Competencies and development tips: Organisational ability

This domain covers competencies related to structuring and organising your own work and that of others, and keeping control over it. You can use these competencies and descriptions for a Personal Development Plan (PDP).

Also read about the other Competencies and Development tips: Influencing ability, Communication skills, Conceptual ability, Organisation orientation, Personal orientation & Relational ability.

Delegating

Competency

Being able to hand over work to others in a targeted way.

Developability

Several factors play a role in delegating tasks to others. To be able to delegate, you first need trust and the courage to let go and allow employees to work independently on tasks. In addition, making a sound assessment (which task can be assigned to whom) is important. Closely related to this are your judgement and monitoring of progress. Targeted handover also requires the manager to communicate clearly what exactly is expected of others and to make agreements about regular feedback.

Goal

Define your goal in terms of what you can delegate and how you could hand over work. Evaluate for yourself in which situations you struggled with delegating in the past.

Development actions

Which concrete actions will you take, and when, broken down into the four ways of learning?

Learning through knowledge

There is a great deal of information available on the subject of delegating in books, on the internet, or through courses. There is therefore always something to find that appeals in tone and content. A few examples are:

Books

“Delegating” by John Payne and Shirley Payne
“Success with Self-Directed Teams” by Richard Y. Chang

Internet

http://www.leren.nl

CoursesThere are various courses on leadership and delegating; for more information, contact info@ixly.nl.

Learning through imitation

Find a colleague who is known for giving employees room to carry out their tasks. How does he or she divide work among employees? Which activities does he or she hand over and which does he or she carry out personally? Ask what considerations are involved when delegating.

Learning through experimentation

Make an overview for yourself of activities you can hand over to others. You can actively involve your employees in delegating by asking them which activities they would like to carry out. Try to distribute work evenly and ensure that tasks rotate. Make it progressively more difficult for yourself by handing over tasks that are complex or that you personally enjoy. In your free time, you can seek out situations where letting go is important: for example, go diving once and surrender control.

Learning through insight

Discuss with employees the results of the work they carried out. What went well, what did not, how did that happen, and how can you prevent it? Leave the responsibility for solving something that went less well with the employees themselves. Also look at your pitfalls and ask others for feedback.

Statements

Hands over tasks that others can do as much as possible.
Indicates how the assignment can be realised through instructions.
Hands over work in a clear and structured way.
Hands over all information relating to the delegated assignment.
Keeps a grip and asks for feedback.
Monitors progress and intervenes in good time if deadlines are not met.
Delegates in good time and ensures that the delegated assignment is achievable.
Asks for feedback on the delegated assignment.
Clearly indicates how much decision-making authority the employee has.
Gives employees enough decision-making room and resources to achieve their own objectives.
Hands matters over to the right people, taking into account the capacities and characteristics of the employee.
Offers the possibility of support when delegating.
Makes the importance of the delegated assignment clear and thereby motivates.
When delegating, outlines the context within which the assignment must be carried out.

Planning and organising

Competency

Being able to plan and organise activities and work.

Developability

This competency skill is relatively easy to develop because it mainly concerns the skill of setting goals and priorities, creating structure, and adjusting plans.

Goal

Define your goal in terms of in which situation and to what extent you want to develop your planning skills. Once you have gained insight into your weaknesses with regard to this competency, you can also set yourself sub-goals, for example specifically developing your progress monitoring. You can measure your progress on this competency by asking others for feedback, or by measuring how many things go wrong in your work that can be traced back to your planning skills.

Development actions

Which concrete actions will you take, and when, broken down into the four ways of learning?

Learning through knowledge

There is a great deal of information available on the subject of planning and organising in books, on the internet, or through courses. There is therefore always something to find that appeals in tone and content. A few examples are:

Books

“10 Minute Guide to Planning” by Edwin Bobrow
“De tijd van uw leven” by Ron Witjas, 2003

Courses
Time Management (ORGA), project management

Learning through imitation

Together with someone with strong organisational ability, take on responsibility for planning an activity or project. Set goals together and discuss progress with each other so that you gain a clear view of how this person plans, which tools they use, and which aspects they take into account when planning. Also watch and learn from people who are strong in this competency, or shadow someone whose work requires a lot of organisational skill, such as a secretary, management assistant, project manager, or event organiser.

Learning through experimentation

Seek out situations in which you take responsibility for organising and planning matters. Examples include: planning a project, organising a work meeting or workshop, a company outing, or a study plan. In your free time, you could take on organising a holiday, sports tournament, party, or family gathering. Ask others for feedback. Also make use of tools such as: a diary, to-do lists, a highlighter to cross off completed items, a watch, or filing systems.

Learning through insight

Ask yourself questions such as: What might make planning difficult for me? On what basis do I set priorities? What went well and what went less well in an activity I organised? What do others who plan well do? In addition, personality questionnaires, ability tests, and planning simulations provide insight into your strengths and weaknesses on this point.

Statements

Sets priorities and takes importance and urgency into account.
Makes a correct estimate of the amount of time activities require.
Adjusts priorities and plans where necessary.
Works analyses out into an executable plan of action.
Draws up a realistic, achievable, and complete action plan.
Indicates what is needed to carry out an action plan (budgets, people, information, and resources).
Formulates specific and measurable objectives for themselves and/or others.
Works in a structured and planned way, with clear and concrete objectives.
Has a structured and planned approach that is also transparent to others.
Structures information and creates overview for others.
Creates structure in the workflow and establishes procedures.
Identifies bottlenecks in plans and overviews and takes action on them.
Has overview and can carry out different tasks and responsibilities at the same time.
Structures internal and external communication.
Takes initiative in organising administrative processes.
Provides management information quickly and in good time.
Can quickly find everything at the workplace and has overview.
Checks overviews and spots errors.
Uses schedules to plan and organise.
Takes specific requirements and wishes into account in planning.

Progress monitoring

Competency

Being able to follow up on matters once they have been initiated and to monitor progress.

Developability

Progress monitoring is a competency that can be developed well, because it is not so much a matter of being able or not able, but mainly a matter of doing or not doing. It has to do with setting the right priorities in your work. In addition, it is certainly also important to establish when and how progress is monitored, so that clear agreements can be made about this.

Goal

Determine for yourself, where possible in consultation with your own manager and with people in your team, when and in which situation(s) more progress monitoring is expected of you and why that is expected more of you. Also determine how you will measure whether you have developed the competency of progress monitoring. For example, by increasing the percentage of projects completed within the set time.

Development actions

Which concrete actions will you take, and when, broken down into the four ways of learning?

Learning through knowledge

Books
There are no specific books on progress monitoring; however, this subject is covered in most books on planning and/or project management.

“10 Minute Guide to Planning” by Edwin Bobrow

Internet
An example of visual progress monitoring: http://ontwikkeltips.orga-toolkit.nl/home/organisatievermogen/voortgangscontrole

Courses
No specific courses, but in most courses on project management and planning & organising the subject of progress monitoring will come up.

Learning through imitation

Look at (project) managers who are known for being strongly focused on good progress — so (project) managers who are alert to disruptions in progress and whose projects or other planned activities are almost always completed within the set deadline. Look at exactly what they do to achieve that, which interventions they make, and what they pay attention to. In more general terms, you can also look at and talk to people who always manage to implement their plans on time. Look at which behaviour and activities they show, and then decide for yourself what you might take over from this.

Learning through experimentation

Put ideas for better progress monitoring that you have, or have picked up, into practice. Look at what effect that has. Does it help you, or does it work against you? Experiment especially in your approach. For example, look at the effect of “being right on top of things” immediately when things go wrong, or of only asking those carrying out a project about progress.

Learning through insight

Take the time to list for yourself the possible different approaches to better progress monitoring. What works for you and what does not. What is easy for you to apply and what takes more effort. Also ask others for feedback, but above all take the time to give yourself honest feedback.

Statements

Has overview of ongoing matters and ensures that deadlines are met.
Monitors progress and takes action if the plan is not being realised.
Is alert to signals of disruption in the progress of matters.
Is action-oriented and keeps the initiative with a view to continuing matters.
Keeps the end result in mind and does not get bogged down in details.
Regularly checks whether the plan is being met.
Guards the course and intervenes when necessary.
Consults regularly with others about the progress of planning.
Sets measurable quality standards and checks the extent to which these standards are met.
Compares results against forecasts and plans.
Has overview and keeps track for themselves of what still needs to be done regarding their own actions and/or those of others.
Asks others for feedback and progress reports.
Checks how much time is spent on matters and adjusts if necessary.
Looks critically at completed assignments and examines whether matters can be carried out more efficiently.