Do Your Employees Have a Balanced Workflow?

Over at Fast Company, Ken Blanchard and Scott Blanchard explain why finding a good balance for your employees should be a key goal for managers.

“It’s only natural to assign tasks to the most accomplished people on your team,” Blanchard writes. “But the real goal of leadership is to get things done while creating an environment that is engaging and encourages long-term growth.”

To be successful in employee development, Blanchard says, it is important to balance a short-term need for immediate results with a long-term view for growth and development of your people. (See Challenges of Work/Life Balance)

Blanchard lists off a few ways to optimize worker’s “flow,” the mental state where a person is fully immersed in an activity, performing at his or her best, and feeling energized throughout the process.

Become more aware of your goal-setting habits.

Blanchard says you should check to see if you’ve optimized the challenge inherent in each person’s goals or tasks or just have you fallen into the habit of overusing and under-challenging your best people.

Focus on both the long and short term. 

There’s a balance between employee development and organizational effectiveness, he says. “Manage the urge to assign a task to a proven winner to ensure quick completion versus assigning the same task to someone who is brand new and may require some direction and support,” he writes.

Create variety for yourself and others.

Balancing task variety is a project that requires some discipline and awareness to think through, but, Blanchard says, can be necessary and rewarding.

“Maintaining task variety is a must-do for managers,” he concludes.

For more on the best way to manage employees work loads, read Blanchard’s full post here.