How effective are you?

When you look at your daily tasks in relation to your monthly or yearly targets it should be clear what these daily activities add to achieving your goals.

I’m sure some of you will say; “Of course they do!”

But do they really?

Is our daily work not often troubled by all kinds of tasks that we are not even directly responsible for? And are some tasks not side effects of what we should be focusing on? And do you know what I mean if I say we are fixing symptoms often and not root causes?

It starts again with holding up that mirror that shows what you are actually doing day in and day out or if you only do this occasionally. No need to convince me, but be honest to yourself. Once you have determined if you would like to change something in your way of working, it is time to start changing!

But change is not easy and can be scary. we would like to keep it to ourselves and what if my boss knows I could do something better…

All these emotions and thoughts could come into somebodies mind that prevent us in changing or affects our speed of change. Nothing strange, pure basic human behavior.

You need to show some vulnerability though. And to whom it doesn’t even directly matter. But you need to ventilate, express and discuss these ideas. Preferably with your supervisor and colleagues. They will recognize your challenges and ideas. Really.

If you haven’t heard your colleagues talk about challenges, it’s not because they don’t have them, it’s because we don’t talk about ”weaknesses” or our own improvement challenges. Talking about other people’s issues is no problem of courseJ. Am I wrong? Maybe a bit black and white, but I’m sure you recognize what I’m aiming at.

I would like to share 5 actions or steps about how you could break these traditions in your own way of working or in a later stage even in your company, with and for your colleagues/ employees.

1.      Determine what your (yearly) targets are. How are they influenced on a daily or weekly basis? Are these reportable? If not start doing so. You want to be able to take action when it still matters, not when you have your yearly evaluation. Don’t create high-tech dashboards yet, keep it simple and don’t hide behind IT.

2.      Perform an analysis on your daily tasks and agenda for one or two weeks. (Let a colleague have a look at this as well when it’s finalized, if you dare). Try to quantify time spent on certain tasks.

·        Categorization of tasks

·        Average hrs. per week per category (Yes, you will have to use a stopwatch or find another way to measure).

·        Happy with it?

·        What are your findings?

·        What did you already know, what amazed you?

3.      Based on the analysis outcome decide on:

·        Two things you would like to do more

·        Two things you want to do less and could delegate

·        Two things you want to stop doing

Do you need to inform anybody or align this plan? Make sure you do. They will support you achieving this or even better will recognize and understand your changed behavior.

4.      Start practicing this the next day. Check for yourself what the effects are for when it comes to time management, perception of work pressure and concrete progress towards your goals. (Measurable in figures, trends, project planning, % completeness etc.) and if you are on track. For the daredevils, also ask if your colleagues noticed this change in your way of working or behavior.

5.      The outcome of 2-3 weeks of practice should be shared with your supervisor.

·        This is what I observed

·        This is what I changed

·        This is what I achieved

·        This is my plan to optimize this

I know this sounds scary, but please try it. You show on your own initiative that you are able to work on self-development and immediately prove your motivation, commitment and ambition to develop. Your supervisor and organization will appreciate and support you more (within their means of course).

If this is not ok or acceptable in your company you should seriously consider changing environment or make this a discussion topic in your team. I have not worked in companies yet where this was the case. Let other people, company myths, incidents, colleagues’ horror stories or anything else stop you from developing yourself.

If you are a manager and feel that your staff is not confident enough to have this discussion with you? CHANGE that tomorrow. Make it ok, be open, show some vulnerability even and reward people for this kind of behavior.

Like always I understand these kind of changes are difficult and will take more than my silly ideas. Of course there is more to it… but it’s a start of changing. Also they don’t happen overnight…but they can. Start Monday!

Let me know what you recognize, agree with, don’t agree with etc. Tell me your alternative methods too.

If you don’t agree, please do understand one thing; doing nothing is no option and definitely no solution.

Like, share and retweet as much as you can.

Tom