Miles McPherson

DFP

I said last week that the DFP, the Designated First Person is the person who is responsible for delivering the desired outcome of the activity and work on a particular project.

Today I want to outline important traits of an effective DPF.

1- The DFP must be able to describe how the desired outcome fulfills the overall mission of the organization.

If the DFP cannot do this they will not be able to lead the team of people doing the work. When the going gets tough, which it will, they will not have the built in motivation to keep themselves and their team motivated.

Don’t get me wrong, you as the leader will always need to encourage and motivate your team, but you can’t be the only one doing the motivating. There is nothing more motivating than knowing that your work makes a difference.  Knowing how the outcome fulfills the overall mission will also help them keep the work focused.

2- The DFP must be able to develop a plan that will produce the desired outcome.

Once the desired outcome is established, a plan needs to be developed. There will be times when you, the leader, need to develop that plan, but the ideal scenario is to have a DFP who can develop and execute a plan.

It is a challenge for some leaders to allow someone to develop a plan verses giving them a list of tasks. Try to avoid giving people a list of tasks. Instead, focus on describing the desired outcome and let them create a plan to get you there.

Do you think you would get a different result if you assigned someone to vacuum, dust and take out the trash of the staff offices everyday or write a plan to ensure that the offices are clean and neat for the staff each day?  How about this one:  Answer the phone, take messages when necessary and connect the callers to the appropriate employees or ensure that the needs of everyone who calls are met in a godly graceful manner.

If you give someone a list of tasks, it won’t be long before the desired outcome is not accomplished and you get blamed for not placing a necessary task on the list.  They will say, ‘I did what you said,’ while at the same time they did not accomplish what you needed to get accomplished.

Focusing on the desired result will let you know who the real leaders are.  The DFP who figures out how to achieve the desired result will be the one who will get more done in the long run.  This will minimize your need to micromanage. The better the leadership skills of the DFP, the more they can work independent of your constant input and still deliver an outcome that is best for the organization.  It will also result in a lot more ideas than you can come up with.  It will empower your leaders to think creatively and take more ownership of their job.  It will also set a coaching example for them to use with the people they supervise.

3- Make Real Time Adjustments:

If they cannot develop a plan, they will not be able to execute especially if something unexpected comes up in the process of the work.  As we all know, the unexpected should be expected.  The DFP must be able to suggest adjustments, in writing, and make those adjustments in real time. These adjustments must ensure that the desired goals of the work are accomplished, on time and on budget.  They need to be able to come to you for input and approval of those adjustments, but they should get to a point where they make a lot of those decisions and ‘course corrections’ without your input. This is all the more reason to have a really clear outcome in writing before the work begins. There will be times when timetables and budgets will need to be changed but the more they can navigate the unexpected without requiring more time and money, the better. This will mean that they developed a good plan that wisely anticipated the unexpected.