It can be hard to assign the right employee to the right job for any kind of niche or sector. From troops on the ground to high-level execs, there is always the chance the job can be bungled based on assigning the wrong person, and this could mean disaster for your company. From the get-go, you need to have a clear understanding of the talent available to you so this does not happen. From matching clients with staff to finding the right attitude, here are some ideas.
Have Dispatch Data Available
There are, of course, all levels of staff available when you run a business, and often you will have so-called boots on the ground. These are agents that are often out and about and interacting with clients and customers on a daily basis. Of course, they will have jobs assigned. But how do you manage these more efficiently? In today’s remote world, a field service management app such as BuildOps can help you see what talent is available in real-time.
Assign the Right Employee to a Matched Client
It always helps to know and understand the client before assigning an employee. If there is any kind of mismatch here, the project could go belly up before it has even begun. The right team members, however, can help you gain a deeper understanding of your clients when they connect well. They should aim to understand various aspects of a client’s business, such as issues they face, branding, and even their customers’ needs, using the same team if possible.
Understand the Scope of a Project
Your teams always need a clear scope of a project before it begins. If they don’t, then there is a risk of a project falling apart mid-way through. But when you fully understand the needs, risks, and desired outcomes, it makes it much easier to assign the correct talent for each step along the way. Yet you also need the right employees to get the project brief up and running too. How? Staff experienced with writing briefs is a great start, as well as experienced supervisory staff.
Define and Assign by Tier
Even in open companies, there is a tier and a hierarchy, no matter how well some businesses hide it. This is for good reason, and that is, work needs to be assigned based on skill and experience. You need to include in any project brief who will be responsible for what, and clear roles need to be defined. This is vital for assigning tasks based on competencies and skills, escalating up or down the chain as required, and outlining management responsibilities as well.
Consider the Job Descriptions First
No jobs are the same, and a lot of thought and consideration must be put into each one. Just because one employee worked well on a specific job doesn’t mean they will on the next, even if they are similar. Therefore, it is best to consider assignments based on the job description:
- Develop a database of employee skills for reference later on.
- Consider skills training versus tasks from each project and refer to the database.
- Assign jobs based on the level of responsibility required for the tiered role.
- Look for skills specific to jobs, such as specialist training or qualifications.
- Always consider competencies such as work ethic and personal attitudes.
- Consider the personal characteristics of an employee, such as time-keeping.
- Assess each staff member’s willingness to work collaboratively with others.
These are all absolutely critical to any given job and must be considered before, during, and even after the hiring process. If you don’t assess at least a few of these, there is the risk of performance issues and significantly decreased client satisfaction further down the line.
Analyze and Understand the Skillbase
More often than not, your employees will be skilled in more than one thing, and this can be a major benefit. First, it can save you some money. For example, imagine employing an IT engineer skilled at writing technical documents. This can be a massive benefit for a bespoke client project. You can make use of employee multiple skills by creating a database, or even a simple spreadsheet, to which you can refer when you need to assign employees to various jobs.
Ensure Efficient Collaboration
Communication and effective collaboration are key to the successful completion of any project. But not all departments or even individuals are skilled at everything. So there needs to be some way for everyone involved to work with each other. For example, analog engineers may not be trained to understand the digital side of a project, and vice versa. This can make collaboration challenging. For this to work, interdepartmental hand-offs will help smooth things out a little.
Assign the Right Employee Based on Attitude
All your employees are different, but talent alone shouldn’t be the deciding factor when assigning them to tasks. Even the most talented person in a group can be a liability if they don’t get along with others and are unwilling to try. Therefore employee attitudes must also be a deciding factor for projects. It isn’t fair to fire someone based on personality, so care must be taken at the hiring stages to ensure any candidates will be a good fit for the overall project.
Ensure Management Guidance is Available
Management has huge responsibilities when it comes to projects, so it always helps to ensure they are also the right fit. Managers who don’t respond to their employees, for example, will hinder a project. For instance, what if an employee raises cyber security concerns that are ignored? Well, that could be the end of your company. Managers should be experienced in projects and also approachable and compassionate when it comes to their teams and what they have to say.
Summary
Having the right data available at the right time will help you assign the right employee to the right job. However, you can build a database of skills that you can refer to whenever you need to assign tasks. And it also helps to ensure you hire the right management for the project as well.
