The art of the deal

I've always been impressed by the amount of work that successful leaders put into really "working" deals. You have likely been witness to the same phenomenon. For example: a leader wants someone on his team to take a different role that doesn't "wow" the employee. The leader spends time up front describing why the task in question is so important. They probe their staff to know what satisfies and dissatisfies their staff and then consequently emphasize certain pieces while diminishing other parts. By the time the actual question is asked, the employee has already determined how they think they can be successful. The leader benefits from having an important task addressed by a staff member who is actually jazzed to give it a run. Win-win.

When you step back and reflect on how these situations develop (holding aside whether the person in question actually performs their new task/role successfully), a couple factors pop:

Picking the right person is important
Matching the task to the person is a big part of the story. Successful managers may even find themselves moving several tasks amongst multiple people in order to be able to have a development story for everyone. Just picking the person who has the most free time should not suffice - you may "fill up" someone's time and you may even get your task complete, but will it count as a win-win?

Do your homework
More experienced leaders pick the right person for the right task but also plan out how to make the deal with the person(s) in question. What is their current development plan? Could any of these tasks count as development? Would the person being asked look at the work as a burden or an opportunity? How should they be asked/ assigned the task? Planning the message is not as easy as just sending an email or making the comment in a staff meeting - but the work absolutely yields results.

Questions are good
Which would you prefer - the person who takes a task and says "sure, got it" or the person who replies with a number of questions? You should prefer the person who is engaged and asks for more information.

Assigning work is part of every leaders' job. Sometimes there will be more limited opportunities to work the developmental angle. Don't be dissuaded and always look for opportunities to work the deal with your staff member - there is no doubt you both will benefit.