Tasks vs Responsibilities

I didn’t know there was such a big difference between taking on a responsibility vs. a task.  There’s a difference?  Yes, there sure is.  Here’s what happens… your boss asks you to perform a task.  You say, “sure” and perform that task.  After performing that task you move on and work on other tasks that you have been given, knowing the task that you were given was completed.  Right?  You’re feeling great.

A month passes, maybe more.  Your boss asks you about that task you did months ago.  She says, “why aren’t you doing x every week?”  You respond and say that you did do it, once.  You did what you were asked.

What went wrong? You didn’t know you were given a responsibility.  The way that the task was given to you was in the form of a task.

How should it be done?  Your boss says, “Chris, I’d like you to do x, and I’d like you to do it weekly.”   It’s as easy as that, you know you’ve been given a responsibility to perform a recurring task.  (I would recommend using the Manager-Tools delegation model when you delegate the responsibility).  In a future post, I’ll tell you about the responsibility balls that my team is using.  Each responsibility that we have will be documented (it will be on a ball).

A responsibility is  a recurring task that you are responsible for.  It does not mean you perform that task.

A task is work that is assigned to you, to complete.  Most often, you will perform the task yourself.

As someone who reports to your boss, you may need to learn how to tell if you are being given a task or a responsibility.  Try asking these questions:

• Would you like me to do this once, or recurring?  If recurring, how often?
• Would you like me to complete this, or oversee this?

Once you learn how to both delegate tasks/responsibilities and be delegated to, you may find that you now know what to do with the tasks/responsibilities that you have been given.

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