Re: Delegating (was: Working later than the boss)

[Writers Book Mall <steve -at- writersbookmall -dot- com>]

--- James Barrow <vrfour -at- verizon -dot- net> wrote:
> The real problem for me is taking some of the
>projects on my plate and scooping them onto my tech
>writers' plates - how do I delegate?

>Should I just dump all of the information in their
>laps and say 'call me if you have any questions'?
 
> Does anyone have any general advice on how to get
>new hires up-to-speed?

I think you're facing a couple of different issues.
One is how to delegate, and one is how to train new
writers. Full delegation will have to wait a bit,
until you can train the new writer.

For training, you need to come up with at least an
informal plan on what the new writer needs to know, in
order of what they need to know first. In the training
biz, this is called a training needs analysis, where
you identify the tasks you need this person to be able
to do, and then you order the lessons covering those
tasks in order of a. importance and b. frequency of
use. In other words, they need to learn the important
stuff that they will use frequently first, and then
over time learn the less important/less frequently
used stuff.

Then, for each "lesson", you figure out the best way
to convey the information. It might be you (or a SME,
or whoever) sitting with the new writer, or having
them read a similar doc from the past, or you putting
together a procedure on how to do that task in your
organization, or having the new writer tag along with
you in certain meetings, etc. If it's just you and one
other writer, you don't necessarily need to come up
with a formal training program with fancy materials.
Just focus on the tasks for the new writer and how
they can best learn how to do those tasks. 

Don't expect that you can just toss the assignments
over to the newbie. They will, in most cases, sink,
not swim, unless you organize a training plan as
above. This means that yes, there will be some
inefficiency and overhead in the beginning. That's
unavoidable, and you can't expect full productivity
from the newbie at first. But a little investment in
training now will pay off in "delegation-ability"
later.





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