Skill level delegation
We are a small business with 4 employees.. a director, manager, bookkeeper, and receptionist. The receptionist and bookkeeper are required to assist in other areas as needed and they do a good job.
Recently the bookkeeper asked for more responsibility. I obliged and discussed the new task she would be performing and gave an outline and discussed standards. She took the job happily.
After the first task was completed and we were reviewing her work, I noticed many errors. The errors were in spelling, grammar, incorrect entries, and shortcuts were taken when it was specified not to do so.
We discussed the errors and the employee was indignant and not readily accepting responsibility for her shortcomings.
I allowed her to reflect and then met with her the next day. She was apologetic and said she would like to try again. She was then assigned a new task closely related to the last. She took it with a good attitude and even said, "I'm going to do it right this time."
This task was completed and turned in. Upon review I found the same type of mistakes and errors. When discussing this the same type of behavior was displayed by the employee and she became agitated about her errors. She even argued that she was right. Delegating tasks to her has resulted in double work and more stress.
The tasks assigned were entry level. If these tasks can't be completed correctly, there are no more that we can give her.
Do you have advice on delegating to employees who are not willing to learn from their mistakes?
Leigh,
Perhaps you should make a decision about retaining this person. Occasionally, employees are either not willing or not capable of learning from their mistakes and must be let go because of the impact on the business or other employees. In this case it sounds like the person doesn't have basic grammar and spelling skills required for the tasks you've delegated, both which cannot be remediated quickly. Your other alternative is assess her value to the company and determine if you want to invest in a remedial English and grammar course for her, while you withhold delegation of any other work. I would not continue to delegate any work that you know shew cannot handle,as you have realized, it creates double work.
Dr. Robert Roehrich
