Hallowell (2011) explains,
Assignment Overview
Hallowell (2011) explains, “What I mean by peak performance—and what most of us seek in our lives and what managers wish to help their people achieve—is consistent excellence with improvement over time at a specific task or set of tasks.” He further asserts, “Those three factors—excellence, consistency, and ongoing improvement—define peak performance for my purposes.” Managers should always be on the lookout for employees who just don’t “fit in” with the organization’s culture. “You can tell a person is not in the right role if he feels no enthusiasm for what he’s doing, if his mind never lights up, if he never gets excited about his job, if he chronically complains.” And, the author continues, “This doesn’t mean he’s a dull person or that the line of work he has chosen is intrinsically dull, just that he’s not assigned to the right task.”
Being assigned the right tasks and then being responsible for those tasks relates to the “division of labor” concept coined by Adam Smith (1776). “The goal is for employees to spend as much time as possible at the intersection of three spheres: what they like to do, what they are most skilled at doing, and what adds value to the project or organization.” For peak performance or enhancing productivity levels, many would argue that specific tasks should be assigned to specific individuals with specific skills. Hallowell (2011) explains,
