The ten biggest problems with the last business age - the so called knowledge economy and information age - how much more information do we need, before we make a true decision, and take action...and ten suggestions...
THE PAST
5. The Power of Nightmares
…And so, over time, we became obsessed with what we are doing wrong, or worse, what might do wrong anytime soon. This has led to a focus on what is ‘wrong’ with us as employees, and as organisations rather than on what we do well. The only two drivers for human beings are fear and pleasure. When we focus on the former we look at protecting what we have, or not losing more, we go towards the fear agenda. This has led to a surge in ‘risk management’ by companies, many of which couldn¹t take a risk if their lives depended on it…
THE FUTURE
5. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want
What do you do well, what do your people do well? Celebrate your successes, and map out how they happened so they become repeatable and sustainable. Keep the vision, dream, cause, whatever word works for you, uppermost in your mind, and make true decisions each and every day at each and every meeting – a true decision is one in which you decide what you want, and then close off all other possibilities.
• Reward people through specific and personal praise. As a team leader or manager, take the blame for everything that goes wrong, while ensuring your people always receive the praise for all that goes well
• At the start of project meetings, ask people what is fantastic about this project, what the results will be for th e company and your customers, and keep these thoughts uppermost in your mind – and form your project teams based on people’s strengths (skill teams)
• In times of crisis, ask a different question e.g. instead of ‘Who’s to blame’ ask ‘How does this event help us achieve our objective on time?’
Have a lovely weekend
David
E-mail me on anything - david@nakedleader.com or post a comment:
Alan from New York asks, paradoxically - what is the fastest way to improve my time management?
1. Write down all the tasks you wish to do today.
2. Identify the five most important tasks, and number them in order of priority.
3. Start with No. 1, and do not leave it until you have either finished, or gone as far as you can go.
4. Only then allow yourself to start on the next item.
5. As extra items bounce toward you through the course of the day, deal with them only if they are of higher importance than the item you are working on. If not more important, add them to the list and keep working on your current task.
6. When the top five items have been completed, or taken as far as possible, or you have spent as long as you have planned on them, repeat the prioritising process. At this point, include the other things which you have included on the list during the course of the day.
7. Teach the system to your managers and use it daily.
Now, extend that weekend!
Thanks for reading, thanks even more for taking action
David