Designing Work

This will make them most likely to achieve good results.

It is very difficult to completely change how a person performs, so try to match people to jobs that they are good at. This will make them most likely to achieve good results.

Enhance the five dimensions of work with the following:

1. Combine Tasks. Put existing fragmented tasks together to form larger modules of work. This can help to increase skill variety and task identity.
2. Create Natural Work Units. Design tasks to form an identifiable whole to increase employee "ownership" and to encourage workers to view their jobs as important.
3. Establish Client Relationships. Building direct relationships between the worker and the client--the user of the product or the service that the employee works on--increases skill variety, autonomy, and feedback.
4. Expand Jobs Vertically. Giving employees responsibilities formerly reserved for managers closes the gap between the "doing" and "controlling" aspects of the job, and increases autonomy.
5. Improve Feedback Channels. Feedback tells employees how well they are performing, and whether their performance is improving, deteriorating or remaining constant . Employees should receive feedback directly as they do their jobs.

ACTION POINT: Use the foundation above for designing the work of your team.