Here is how creating a task process works:

1. Select a task that is consistently getting in the way of allowing you to visit classrooms and is not aligned with improving student learning.
2. Break the task down into its part. Describe the process step by step.
3. Note how often it is done, how one knows it is completed, and what to do after it’s accomplished.
4. Give this task analysis process to the person you are empowering with this responsibility. Ask them if it is clear what to do. If not, add more description and steps until it is clear.

Then try it out. Afterward, talk about how it went with the staff member and make any adjustments as needed.

Below is a template you can use to document any task (Source: iWorker.com)

1.    What is the task?

2.    What is the process?

3.    How often is it completed?

4.    What does “done” look like?

As an example, I recruited my office administrative assistant to manage students like Michael when they came down for behaviors. Instead of going right into my office and interrupting whatever I was doing, the student would sit in the office lobby while my assistant handed them a “think sheet”. This sheet offered a series of questions the student would respond to about the the event. Once the think sheet was completed, the student would wait until I was ready to speak with them. If I wasn’t in the office, they waited until I came back.

Below is what that task process looked like.

Task Process: When a student is sent to the office for behavior

1.    What is the task? When a student is sent to the office for behaviors, they will be asked to sit in the office lobby and complete a written reflection. This task replaces sending them into my office immediately. 

2.    What is the process?

2.1. When the student comes into the office, ask them to find a seat in the lobby.

2.2. Hand them a “think sheet” and a writing utensil.

2.3. Read aloud the directions and the questions to the students. Answer any questions they might have.

2.4. When they say they are done, tell them to sit patiently until the principal is ready to see them.

3.    How often is it completed? Any time a student comes down to the office for behavior reasons, unless it is a situation that requires immediate attention from the principal.

4.    What does “done” look like? The student has completed the think sheet, you have collected it, and the teacher that sent the student to the office is notified with the status of the situation (as needed).

When we tried this process out, my assistant forgot about it the first couple of times. Old habits die hard. When it was implemented, my assistant pointed out that she wasn’t sure what an “emergency” was. That led to expanding on the original process. We added a T-chart that defined what an emergency is and is not.

In the following document are a few other tasks to consider shifting the responsibility to someone else and how that might look. Use the blank row to brainstorm a personal task and how these processes might be deferred or delegated.