Retaining Tasks

Points To Remember ●New opportunities to delegate should always be sought. ●Interference should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. ●Staff training should be given priority to ensure that effective skills are developed for future delegation plans. ●Possessive feelings about work are negative and unproductive. ●Delegation involves the loss of direct control but the retention of overall responsibility. ●Responsibility for an entire task should be given to one employee whenever possible.

Retaining Tasks

   There are some responsibilities that a leader can’t delegate. These include key areas, controlling over all performance, meeting strategic objectives, and confidential human resource matters-how people are rewarded, coached and counseled. You may also need to supervise dealing with important customers if delegating ultimate  responsibility for these contact wound endanger the relationship.

Providing Support

  An open-door policy aids effective delegation. The delegate should be able to approach the delegator at any time for advice, informstion or revision. The delegator should also be able to approach the delegate, whenever necessary, for an informal, encouraging discussion on how the task is going. If the delegator visits too often, either this is bad delegation , or the delegation is going badly. If delegates come through the door too often, they are either insecure or inadequate. If you are confident in their ability, give them a clear massage. “I am confident that you can manage.”

Checking Progress With Delegates When discussing progress with delegates, use positive questions, such as those below, “Is there any thing you want to bring to my notice?”  “I see that costs are overrunning. What steps are you taking to bring them back in line?” “We failed to meet that target. Any suggestions as to how that might have happened?” “How do you think we can avoid making this mistake again?”

Developing Delegates

   Look out for signs that the delegate is taking too much on his or her on shoulders, and not allowing people who work for them to show initiative and tackle their own tasks without interference. “Getting out of the way” is the key to getting best from others, and applies to the delegates too. Encourage delegates to think issues through and come up with answers to problems before bringing them to you . the most important lesson to the delegates is that of being accountable for results, with no opportunity for excuses.

Delegating Tasks

Delegating Tasks

                                   As, leader you should concentrate your time on activities that nobody else can do. Delegation is a form of time management. It is a way of exercising control and meeting your own responsibilities more effectively, While developing the skills of your staff.

Increasing Your Time

      Managers often claim that the demands of operational and routine duties leave them little to concentrate on important, long-term matters, such as strategic planning  and training. To create more time for yourself, it is essential to hand down more routine tasks by delegation. Even if you, the leader, are better and faster at a task than anybody else in the team, the golden rule is that you should not, and cannot, do everything yourself. Leadership involves handing over the task to others, and then helping them to match or exceed your standards.

Briefing delegates

     Give the delegate a clear, written brief, developed in consultation, that sets out the objectives, the resource available, the constraints, and the time schedule, if relevant. Supplement the written brief with an interview to ensure mutual understanding. If the circumstances change, after the brief to suit-don’t stick to it slavishly.         

Remove Write Protection

Remove Write Protection

                                According to the mails we had received about this problem, people have seen the following errors when their thumbs drives, memory card etc becomes write protected.

• Cannot copy files and folders, drive is write protected
• Cannot format the drive, drive is write protected
• The disk is write protected
• Remove write protection or use another disk
• Media is write protected

Some times people say that suddenly their drive become write protected and they are not able to delete any files and folder on the drive and also not able to copy new files and folder to USB portable drive.

Let’s see how can you remove write protection on your portable devices like pen drives, memory cards, iPod and other USB mass storage devices.

Fix:

Write Protection on any portable USB Device can be applied by the physical lock provided on the card adjuster or some times provided on the pen drives, so make sure to make your drive not write protected by moving the lock in right direction.

But even after moving the physical lock for write protection the problem can happen due to some virus action. This happens when some virus or script which applies the registry hack to make any drive write protect when connected to the computer, In that case follow the procedure below to remove write protection from your pen drive.

1. Open Start Menu >> Run, type regedit and press Enter, this will open the registry editor.

2. Navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Note: If the registry key StorageDevicePolicies key does not exist, you will need to create it

Download this batch file called add.bat from here, and double click after download the key will be automatically added to registry.

3. Double click the key WriteProtect in the right pane and set the value to 0 in the Value Data Box and press OK button

4. Exit Registry, restart your computer and then again re-connect your USB pen drive on your computer. That is it, done.

In case you still find an issue, please leave a comment below.

Updated on 28th May 2009

After a lot of user comments telling that the above method does not work for them, we tell you another method which you can follow to solve the “Pen Drive is Write Protected” problem.

If the above method does not work for you, follow the below steps:

1. Copy all the important data from this drive to your computer because this method will format the drive and erase all the data on the pen drive.

2. Now download the Apacer Formatting Utility, Unzip this utility to a folder on your hard disk, preferably on a folder on desktop screen for easy access (Do Not Try To Save it on pen drive). Keep your pen drive plugged in, and double click on the Start.bat file in the folder where you unzipped the above utility. This will start formatting your pen drive, wait till the formatting completes and the LED on your pen drive stops blinking. Remove your pen drive after than and plug it in again.

The above two steps will solve the problem. If you still face the problem, follow the below steps:

1. Goto Start > Run, type cmd and press enter, this will open command prompt.

2. Type the following command on the command prompt replacing X with the drive letter of your pen drive.

CHKDSK X: /F

The above two methods will help you fix the problem.

Note: For all those who are out of luck in fixing the problem with their portable drives, I would suggest you to get your drives checked or replaced by the manufacturer to fix it for you

Exercising Authority

Exercising Authority

       The role of a leader is to ensure that everyone understand instructions and carries them out effectively. Since it is rare for everything to go according to plan, put into place reporting systems that enable you to deal with any deviations swiftly.

Giving Instructions

       The method of giving instruction matters far less than the quality of their content. If decision has been reached in concert with the team, the leader has no need to win acceptance. But having to say “this is an order” is a sign of malfunction on one side or the other. Before you issue instructions, be absolutily clear in your mind what your requirements are. This will be reflected in your tone of voice and body language and will reinforce your message. Ask people if they have any reservations about what you have asked of them, so that problems can be cleared up at the outset.

Managing By Exception

    Leaders often spend too much time double checking everything to ensure conformation with instructions and procedures. The better approach is to manage by exception, which involve concentrating on what is going awry rather than what in not. You should not expect to hear about actions that proceeds as planed, but staff or delegates should inform you immediately if there is a serious deviation from plan. For example, if a sales executive is asked to handle key accounts, and sales targets and profit margins are being missed, he or she must report the problem to you at once.      

Forming A Team

Conducting Interviews

      Allow 45 minutes for an interview, preferably without colleague, or at most, two, joining in.Keeep your own talking to a minimum. You want the candidate to say as much as possible about theit understanding of the job, your company, their past performance. What did they do best? You are interested in their strength first, weakness second. Observe them carefully, taking into account body language and appearance.

Judging Suitability

        Phychometric tests and handwriting analysis are some times used to evaluate candidates suitability. But these methods are no substitute for personal judgment reinforced by the person’s track record and references, and by any appropriate skill tests. Conflicts and rivalry within groups are counter-productive, so aviod candidate who display a degree of personal assertiveness that may fracture the team spirit.

Learing From Recruits

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF Q What did I do wrong-did I recruit poorly? Q Did the person lack the necessary support? Q Have circumstances changed so that the person no longer fits the original job? Q Is there another job in which they could succeed?

     A leader can learn a great deal from new recruits by exploiting their knowledge of other organizations, methods, or ideas. They have the advantage of an outsider’s eye. Make time for conversations with recruits, asking them for their first impressions. Acting on their suggestions is an important way of promoting their confidence.

Handling Misfits

   Recruitment failures will invitably occur, however much trouble has been taken. Whenever you contemplate dismissing somebody, always ask yourself “why has this happened?”. Learn from your analysis, and if the person can be ‘saved’ by making changes, make them. If not, don’t allow the person to stay after you have, consciously or subconsciously, decided against it. Explain your reasons fully to the individual, and be a generous as possible in negotiating severance. Also, ensure that co-workers know what has happened and why.               

Forming A Team

Forming A Team

     Establishing a team or appointing new team members is the responsibility of the leader. Find the best candidates to form a balanced and dynamic team, either through internal promotion or external recruitment, and help them to feel part of the team.

Finding Candidates

     Cast the widest possible net, and spend as much time as needed on the selection process .Draw up a list of criteria, essential characteristics, and skills that the appointee must have. Make sure that the criteria are relavant. A common mistack is to insist on ‘industry experience’, when reserech shows that it bears little relationship to success in the job. Candidate who fulfill all your criteria will be rare, so be prepared to be flexible at the selection stage.

Promoting Insiders

     Internal promation is not only cheaper, but tells everybody that they have opportunity to rise, which is the most satisfying reward. Leaders should constantly be on the look-out for abilites that can be exploited in higher-level teams. When recurting internally, give consideration to the moral of other staff, who may feel that they have been passed over. Explain clearely to all concerned why the person that you selected is right for this assignment, and emphasize that there will be other oppertunities. The allow your candidate to prove you right.

Balancing Skills

    For any team to function effectively, there must be a balance of technical, problem-solving, decision-making and interpersional skills among its members. The ideal groupe will be creative yet deciplined, able to genarate new ideas and find solutions to difficulities, and , at the same time, organised enough to paln and implement a task with in a given timescale.

Assessing Your Leadership Potentia

Assessing Your Leadership Potential

    Evaluate how will you measure up us a prospective leader by responding to the following statements, and mark the options closest to your experience. If your answer is ‘never’, mark option 4; and so on. Add your scores together , and refer to the Analysis to see how will you fared. Use your answers to identify the areas that maost need improvement.

OPTIONS 1)      Never 2)      Occasionally 3)      Frequently 4)      Always

1)      I take the lead in meeting to clarify objectives and agendas.

           1   2    3   4  

2) I focus strongly on achieving results from the tasks I undertake.

           1   2   3   4

3) I propose original ideas for discussion in meetings.

           1   2   3   4

4) I make friends easily and have many useful outside contacts.

           1   2   3   4

5) I find and tell the objective truth, even if people don’t  like to hear it.

           1   2   3   4

6) I maintain friendly relations with everyone on the team.

           1   2   3   4

7) My ability makes me want to change.

            1   2   3   4

8) I take advice impartially from above, below, and from equals.

           1   2   3   4

9) I find it easily to express genuine, close friendship.

           1   2   3   4

10) I like people to express geniune, close friendship to me.

           1   2   3   4

11) I can work easily with all types of people.

            1   2   3   4

12) I take time out each week to recharge my mental batteries.

           1   2   3   4

Analysis

   Now that you have completed the self assessment, add up your total score, and check your ability by reading the corresponding evaluation. However great your potential as a leader may be, remember that there is always room for improvement.

Identify your weakest areas, and refer to the relevant sections in this blog, where you will find practial advice and tips to help your understand what it takes to lead others and your leadership skills.

12-24: You are potentally competent, but you need to do a lot of work before you can excel in a leadership role.

25-36: Although you have the making of a good leader, some areas still to be improved. Identify and work on them.

37-48: Your leadership promise is high, but don’t become complacent. Strive to realize it.