At one time or another, we all face an assignment that we would rather avoid because it’s tough, uninterest-ing or an unadulterated pain in the neck.

Getting started is usually the biggest hurdle. The answer often lies in your approach. More often than not, once a problem is faced, it can be boiled down in size and handled effectively. Here are some techniques other managers use to get them over the hurdle.

Procrastinate a little. One man reports finding that if he coasts along with a “rather-not-do” job for a short while, his objections fade. It gradually loses that ogre quality.

He uses this procrastination period in ways that make the job go more quickly once he gets to it: “I try to discuss the project with other people and find new ways to handle it, thus making it easier.”

Put yourself on the spot. When another manager finds herself stalling about tackling a disagreeable, but important, project, she asks herself: “How much time do I need to complete this?”

Depending upon the answer, she advises her secretary and colleagues that she’ll be working at home and won’t be in until the job has been completed. “Putting myself on record this way and giving myself no ‘out’ forces me to get it done,” she reports. “I can’t dawdle because I’ve got to get back to the office.” As an alternative place to work, she recommends the library.

Similarly, another manager who doesn’t relish disciplining employees will purposely announce to his boss, “I’m going to talk to Ed about his absenteeism this afternoon.” By putting himself on the spot this way, he can’t postpone the confrontation.

Look for a disassociated environment. An engineering manager’s boss dropped a tough project in his lap that involved a particularly troublesome assembly problem. He decided that the best way to tackle it would be to take it out of the office.

So he made it his train project. During the 45-minute ride from his home to the office, he spent most of his commuting time for a week on the assembly project. And he finally licked it. He attributes its solution to getting out of the office environment.

Talk it up. Then there is the approach that a government administrator recommends. “When I get the kind of job I ordinarily don’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole,” he explains, “I find that by discussing it with other people, the problem doesn’t loom quite so large. Discussing it gives me a more balanced perspective. Sometimes these talks build my own interest in it or provide me with ideas for handling it.”

Increasing Your Productivity
People who get things done have only as much time at their disposal as those who fall behind in their work. Their secret? They’ve learned to do things expeditiously, with a minimum of wasted motion and effort. Want to tame time yourself? Take these reminders to heart.

Acquire the habit of decisiveness. While a little procrastination can sometimes be helpful, too much can be an insidious time thief. You can wear yourself out carrying around a load of unresolved projects. The wish to put things off or to delay them is human, but counterproductive. So get going.

Develop the habit of making notes. Store your ideas, facts, figures and bits of information. Keep reference files. Make a habit of preparing notes after meetings and conversations. This saves costly backtracking and misunderstanding.

Plan tomorrow’s work today. Just before quitting time, collect your thoughts about what’s coming up tomorrow. Jot down a few notes. They will help you organize your efforts more effectively.

Plan your day. Think of your time in terms of tasks and events, not as an interval of so many hours or minutes. This will help you place a higher value on your time, appraise more realistically what is more profitable for you to undertake. Try listing your day’s work plan on 3 x 5 cards and carry these with you. Check off each task or project as it is done. Get important things done first—when you’re fresh and fit. Don’t spend your best hours doing routine and minor matters. Do the difficult things first. When you plan a deadline, be sure it is realistic. Allow for delays.

Avoid a permanently cluttered desk. Your value to your company is measured not by what you have on your desk, but by what passes across it. Divide your work into three parts: (a) details that your secretary can handle; (b) tasks other employees can do; (c) projects you must do yourself. Delegate the routine, farm out details.

Limit telephone calls. If you are spending a disproportionate amount of time on the telephone, you might consider the use of an egg timer, or some other device, to limit your calls. Jot down key points to be made in advance of calls.

Don’t be afraid to say “No!” You needn’t worry about hurting someone’s feelings. It’s your job to decide the right thing to do. Have respect for time and teach that respect to others.

When Your People Get On Your Nerves
Of all the elements that constitute your work environment, people are doubtlessly the greatest single source of irritation. They can question your decisions, perform differently from what you expect, forget your instructions, be somewhere else when you need them. At the same time, they are crucial to your success—and to the mission of your department or company.

So, there you are—exasperated with your people, but dependent on them. What do you do? Some suggestions:

Understand what they want to accomplish. Find out what their aspirations are and either (1) explain how their present jobs are a step in the right directions or (2) restructure their responsibilities to help them feel they’re on the right track.

Play up the positive. Just as praise is a better stimulant than criticism, so appreciation is better than lack of it and building up a person’s self-respect is more resultful than tearing it down. In building up the self-esteem of your juniors, you build capable assistants. In the long run, this will make your own work easier.

When you goof, admit it. No employee expects the boss to be infallible, so no manager loses face if he admits he’s wrong. What you will gain is your people’s confidence in your fairness and honesty, an asset beyond price to a manager.

Avoid domination, for it only breeds yes-people. An overly forceful boss and subordinates with initiative simply don’t get along. If the chief insists on running everything, the best of his people will get out and the rest will let him do their work. The able manager thinks of his staff as working with him, not for him.

Teach them to use initiative. Let your people solve their own problems and you will have gone a long way toward helping yourself and your company, as well.

Win Cooperation with the “Boomerang” Technique
If you are convinced that you are right when an employee objects to something you want done, you may be able to prevail by using the boomerang technique. You take the employee’s objection and, turning it around, use it as the very reason why he should do as you ask.

“I’ve never done that kind of job before,” he protests.

“Exactly why you ought to jump at this chance,” you reply. “It’s a rare opportunity to gain added experience.”

“The old way was better,” he says.

“Sure it was—until now,” you say. “Just remember, there was a time when the old way was new and untried. Somebody like you tried it then and found that it worked better than the method it eventually replaced. That’s called progress.”

“Why give me the toughest project?” he moans.

Your answer? “The toughest project requires the best person. You’re it.”

Get the idea?

Use the boomerang technique whenever practical. It can be extremely effective.

Six Ways To Improve Morale

1. Treat your people as individuals. Never deal with them as impersonal variables in a working unit.
2. Accept the fact that others may not always see things as you do.
3. So far as possible, explain your decisions.
4. Express appreciation publicly for jobs well done.
5. Make reasonable efforts to make jobs interesting—by occasionally adding new responsibilities, new challenges, new authority.
6. Offer criticism privately in the form of constructive suggestions for improvement.

When Was the Last Time You...
Sat down with your people to see if they had any complaints, problems, suggestions, etc.?

Reviewed procedures in your department?

Invited ideas from your people?

Promoted anyone, or recognized superior achievement?

Crossed departmental or functional lines to get help with a problem?

Took steps to improve your own understanding of your field?

Sat down in an “executive session” with yourself and given thought to where you were going?

Appraised your own performance as objectively as the performance of the people who report to you?

Contributed importantly to the welfare of your firm?

Learned from a mistake?