An Outward Focus Toward Clients - 180

Turning around an organization, requires an outward focus toward the client. This comes right down to individual behavior. Where is everyone looking - inward? Or outward?

Often, when I come into an organization the first thing I notice is, where key people are spending the bulk of their time. Also, where they are spending the key hours of the day.

You know what I find? I find poor manaagement systems and a poor leadership practice. Sales is down, therefore "we put in place reporting systems to see what people (especially sales) are doing every day." Then, the financial people put in quality systems, that require sales people to fill out more paperwork on the front end to save their staff time.

Soon the entire organization is facing inwards. And the culture now is about filling out reports and reporting and meeting about reports, and the meeting turn into reports of the meetings of the reports, and then more questions and then more written emails about why this wasn't done, which gets sent down to the person in front of the client to write and then it is rewritten by management, and then management reads it or has gone on to another crisis and it is no longer important.

So how do you stop this malpractice? It ain't easy. Becuase the stupidity is now engrained in people's thinking and in processes. And worst of all - people who don't have client facing positions in the company - but who have the ear of the President, or CEO or Managing Director. And the new bad practices, become the new normal.

Stopping it requires recognizing the problem. See the next post.

What Did You Do Today?

For consultants, sales professionals, partners and other highly compensated executives like yourself, you must have a clearly defined set of objectives you wish to complete by the end of the day in order to remain at the top in your field. Every day, over time, makes up a life time of frivolous activities, or a life time of accomplishing great goals.

The choices you make on a day-to-day basis determine your success or your failure in life.

Often, we go into the office or start the day from our hotel room, without a plan, without a set of objectives we wish to accomplish before 5PM rolls around. Now I say 5PM, knowing my day ends often after 7PM, and I assume your days do too. But the critical things we have to get done, like completing the proposal for a client, setting up our appointments with clients, or completing some project for a client, needs to be done before 5PM, largely because we are dependent on others in the office or others who do not have the same work ethic as us.

But we must decide BEFORE the day starts out, what it is we wish to achieve today. So every morning ask yourself; "What 5 to 10 items on are list of things to do today, will advance us to our success?"

This is the question you must ask at the beginning of the day. This question will focus your energies on the things that matter.

As series of questions that will help you stay on track, that you can ask at key points of the day are important as well.

The question you must ask at 12 noon is this; "Did I accomplish this morning what I intended to accomplish for the day yet?" And, "Did I even start on these?"

Asking these questions at the mid-point of the day will light a fire in your belly. Often we are at the mercy of everyone else's demands. We are doing meaningless tasks that suck up time and zap us of our energy. That is the real danger here. We feel like we are working, yet in reality we are slaves to the agendas of others. We take on tasks that are meaningless to our success. Soon, after months of doing someone else's work, we find ourselves behind the proverbial eight ball and scrambling to get back on track.

The 3PM question is to ask the same question as you did at 12 noon. This allows you to knock all the stuff that doesn't matter off your desk and laptop and focuses you on the results you need to accomplish.

So at 5PM, you have to ask yourself; "Did I accomplish the thing I set out to do today?"

The key times to focus on your list of things to be done are;

1. Before you start your day (preferably before 7AM and before you touch email!!!!)
2. A gut check at 12 Noon. This will provide you an hour of uninterrupted time if you have to catch up.
3. Another gut check at 3PM. This allows you to clear the deck and man the battle stations for two hours in order to catch up.
4. At 5PM - to review your list of objectives and see where you fell down or what obstacles got in your way today. And then taking the items off your today's "To Do List" and carry them over to tomorrow's "To Do List."

When you have this kind of focus, the results you will achieve will be tremendous in a short period of time. And your energy levels will skyrocket!

Good Luck! Joe

Productivity Gains - Ask Your Boss

In my previous posts, you should have gotten a process that not only increases your productivity by 25 percent - at minimum, but a process that allows you to do the RIGHT things at the expense of the WRONG things.

Writing things down forces you to think about the question: "How important is this?" And you may want to use this question, as it pertains directly to you and your performance: "Is this what I was hired to do?"

The last question is key. We may feel like we should do everything we are asked to do or comes by our desk (or email/blackberry/etc.), because that is what a team player does, but in fact, it may be the wrong thing to do, at the wrong time.

If you are stuck - and I mean you have too many "competing priorities" - you should take your list of 1-1's and 1-2's and your 2-1's and 2-2's to your boss. First, your boss will say, "Where did you get that system and how does it work?" So be prepared to explain it before you walk into his or her office.

Second, your boss will see that there are too many competing priorities. He or she will wonder how in the world are you doing what you should be doing. He will then - or should - think how can he keep you protected from all the requests you are getting.

Third, he will tell you what he feels is important. You will immediately see where you are out of sync and why you are having difficulty communicating some times.

Fourth, in his mind, he will see you as organized and wonder why his other people aren't as organized as you. This is not the reason you go down to his office however. This is a bad things to do, because your boss will smell out the sneakiness of such a move if you are insincere about asking for help.

So the list - the MASTER LIST and the DAILY TO DO LIST is key to getting things done.

Prioritize Your List - Turbo Charge Your "Tasks"

We have a Master List that has your KRAs (your #1's), and your 2's (twos) and 3's (threes) assigned to each.

You have that done, right?

Now we Turbo Charge your life by Turbo Charging your list of tasks.

How can we get even more productivity from this list? Well, here's how;

1. Next to each number one, we are going to place another number next to it. It will be a 1, 2, or 3.

2. If the task takes longer than an hour to do place a "1" to the right of the first "1" . Remember, we are working with the KRAs right now.

3. Next go through the list of KRAs, and place a "2" next to each "1" that takes less than an hour, but more than 15 minutes. Next place a "3" next to each remaining KRA that takes less than 15 minutes.

3. Your list of KRAs should look like this 1,1 or 1,2 or 1,3. You can place a hyphen instead of a comma if that works for you. Your list of KRAs would then look like this; 1-1, 1-2, or 1-3.

4. Now, what you are looking at is this. Your 1-1's are more than likely your most important and critical items you have to get done for your long term success with your firm. Check it out for yourself. If this is not true, go back over your 1-1's and see if they are not really a 1-2 or possibly a "2".

5. Now you should do the same exercise with your "2's" on the Master List. And then the "3's".

Your MASTER LIST should now have the Priority (1, 2 or 3) and the length of TIME that each one should take to complete (1 for over an hour; 2 for under an hour - but over 15 minutes, and 3 for under 15 minutes.).

This is critical.

From today forward, you are now writing your "to do" or task on the MASTER LIST.

A couple of critical points:
1. You are not "allowed" to do the task without writing it down first.

2. We assign a priority to each task after we write it down. Why do you think we do this? This is a critical question to answer. In the next post, we will address this.

3. We Turbo Charge the list with another number that represents the length of time it will take to get it done. Why do you think we do this?

Productivity Improvement Number 3 - Prioritize

OK. So to recap:
1. Write down everything on a sheet of paper where you keep all your "To Do's".
2. Don't do anything without writing it down first.
3. Know what 5 to 7 things you do (categories) that make up your KRA's (Key Result Areas).

Now, you have your list - let's call it a "Master List" - because it has everything you do on it.

Scan the list for all the KRA's. Those are the items on the list that contribute the most to what you were hired to do ( help you be the most successful at doing ). These should have a "1" (one) placed in front of the item.

Now scan the list for items that are a "2" (two). These are items that are important, but usually don't contribute much to what you HAVE to do to be successful. It might be "Filing an Expense Report" for example or "Providing a Report for Someone". . . these are secondary in nature.

After you completed this task, scan the rest and place a "3" (three) next to the remaining items. These should be tasks like "Pick up laundry" or "Get new pens." These don't contribute to your success but you have to get down and in some cases, you DO NOT have to do at all.

Three's may be delegated or discarded or deliberated. Deliberated means to; Ask yourself why you have any 3's on the list? This is where some of us as professionals, pick up hours of time. We tend to do what is fun and easy. And these are 3's. They are an excuse to procrastinate. They allow us to feel like we are working, when in reality we are not, because 3's don't contribute to what we were hired to do.

Now look at the list. Look hard. Do you see what I am talking about? Do you see how this simple, non-technical tool, allows you to see what you are doing?

If it doesn't, you are probably not FORCING yourself to write down everything before you begin it.

But it gets even better. The next post, allows us to turbo charge the list.

Productivity Improvements - Number 2: Your Key Results

Now, we have a "To Do" list. Your "To Do" list should include EVERYTHING you have to do. It can be on a clean sheet of paper. Just use a sheet of paper and list everything - every day - that you have to do. You may have several sheets of paper with your "To Do's".

Next - Your KRAs.

Think about this question; What have you been hired to do?

List out the five to seven things or areas that contribute the most to your ability to be successful. If you are a consultant, one area might be getting business. Another might be, completing your project on-time and well. Another might be, training and growing your staff.

Whatever you do, you have only five to seven key areas that will contribute to the results that you have been hired to do.

Write these seven down on a separate sheet of paper. You may scratch through any one of these seven - after you start thinking about it. In other words, you may be revising your list as the week goes on. But write them out. You may think and feel that you know what your seven KRAs are, but until you write them out, you cannot crystalize them.

One last thing - on the "To Do" list you created. Always work from a "To Do" list. Don't do anything without first writing it on your To Do list. The power of writing forces you to think through what it means and starts to put a priority behind it.

Save Time On The Internet - Using A "Feed"

Now for something really cool. Check out this from YouTube. A really smart guy is making the web easier for you and I to use.

You will see the RSS Feeds in the SideBar to the right of this Blog. It is now the smart way to access your favorites. This video is less than 4 minutes and explains how we can use the Web better and more conveniently.

A Feed is below . . . All you have to do is click on it and it saves it and brings it to YOU!

Before You Even Start Work Do This

First thing in the morning make your list. Don't go into the office without a "To Do" list. If you go into the office first and then try to work on the things that you try to remember, you will be pushed and pulled by the phone ringing, emails flying and people stopping by your office to say, "Hi."

Working without a list, is productivity suicide. You will never get done the things you were hired to do. And the only place to create the list is at home or some place safe, like at Starbucks.

You can do this that morning which I prefer to do, because it "fires" me up to get started. Or you can do what others prefer to do, and that is the night before - before you leave the office or before heading off to bed, to clear your mind.

Nothing high tech. Work from a piece of paper, or your Day-Timer (Am I the only one left using paper?).

However simple this sounds, you will be amazed at the amount of productivity improvements you will see generated in your own work.

One last note; if you are a manager - encourage your staff - strongly - to do the same. Better yet, pass this Blog Post on to them.

Quiet Speed - by Joe Murphy

Slow Down - Don't Speed Up
I have read and reread the book titled "Secrets of a CEO Coach" to gain some of the key points of someone (the author) I really respect. Debra A Benton is the author and has a lot of great ideas anyone can implement.


One is this idea of "Quiet Speed." I fall into the habit of trying to do a lot. A lot means working hard. Working hard means doing a lot more of what you normally can accomplish. You pile stuff onto to your workload until you find it almost impossible to get things done.


Work Overload - What Winds Up Happening?
Simply, you speed up, to get your pile complete. When you speed up, you get harried. You talk faster. You become impatient. You become - often - curt and perhaps rude, when you talk to those around you. These people don't know you've picked up more work that you have to get done in one day than any normal human can do.


But the feeling you have boiling inside you is - Get out of my way, I have to get my work done, and why aren't you people getting me this information I need to complete my job, and why aren't you working as hard as some of the rest of us (especially me!).


What You Look Like
By looking "hasty", by talking fast, you appear nervous. By looking nervous you are stating "I am not important and I may not belong here."


You also appear harried, out of control. And the last thing a top executive, client or internal executive, wants to do is give someone who appears out of control, something to be done that is important.


What You Should Do
You have to harness your energy. You have to consciously SLOW DOWN. You have to pace yourself. Pace means becoming more deliberate in your actions. Create a list of all the things you have to do (on paper). Then break the list into sublists for each major item on the list. Each subtask is an activity that when complete, is one step closer to getting the major item on your list complete.


Sure, we've all heard about the list thing. Sure, you have. But, do you do it? Answer is: Either "no" or not as often or as well as I should.


So you have your list. But back to Quiet Speed. You must convey a look of being relaxed. Perhaps the list making will help. The appearance will help too. Because the more harried you are, the more you begin to miss and forget things. Then you become frenetic.


Frenetic is not a good thing to be labeled as being.


You want to exude poise. You want to appear confident. You want to appear memorable.


So, slow down. Work on Quiet Speed.


Thanks - Joe Murphy

Act Boldly and Unknown Forces Will Come to Your Aid

"Act boldly and unforeseen forces will come to your aid." This is a quote I heard from Brian Tracy. Brian Tracy is one of the few positive business leaders dedicated to helping others achieve personal greatness who has actually studied and applied what he has learned to his business.

Brian Tracy's books, audio programs and videos are among the best in the world for anyone who wishes to become excellent in their field.

Today, I write to dedicate this little page to Brian Tracy's helping me and others.

Here are two excellent programs I recommend to you from Brian Tracy:
1. Pathways to Personal Excellence - this is a one hour video program that is perhaps the best of it's kind. I have shown this tape to hundreds of my staff and colleagues in the US and around the world. When I brought it to India, the young staff stayed to watch it were mesmerized. They devoured it. For me, the video has brought me hundreds of thousands of dollars in monetary returns. It has saved me countless hours of time saved and has been at least partially responsible for turning my life around.

The video has 100's of practical ideas and concepts for you to apply to your personal achievement. I guarantee if you watch it at least 10 times over the course of 30 days, you will find yourself focused and energized.

2. The Psychology of Achievement - this 6 CD audio series is a mini-course in psychology and what it takes to reprogram your mind to become successful and better in life and work. It is a great program to replace the radio listening - which is bubble-gum for the ears!!! - with protein for the mind. I don't care if you spent $200 on Sirius radio - it's still worthless junk telling you absolutely everything about nothing. Try listening to this CD program over and over until you reprogram your thoughts of "I can't have it" and "I wish..." with new thoughts of "I can have anything I put my mind and efforts to..." and "I can become anything I need to become..."

Okay. That's it for today. Try these two programs out. They are a very small investment on your personal development future.

PS - if you are interested in other great programs - let me know and I will post others....