Jon Pratlett The Missing Step in Task Assignment: An insight from neuroscience.........
As a leader (or parent), an essential part of your role is to assign tasks to your team, provide necessary resources and
hold them accountable for the result. One vital step of the task assignment process is frequently left out, is critical to
having the task completed safely, to specification, on time and on budget and is ...?
Without this step you are encouraging a team member to plough on and do the best they can, albeit off-track, or
come back to you seeking more information. If they plough on without it, they will probably not provide the outcome
you were looking for. If they come back to you, you may be busy. They wait! You both get frustrated. When they do
get to you, you might say “But I haven’t got time to explain that! I just want you to do it! Isn’t that what I pay you for?”
Without this step trust is undermined, people become disengaged, rework is generated, costs rise, standards drop.
Everyone is frustrated and put under increasing scrutiny and pressure. We know, all things being equal, that people
will embrace accountability when their work is clear and has meaning.
What is this missing step? CONTEXT - the background to the task; the “Why”. The context frames the meaning behind
the task being assigned.
If you placed a plank of wood on the ground and said to your team that you would give $50 to anyone who walks the
length of this plank, who would do it? Almost everyone will ... it's an easy $50!
What if you took this same plank and placed it between 2 buildings, up on the twelfth floor? $50 to anyone who will
walk across the plank! Would they do it? Not a chance.
Okay ... now the other building is on fire and their child is lying unconscious at the other end of that plank and the
flames will reach them in just a few moments. Would they go across the plank now? Most would say yes.
So what is the difference? It's the same danger, the same variables pretty much, but the difference is ... why.
Neuroscience research confirms that we are driven by one key motivating principle:
To Minimize Risk and Maximize Reward
From an evolutionary standpoint we are wired to pick any signs of physical threat in our environment to help us react
quickly, with the fight, flight, freeze response, to ensure our survival. That type of response was very appropriate
20,000 years ago when the threat was a tiger.
Today, however, we are unlikely to face such a threat. Today the threats are more symbolic and more frequent, such
as a dismissive boss, ambiguous instructions, being criticized in front of your peers and being micromanaged, but still
generate the same fight, flight, freeze response.
High levels of stress show up in a negative attitude and behaviour and become contagious, spreading rapidly like a
virus through the team. Therefore, it is critical that, in assigning tasks, you provide good context and an opportunity
for questions to be answered, creating greater shared understanding and clarity, in the process addressing the human
needs of fairness and certainty.
Clarifying the impact on others (the team, other business units, the customer, values, and reputation), if the task isn’t
completed as agreed, also provides further understanding.
As a leader or parent, providing greater Certainty and Autonomy to your colleagues, you Relate better; treating them
equitably (fairly) you enhance their Reputation (status) and your own.
By being a CARER as a leader, providing more meaning and context behind the work you assign, reduces threat and
stress while encouraging people to be highly engaged, to take pride in their work and to go the extra mile.
In return, you will receive greater productivity, satisfaction and personal and team well-being.
Jon Pratlett B. Ed (Hons), Cert. Ed., Post Grad. Neuroscience of Leadership. Represented
Australia at two Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Hawaii. He offers leading-edge
support to successfully manage and lead organisational change with the brain in mind.
Jon’s clients include IBM, Westpac, Macquarie Bank, Commonwealth Bank, AMP, GE and
the Australian Olympic Committee.
Contact Jon at +61 2 9369 4120 or [email protected] or http://www.jonpratlett.com