work. Easily accessible and filled with real world management examples. This no-nonsense guide is packed with practical tools to help any manager be immediately effective, as well as a handy list of common communication problems and corresponding solutions | Leading Collaborative Conversations Chunk it down into pieces if you are not comfortable delegating the whole task or project. You can keep parts and parcel out parts to one or more people. Then pick the correct people and trust them to drive it to completion. But one of the ways to increase trust is to set checkpoints and monitor progress along the way. So trust your intuition. What does your intuition tell you about this particular task or project delegated to this particular person What information will you need and when will you need it to feel comfortable that the job is getting done according to specification within budget and on time Schedule progress check-ins accordingly. Maybe your weekly progress meeting is sufficient and maybe not. A manager does not need to apologize for needing to know status. As time goes on you might decide to stretch the checkpoints further apart. Trust grows dependent on consistent delivery not on how much we like people. How to Increase Collaboration When Delegating Some managers worry about the way they delegate. They think they are too authoritarian in their approach and get resistance from their employees because of it. They have asked How can I be more diplomatic in the way I request that something get done One thing to remember is that delegation is not really a request it is an assignment. A confident manager might word it as a request knowing that will increase collegiality and the employee s ownership of the task. That approach can work quite well to maintain good working relationships. But it takes a self-assured manager who has established a collaborative relationship to make it work. Similarly managers are not asking for a favor when they delegate work. It is the manager s job to decide who is best suited to do what by when. Sometimes managers who have well-built two-way relationships with employees will delegate by saying Can you do me a favor because they know the person will say yes and it is the nature of their 222
