Planning
Coordinating should take place before the event rather than after
it. Planning is the first step. This means deciding what should be
done and when. It is a process of dividing the total task into a
number of sequenced or related sub-tasks. Then you work out
priorities and timescales.
Organizing
You know what should be done. You then decide who does it.
When you divide work between people you should avoid
breaking apart those tasks which are linked together and which
you cannot separate cleanly from each other.
Your biggest problem will be deciding where the boundaries
between distinct but related activities should be. If the boundary
is either too rigid or insufficiently well defined, you may have
coordination problems. Don’t rely too much upon the formal
organization as defined in job descriptions, charts and manuals.
If you do, you will induce inflexibility and set up communication
barriers, and these are fatal to coordination.
The informal organization which exists in all companies can
help co-ordination. When people work together they develop a
system of social relationships which cut across formal organiza-
tional boundaries. They create a network of informal groups
which tend to discipline themselves. This frees management
from detailed supervision and control and leaves it more time for
planning, problem solving and the overall monitoring of per-
formance.
Delegating
The informal organization can help, but you still need to delegate
work to individuals in a way that ensures they know what is
expected of them andare aware of the need to liaise with others
to achieve a coordinated result.
The art is to make everyone concerned understand the points
on which they must link up with other people and the time in
which such actions have to be completed. You should not have to
tell people to coordinate; they should coordinate almost automat-
ically. This they will do if you delegate not only specific tasks but
also the job of working with others.
28 How to be an Even Better Manager