Assignment of tasks is part of daily office life for meeting organizational goals. When the project manager delegates work to the task receiver, the receiver reacts to the delegated task.
Since task delegation varies across different offices, it’s crucial to follow a Guideline for the assignment of tasks to Team Members to ensure effective delegation. Proper assignment of tasks is critical for team success, and when this process is done poorly, it can lead to unsatisfactory results.
Assignment of tasks to Team members requires clear communication, direction, and mutual understanding. To ensure task assignment is smooth and successful, there must be a focus on clarity, accountability, and timely resolution of any doubts that may arise.
Ultimately, success in the assignment of tasks comes from fostering strong communication and alignment between the task assigner and receiver.
What Does Assigning Tasks Mean?
Assigning tasks refers to the allocation of particular duties to team members according to their skills, experience, and availability. It is the procedure by which a project manager or team leader allocates particular work to team members so that a bigger project objective can be accomplished efficiently.
Proper task assignment will ensure that each team member understands what they are supposed to do, when it is due, and what constitutes success.
Why is the assignment of tasks to Team Members Important?
Every team is strong when members work together with trust and team spirit. The different types of tasks need division and distribution, and knowledge of the capacity of each team member.
Here are some reasons why task assignment is important for assigning tasks to team members:
1. Improvement in Project Efficiency
Tedious tasks are divided among different team members, and then the overall efficiency of the team increases.
Without task distribution, the project is unmanaged and vague without effective delegation.
2. Improvement in Project Productivity
When the correct tasks are assigned to team members, each project sector is looked after as responsibilities are divided.
This situation aids in enhancing productivity from every member’s side to complete the task with time management.
3. Highly Developed Morale
Assigning duties to each individual makes them happy, accept responsibility, and work confidently to reach better goals through effective delegation.
Project management software with a project management tool helps the project manager assign tasks to team members.
4. Habit of Consideration
The Duties assignment teaches the whole team to consider different situations while completing a project.
Each member earns to support the other, building a stronger team for better outputs and delegating effectively.
Role of Task Assignment in Preventing Delays and Confusion
Structured task allocation is one of the most efficient methods of ensuring that projects stay on schedule and that teams remain free from internal conflicts. This is how it directly impacts the elimination of delays and miscommunication:
Eliminates Role Ambiguity: When tasks are assigned, it eliminates any confusion regarding what each team member is supposed to do, thus eliminating any areas where important work might be missed or forgotten.
Reduces Duplicated Effort: When tasks are assigned, it eliminates the possibility of two or more team members working on the same project without realizing it.
Creates Timelines: It gives the project a timeline by assigning tasks and deadlines, thus preventing bottlenecks and last-minute rushes.
Improves Accountability: It makes team members feel a sense of ownership of their work, thus motivating them to do quality work on time without constant reminders.
Helps in Early Problem Identification: Since tasks are assigned and tracked on a timeline, managers are able to identify problems early, giving them time to take corrective actions before the problem becomes a bottleneck in the project.
Avoids Communication Breakdowns: Since roles are clearly defined, there is no need to discuss them, and team discussions can focus on progress.
Factors to Consider Before Assigning Tasks
A team head should consider various factors before immersing in the allocation of tasks with the aim of giving the right task to the right person at the right time. One of the most frequent delegation mistakes that managers commit is rushing into an assignment without laying the groundwork.
1. Skills and Strengths of the employees.
The greatest aspect is aligning the requirements of the task with the core competencies of the person. When the task fits the strength of an employee, it will be accomplished at a quicker rate, with better quality, and require very minimal supervision. The performance, skills, and areas of expertise known by each team member should be examined before task distribution.
2. Present Workload and Availability.
A large employee is unable to work effectively even when he has already been stretched to the limit. Determine the current workload of each of the team members before giving them new assignments. Working over one individual and not fully utilizing the rest shows a lack of management of tasks, burnout, and resentment among team members.
3. Complexity and Priority of the task.
Not everything is equally important. Certain activities are high-impact, high-urgency, and others are routine and low-priority. Knowing how much each job is ranked on the difficulty/priority axis can assist managers in delegating the work that bears high stakes to the employees who already have extensive experience and delegate the work that is routine to the employees in their developing skill set.
4. Time Sensitivity and deadlines.
Each task has a timeline, and it has to be considered through the aspect of assignments. When a task is of an urgent nature, then that activity must be assigned to someone available in terms of bandwidth and speed in order to meet the deadline. A member of a team who is already busy should not be assigned time-sensitive work, as this is a guarantee of deadlines being missed.
5. Interest and Motivation
Employees would work a lot better when they are doing something they feel is relevant or when they have an interest in the same. Allocate tasks where feasible, keeping in mind personal interest and career development objectives. An employee who is motivated will perform more than expected, whereas a disengaged employee will do the bare minimum.
6. Dynamics and Needs of Collaboration in Teams.
There are certain tasks that involve the cooperation of a number of individuals or departments. When this happens, take into consideration the interpersonal relationships of the team members. By giving teamwork-based assignments to individuals who can work in teams, one is guaranteed a smooth and fruitful process.
7. Resource Availability
Next to the human factor, ponder on whether the employee is equipped with the tools, software, data, and budgets to accomplish the task. Leaving a task without proper resources in place predetermines failure of a team member even before he/she starts working on it.
20 Guidelines for Assigning Tasks to Team Members
A team lead cannot assign tasks to team members without proper planning and experience, and the habit of providing feedback.
Task assigners need good experience with previous task assignments, and the new members can showcase their ability in different types of tasks.
Another major concern is the impact of employee engagement, for which task holders need interest and passion to continue the work assigned. Some guidelines for the assignment of tasks to team members are:
1. Assign Tasks Positively
Assignment of tasks to employees requires positivity, and when you ask them to do a certain task, provide them with details.
A positive attitude will help them know that it is possible to conduct the task in the way the leader wants them to.
If you assign common tasks negatively or doubt their capability, employees will feel demotivated to begin their tasks.
A hint of positivity will brighten their day and make them complete assigned tasks with full confidence.
2. Be Clear of Goals and Objectives
Before assigning any duties to employees, the assigner needs to know the work’s goals and objectives to know how employees perform. Task givers need to understand what they want and expect from the work process. This is especially true when assigning tasks involving sensitive customer data or online security protocols. In such cases, having a basic understanding of Digital Identity Verification can help ensure goals are aligned with compliance and risk management requirements.
When goals and objectives are unset, the task giver is confused due to a lack of vision and cannot command the task completers to do a role in a certain way. The task providers need to set clear ways and methods with proper delegation strategies.
3. Right Task to Right Employee
Allotting the right task to the right employee is the key to productivity and needs a step-by-step guide.
But before dividing and designating the work for employees, the role provider needs to know the type of each employee.
The leader should build a delegation strategy, including the different capacities of different employees and give duties that fit the employees perfectly.
When a task demands an exceptional employee and a lack of talent, the leaders themselves should conduct the task without a workforce or emergency.
4. Get Ideas and Hold Meetings
Before giving away responsibilities to team members, a discussion with all members is essential.
The team lead can ask each employee to express their assigned duties and get ideas via unlimited access to team meetings.
After attending the meeting with employees, you can get a vivid idea of who is responsible for what and how diligently they can finish the task.
Getting ideas from employees ensures the lead of the task completion from every team member’s side.
5. Communicate Efficiently
There are situations in which employees may let go of duties given. The reasons may include a lack of employee engagement, absenteeism, and presenteeism.
When assigning tasks, you should figure out how to deal with lazy employees. Project management tools allow proper communication between team members.
Communication is a great way to improve employee engagement and advise lazy employees to know how employees perform.
If you wish to change plans in the middle of a project process, you can re-explain the team members. Communication also decreases the chance of conflict in an organization.
6. Mark the Deadline with a Timeline
The best way to finish work in a team is by properly planning the resources, like cost, time, and workforce.
When you make a timeline and ask others to conduct work, you can give them deadlines, management software helps track employees’ time.
When each employee finishes the task at the right time, the project takes off smoothly. Assignment of tasks with deadlines to follow a timeline is a very good organizational practice that helps in reducing organizational risks.
7. Track Progress and Ask for Feedback
After task distribution, you cannot just throw tasks away and let the employees handle everything else.
Proper task assigning also includes getting feedback from employees during work processes and tracking their progress.
Tracking productivity with different tools is an easy process. Productive employees yield better results and complete tasks on time.
So it is essential to stay in touch with employees’ progress and know their situation while working.
👉 Read more: Best Ways To Manage Multiple Projects Effectively
8. Train and Supervise
Completing a project requires the fusion of different delegation skills and a high level of dedication from team members with proper planning and implementation.
For producing a skilled workforce, there is a necessity to train the team members and meet the team daily.
The training includes unlimited access to skill-enhancing resources like courses from Udemy or Coursera.
After the training phase, the work conduction requires supervision from the expert to check up on the application of skills learned via the project management tool.
Training and supervision are equally important before and during the task assignment and completion among multiple people.
9. Follow up to Stay Connected
Work professionals need to follow up with their team members to get notified of the obstacles and problems faced by the group workers.
It is important to stay connected with each member to check on work progress and complete the task.
Issues like stress and pressure can tangle the employees and slow them down, so following up on common tasks helps them cope with pressure and increase work productivity.
Micromanagement is not a good idea as it leads to employee burnout. It is better to set employees free by casual follow-ups.
10. Authority and Control Handover
Decentralization of authority relieves an employer for managing tasks. When you assign duties, make sure you allocate a certain amount of power to the employees via management apps.
The control handover makes employees empowered and responsible for finishing tasks.
Providing very little power can result in problems as employees lose interest in the work while giving too much power can overpower employees, making them forget basic duties.
The strength lies in giving enough power to each member who only deserves it and providing feedback.
11. Respect and Support
Every employee in an organization deserves equal respect and support. Each role has its significance, and without equal respect from the employer’s side, it is impossible to reflect the same behavior from the employee’s side.
Respect is mutual, and when working, it is important to let go of judgments and unnecessary assumptions about each other.
Acceptance is a way to help each other during any technical, moral, emotional, or skill-related difficulties.
Supporting and working along in a team is a great idea for completing a task. The task assigner is responsible for setting such a culture, keeping in mind the importance of time management.
12. Learn from the Last Project
Before planning for the upcoming project, it is essential to reflect upon the past projects and learn from the delegation’s mistakes.
Leading other team members requires experience and, more than that, demands the idea of accepting mistakes and learning from them while assigning responsibility.
When you assign new team members, use the same strategies and ideas you did in the previous project.
If there were errors in the previous try, assign tasks to correct the previous ones and accept the changes as a stepping stone for success.
13. Evaluate Project Post-Assignment
After all, employees are done with their tasks, and it is time for you to evaluate the quality of work and check if all the criteria are fulfilled. Sometimes, some tasks are incomplete, and some are full of bugs.
You will have to re-assign the same tasks to members due to a lack of perfection and inefficiency in delivering proper output by tracking time.
It is better to analyze the task output and ask the responsible person to fill gaps in the work provided.
14. Brain-map to Assign Tasks Again
All projects have different tasks and require different approaches to reach goals. Task assigners must detect which approach is better for a certain project, i.e., which methodology to follow, like the agile model or the waterfall project method.
The research for the new project includes ideas for task division and finding the best employees.
The leader needs to brainstorm accordingly so that newer ideas are included. The foremost task of assigning tasks to others runs smoothly for the overall conduct of the project in a directed and glorious way.
Some More Guidelines for the assignment of tasks
Team members require extra care and a lot of patience to understand the objective of common tasks and the delegation strategy.
When conflict arises, it is upon the person to solve the matter. Soft skills with proper guidelines help assign employee tasks and remedy conflicts.
Some other guidelines for the assignment of tasks to team members are mentioned below:
15. Focus and Direction
After tedious tasks are provided to every team member, it is important to know where each member is heading with their duties.
In the first place, the task giver should have clear ideas of responsibilities and follow directions.
Secondly, it is upon the task to stay focused and move in the correct direction of task completion.
The team leader’s responsibility is to guide the employees in the correct direction so they don’t lose focus and get distracted by unnecessary things during office time.
16. Avoid Stressing and Pressure
When you distribute tasks, ensure you don’t stress employees without beginning the task. Complications during task completion are common, but a good leader does not pressure employees for task assignments.
You must understand the situation of employees and take steps accordingly. Working under stress and pressure may decrease workers’ productivity as they cannot deal with such complications. This situation hampers the employee’s well-being and wellness.
17. Be Answerable to Doubts
Questions can arise anytime regarding the task completion, and it is upon the task provider to clear the doubts and queries of the seekers.
When you fail to deliver the correct answer or provide what the employees are seeking, that may harm the process of task completion.
As team managers, it is upon you to remove the veil of doubts from their minds in the bigger picture, so they can conduct the work with dedication and enthusiasm.
It is bad to leave employees confused, as a confused state is a dormant state that hampers the speed of work completion and demotivates multiple people.
18. Honest Feedback to Employees
Speaking softly and not hurting others is a good virtue, but there are times when you have to act abruptly and state the employees’ mistakes.
It is essential to give honest feedback to employees who need to work on their mistakes.
If you don’t give them honest feedback before assigning tasks, there is no hope for completion. Honest feedback helps employees rise in their respective work and provides a great chance for improvement in their careers.
19. Do Not Assign the Same Task to Different People
Assigning the same task to different people is a waste of time and resources unless you want to compare the results of two task receivers.
It is better to plan the task division than to mess up the assignment of tasks to team members at the last moment.
Healthy competition between the team members is a good idea, but make sure you don’t hurt the feelings of any of them.
Working and learning are part of every employee’s journey, and it is important to keep them interested in any task.
20. Listen to Your Employees
When you assign tasks, it is equally necessary for you to listen to your employees. Some employees may not be sure about a certain task and can ask you to switch tasks with other members.
So it is needed for the team leader to understand each member and listen to them from the beginning of a task to the end of a work assignment.
Assigning Tasks to Team Members (Email Sample)
It is time-saving and makes your email correspondence always understandable, competent, and comprehensive because you have a trusted email template where you can assign tasks. Three canned email samples on various scenarios of assignment of tasks are provided below.
Sample 1 Standard Task Assignment Email.
Subject: Task Assignment – [Project Name] – [Task Name]
Hi [Employee Name],
I hope you are doing well. It is my pleasure to now delegate to you the following task in our continuing [Project Name].
Task: [Task Title] Description: [Short description of what should be done and how it should be done to be expected) Priority Level: [High / Medium / Low] Deadline: [Date] Resources Available: [Links, documents, tools, or contacts the employee may require].
Before you start, please read the details of the task and be able to inform me whether you have any questions or need any clarification. I would like to be informed of the progress made by the progress report by January 12, 2023 to ensure that nothing has gone awry.
Your contribution and effort in the team are appreciated. I am sure that you are going to manage this.
Best regards,
[Your Name] [Your Designation]Sample 2 Task Assignment Email: New Team member.
Assigned: Welcome to the Team – Your First Task Assignment.
Hi [Employee Name],
Welcome aboard! We are pleased to welcome you to the team. Since you have settled, we would like to introduce you to your first job to help you become familiar with our working workflow and procedures.
Task: [Task Title] Description: [Basic, straightforward description of what needs to be done] Deadline: [Date – preferably have an extra buffer period in case of a new hire] Point of Contact: [Name of the colleague that they can address to get some guidance] Reference Materials: [Onboarding documents, style guides, or other pertinent materials]
Do not, I beg, ask questions at all. This is what we desire to be a good experience. Your partner in this project will be [Colleague Name], who will always be willing to assist.
I am looking forward to seeing your work. Have a great start!
Warm regards,
[Your Name] [Your Designation]Sample 3 – Task Reassignment Email.
Title: Task Reassigning- [Task Name].
Hi [Employee Name],
The reason I am writing is about the [Task Name] that had been assigned initially to [Original AssigneeName]. As a result of [some short-term, neutral cause – e.g., a change in project priorities/workload rebalancing], we are reassigning this task to you immediately.
Task: [Task Title] Current Status: [Short report on the level of task completion, where relevant] Remaining Deliverables: [Anything still to be done] Revised Deadline: [Date] Handover Notes: [Important context, files, or background information]
I know that it can take a brief ramp-up phase, and I would like to tell you that we are ready to provide full support. Please feel free to contact [Original Assignee or Project Lead] to receive a briefing at the right time when necessary.
Thanks a lot, I was flexible. Just to ensure that you have received this email, please reply and indicate whether you have any urgent questions.
Best regards,
[Your Name] [Your Designation]Conclusion
Assignment of tasks to team members is the most important step for task completion. Delegation mistakes are common while managing tasks, and so it is important to seek help from management apps while assigning responsibility to employees.
Marketing automation and other features are provided by project management tools that help in better task assignments.
The guideline for task assignment helps in employee development and setting aside time, tracked; employees remain engaged.
