04/ 09/ 2002
Too many small businesses don't designate responsibility among employee for new projects, which can backfire when employees don't understand exactly who is accountable for all the activities involved in complex or lengthy undertakings. In today's article, Jeffrey Moses discusses ways to ensure that the proper individuals realize that they will be held accountable for specific aspects of a project.
To help employees understand their responsibilities, projects need to be divided into distinct segments, with each segment clearly defined. The project's segments should be in writing, naming the accountable individuals. The more complete the description of each task, the more clearly accountability will be established.
The written documents should be signed and dated by each individual to whom accountability is given. This may seem overly controlling, but a few hours spent at the inception of a new project defining the work to be done can deter weeks and even months of lost work. The more employees are encouraged to offer suggestions throughout the initial stages of a project's design, the more they will feel involved in the process. As a result, their feeling of being controlled will be greatly reduced.
After an individual's responsibility and accountability is defined, he or she will be able to focus fully on the task. The written document should also contain specific dates for completion. Timelines should never be left vague.
Specific parts of a project may include, among many others:
- Researching previous projects with similar tasks or goals
- Coordinating planning and design work
- Coordinating or arranging financing, both initial and ongoing
- Establishing relations and contracts with suppliers
- Managing the actual work done during the project
- Keeping projects on budget
- Maintaining timelines
- Reporting to supervisors regarding status of project
Many projects within small businesses are carried out by teams, which can range in size from two members to several dozen or more. Small businesses seldom organize teams that are larger than a dozen or so individuals--but even with this number of workers, assigning accountability can be tricky, especially when the team members prefer to be responsible as a group.
The success of group accountability depends on defining specific tasks, goals and timelines, similar to those assigned to an individual. Though team harmony is often crucial to the success of a project, its attainment should never come at the cost of leaving specific tasks undelegated.
