Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 404, Delegating Work.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 404.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in This episode is called Delegating Work.
It's a dialogue between Anya and Esteban talking about how you give other people work when you are a boss or a manager.
It uses a lot of vocabulary that you might use in talking about how you are giving other people work.
Let's get started.
I don't know how I'm going to get all of this work done before I go on vacation.
What you need to do is to delegate.
Stop being a control freak and get other people to help you with your work.
I've tried to delegate before, but I ended up having to redo the work myself.
It was no time-saver at all.
It definitely wasn't worth the trouble.
That's because you have to delegate in the right way.
You can't just assign a project to one of your employees.
You have to give them explicit instructions and measurable goals.
I did that.
I gave my employee detailed instructions, and she still let me down.
I bet you didn't ask her to report back to you periodically, did you?
To get results, you have to tell your employees to give you progress reports.
That way, you can make sure she's on the right track.
See what I mean?
Okay, maybe you're right.
I know one thing.
If I don't get some help soon, I'll be spending my vacation at my desk.
Our dialogue begins with Anya saying.
Esteban says To delegate means to give other people part of the work done that you are supposed to do.
Asking other people, in other words, to help you with your work, to give them things to do.
Estevan says, stop being a control freak and get other people to help you with your work.
The expression control freak F-R-E-A-K describes a person who likes to be in control of everything, someone who doesn't like other people helping them.
A control freak is usually considered a negative description of someone, although some people say well, I'm a control freak.
I want everything to be done just the way I like it, which means you have to do it all yourself usually.
Anya says.
To end up is a phrasal verb that means to be in a certain situation or after or because of other things that have happened, usually things that you didn't expect to happen.
So, for example, after studying to be a doctor for seven years, he ended up running a website instead.
You would expect after studying to be a doctor that he would eventually then become a doctor.
But instead, something unexpected happened.
He ended up working as a website operator.
I actually read a story in the newspaper the other day about a doctor who did just that.
Anya says she had to redo, meaning to do something again.
Usually, it's something that wasn't done right in the first place.
She had to redo the work herself.
She said it was no time saver at all.
A time saver, one word, is something that allows you to do something in less time than usual.
For example, a washing machine is a time saver.
You don't have to wash the clothes by hand.
A microwave oven can be a time saver.
It takes less time to cook something in the microwave than it does in a regular oven.
Of course, it usually doesn't taste as good either, but that's one of the compromises.
That's one of the things we give up for something that saves us time.
Anya says, it definitely wasn't worth the trouble.
To be worth the trouble means to have benefits or advantages that that are greater than the work you needed to do something.
So, for example, if it takes you five hours to make an apple pie, you may say well, it wasn't worth the trouble.
It wasn't that good.
It wasn't worth my time.
We might just say simply it wasn't worthwhile.
Esteban says that's because you have to delegate in the right way, in the correct manner.
You can't just assign a project to one of your employees, he says.
To assign here means to tell someone to do something.
It's what a boss will do with employees. his or her workers.
It's what a teacher does to his or her students.
She assigns homework to her students.
I used to assign homework to my students at the university when I taught there.
Of course, they never actually did the homework, but I did assign them to do it.
Assign has a couple of different meanings.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Estevan says you have to give your employees explicit instructions and measurable goals.
Something that is explicit...
E-X-P-L-I-C-I-T, is something that is clear, obvious, and easy to understand.
Something that is very specific without anything being hidden or assumed.
To give someone measurable goals means to give them an objective, something you want them to achieve or accomplish that can be measured.
You know how they are doing on it.
Anything that is measurable is something that you know how big or small or how much of that thing there is.
A goal is an objective, an aim, we might say.
Esteban tells Anya that she has to give her employees explicit instructions and measurable goals.
Anya says, however, I did that.
I gave my employee detailed instructions and she let me down.
Estevan says...
To report back to someone means to give someone information about how you are doing, how you are progressing, how much work you are getting done.
To report back means to give someone an update recent, current information about how they are doing.
Estevan says that Anya probably didn't ask her employee to report back to her periodically.
Periodically means at a certain time evenly spaced, for example every week or every month or every two months.
Something that happens on a regular schedule, you could say.
He says, To get results means to be able to do what you want to do to meet your goals.
We would say
A progress report is written or spoken information about how you are doing, how well you are doing.
It's similar to an update, a progress report.
How much have you done?
That way, as Stephen says, if you get progress reports, you can make sure she's on the right track.
To be on the right track, T-R-A-C-K, means to do something the correct way, the right way.
To make progress on something and to be doing it correctly.
You're not finished yet, but you are making good progress, we would say.
You are getting things done when you should be getting them done and moving closer to your goal, your objective.
Anya says, okay, maybe you're right.
I know one thing.
If I don't get some help soon, I'll be spending my vacation at my desk.
Remember, she's going on vacation and she needs someone to help her with her work.
I feel this way all the time, except I never get a vacation.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I don't know how I'm going to get all of this work done before I go on vacation.
What you need to do is to delegate.
Stop being a control freak and get other people to help you with your work.
I've tried to delegate before but I ended up having to redo the work myself.
It was no time saver at all.
It definitely wasn't worth the trouble.
That's because you have to delegate in the right way.
You can't just assign a project to one of your employees.
You have to give them explicit instructions and measurable goals.
I did that.
I gave my employee detailed instructions, and she still let me down.
I bet you didn't ask her to report back to you periodically, did you?
To get results, you have to tell your employees to give you progress reports.
That way, you can make sure she's on the right track.
See what I mean?
Okay, maybe you're right.
I know one thing.
If I don't get some help soon, I'll be spending my vacation at my desk.
The script for this episode was written by someone who always gets results but is not a control freak Dr Lucy Saye.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
