Page 167 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

152 Just Promoted!

role or position. They predominantly come from midlevel management and
first-line supervisors, supported by individual contributors in the workforce.
Task forces commonly consider how the work gets done, and they should be
composed of people closest to the work.
Task forces should use a problem-solving process that encompasses issues
identification, data collection, data analysis, consideration of alternatives and
consequences, and selection of a solution. Task force deadlines and critical
events should fit the steering committee’s schedules and deadlines and should
result in a critical issues report containing findings, conclusions, and a clear
recommendation for each finding.
Like the steering committee, the task forces should draw input from mul-
tiple resources:

■ A properly constituted task force will represent considerable information
from within its membership, including individual contributors and first-
line supervisors. Much information is available simply through discus-
sions within the task force.
■ Task force members may draw from consultants, who may work with
other task forces or the steering committee, or from individual employ-
ees whose input helps shape the findings and recommendations. As
mentioned previously, consultants may be retained to assist with or con-
duct the analysis for sensitive issues. If the steering committee retains a
process consultant, he or she should sit in on task forces as needed, and
possibly randomly, to ensure that the task force is functioning in an
open and participatory manner.
■ Task force members should draw on information not only from inside
but outside the organization, including clients, customers, those who pro-
vide the organization with input or products, those who use the organiza-
tion’s output, and others who observe or interact with the organization.

Each task force should develop its own critical issues paper, describing
methodology, findings, conclusions, and recommendations that will make the
organization stronger. These will be consolidated or summarized in a final
report of the steering committee, which is presented to you.

Developing Roles for the Functional Members of the Department
Broad participation in data collection is a way to gain support from across the
department or function, and to profit from that work unit’s diversity of knowl-