What factors determine how effective an employee will be at completing a task?
We can look to the Skill / Will matrix (Max Landsberg) for the answer. Any employee will have a level of skill for the task at hand. It may be highly-developed or fairly fresh. As a manager you'll need to assess the current skill, capability, experience and knowledge of your employee. Additionally, we will all have a level of motivation for what we are being asked to do. When we are highly-motivated, tasks seem easier and more enjoyable. Without this will or desire, work can lack fulfilment and satisfaction. Managing your employee's motivation for a task or job will be equally important to the utilisation of their skills. The Skill/Will Matrix guides us towards four different approaches a manager can use. Effective managers use all four depending on their reading of an employee's skill and will. It's quite a skill to have and not all managers can do it. However, you will be judged by the success of your team and their success will be highly-dependent upon your ability to manage effectively. Along with all this flexibility, there are some management tasks which all employees should complete. These are: