How To Assign Tasks In a Healthy Company

Work and tasks are inseparable. Things have to be done to solve customer problems and make money. What’s the best to assign tasks in a healthy company system? Read on to find out.

Short Answer: You don’t.

Healthy companies don’t assign tasks.

Assigning tasks is a holdover from the ancient top-down tyrannical hierarchical structures and have no place in the modern economy.

The Two Healthy Paths

Healthy companies are driven by purpose and value.

Value is what they offer to their customers and users, in exchange for money.

Purpose is the reason why the company is solving the particular problems they are.

Value-Centric Volunteering

In a healthy value-centric company, value is the key guidepost.

What’s a healthy value-centric way to motivate employees? Attach price tags to deliverables. Pay employees for the value they deliver.

What if there's a important task that no-one is volunteering for?

It’s basic economics. Pay more for the task. This is how our society is able to have garbage collectors. Collection garbage is not a very sexy job, so we compensate by paying garbage collectors more.

Purpose-Centric Volunteering

In a healthy purpose-centric company, purpose is the key guidepost.

Everyone is at your company because they want to be. They are excited by the company’s mission and eager to give their best. Ignite and nurture passion by letting each employee help out in the way they best feel matters.

Don’t squash the fire by foisting terrible tasks upon people. Let them help where they see the needs. Encourage and support them when they help the company better achieve its mission.

For every task that needs to be done, there is someone who is good at it and enjoys it. Even things that are boring to some people get others excited, like math, accounting, legal, human resources, cleaning, etc.

Let people tackle the projects they are excited by. Let them help the company in the way they know they best can.

What if everyone wants to do the same task?

Realistically, only one person can efficiently be assigned to most tasks. Pick the best person for a specific task. There are plenty of tasks to go around at a healthy company.

What if no-one wants to do X project?

Either the project is a poor idea, or the project isn’t aligned with the company mission, or the pitch is too weak. Go back to the drawing board and tighten up the idea. Good ideas excite people! If no-one is excited by an idea, it’s a terrible idea.

Why do people at X company still assign tasks?

There are only a couple real reasons that anyone would assign a task. Either there is a boss on a ego kick who gets a thrill out of forcing their little lackeys to do their bidding, or the boss simply hasn’t learned that modern management is about managing work, not people.

Motivated people don’t need to be managed and unmotivated people can’t be managed.

Let’s help all of our companies to use work management best practices for the good of humanity. We win best when we win together, company owners, customers, and employees.

What other ways do you use to get the right tasks in front of the people who are most hyped to do them?

How do you refine bad ideas and bad tasks and turn them into good ones?

Share your thoughts below in the comments.