Three Keys to Productivity

Set DEADLINES

Concentrate on OUTPUTS.  Preparation time, analysis, back grounding, reading, etc., are necessary but alone achieve nothing.  Place emphasis on output rather than input.

Look for EFFICIENT ways to be EFFECTIVE.  Streamline everything you do and do these things well.

......on idle time

That idle time.........

Sitting on the back verandah
    or by the corner window
Gazing over grassed paddock
    or paved car park
It matters not.........

Seeking space for ideas to fit
    or making sense of that observed
Reconfiguring patterns known
    or grappling with the unknown
It matters not...........

From farm to c-suite
    experience is the same
Answers emerge from deep thought
    ideas grow in unfettered space
It matters.....that idle time

Shaun G Coffey

31 December 2013

The "climate" you create

Climate is the key determinant of performance.  

Every action you take, every decision made, will have direct impact in the organisation.   

Neglect creates a poor climate.   

Just "doing you job" is not enough

Being successful in your work and career requires much more than just “doing your job”.  Being successful requires:

Taking initiative: accepting responsibility above and beyond your stated job, volunteering for additional activities, and promoting new ideas.

Management as a Wicked Problem | the problem space evolves as you progress into the solution space.

I have mulled over this post by Thierry de Baillon and Ralph Ohr for some time - see :  Business Model Innovation as Wicked Problem | Sonnez en cas d'absence

It highlights for me the importance need for managers to understand emergence and complexity. The article (and accompanying material) is well worth a thorough read - still an important contribution.

The post states:

An ever increasing pace of change leads to a decrease in life time of operating business models. Companies are therefore forced to reinvent themselves more frequently by creating new business models. Entering new businesses through open business model innovation exhibits a wicked problem structure. In order to properly address those problems, companies have to follow emergent strategies and need to put decentralized, self-organizing structures in place. Social business brings an answer to the urgent necessity to successfully tackle corporate reinvention and to enhance strategic adaptability by connecting individual human stakeholders.


A critical issues, as pointed out by Thierry de Baillon is that the problem space evolves as you progress into the solution space.

It is no longer appropriate to put a business model in place and follow it slavishly: rather it needs to be dynamic and adaptive to emerging trends/activities/reactions.

What a leader actually does is the important consideration

Here is a little story from one of my favourite leadership practitioners, Max De Pree, that reminds us that what a leader does is important.  I often find the CEO job a rather lonely life where every move is under someone’s observation.  But rather than letting this develop into a sense of strain or tension, it is important to remember that if your actions reflect your word (or intentions) then you are being authentic and effective.

Esther, my wife, and I have a grand-daughter named Zoe, the Greek word for “life”.  She was born prematurely and weighed one pound, seven ounces, so small that my wedding ring could slide up her arm to her shoulders.  The neonatologist who first examined her told us that she had a 5 to 10 percent chance of living three days.  When Esther and I scrubbed up for our first visit and saw Zoe in her isolette in the neonatal intensive care unit, she had two IVs in her navel, one in her foot, a monitor on each side of her chest, and a respirator tube and a feeding tube in her mouth.

To complicate matters, Zoe’s biological father had jumped ship the month before Zoe was born.  Realising this, a wise and caring nurse named Ruth gave me my instructions.  “For the next several months, at least, you’re the surrogate father.  I want you to come to the hospital every day to visit Zoe, and when you come, I would like you to rub her body and her legs and arms with the tip of your finger.  While you’re caressing her, you should tell her over and over how much you love her, because she has to be able to connect your voice to your touch.”

Ruth was doing exactly the right thing on Zoe’s behalf (and, of course, on my behalf as well), and without realising it she was giving me one of the best possible descriptions of the work of a leader.  At the core of becoming a leader is the need always to connect one’s voice with one’s touch. (my emphasis)

De Pree M O (1991)  Leadership Jazz.  Melbourne: Australian Business Library, Information Australia. pp.1-3

A leader must break free of the wisdom of the herd, and strike out in bold new directions.

Humans are essentially social animals, and go along with the prevailing majority.  But entrepreneurs, by nature break free; rebel; don't conform; write new rules; even reject the data. 

Leading your organisation to success: what makes for good managerial leadership?

How do you grab the attention of your organisation and ensure that it does the right thing?
Many will say “by having a compelling vision”.  It would be nice to have such a simple exclamation.

Having a compelling vision alone is insufficient for achievement as a leader. It must be complemented by communication and relationship building skills...people skills.

Ideas have power - if we are prepared to let go of them

Often I find myself reluctant to "let ideas go" for fear that they are ill-formed and may reflect badly on me, or even be shot down (often for legitimate reasons).  But Albrecht Durer, a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg in the 1400-1500s reminds us of the value others can add if we let go.

"But I shall let the little I know or have learnt go forth into the day in order that someone better than I may guess the truth, and in his work may prove and rebuke my error. At this I shall rejoice that I was yet the means whereby this truth has come to light." 

How often do we let an idea languish when we have run out of energy and inspiration to develop it fully, or become paralysed by analysis?  How often do we miss a rich discussion drawing on other perspectives and experiences?  What's wrong with my idea coming back in a better, more effective form?

Purpose is the game of champions, and subservience to purpose is a proven path to success

Where organisations are struggling to succeed, or survive, or just to run harmoniously, there is often  a n absence of purpose. Most of these organisations have a great vision, mission and strategic plan, but lack the spark to pull it all together.

In his book, Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies, Nikos Mourkogiannis records that “…purpose – not money, not status – is what people most want from work. Make no mistake: they want compensation; some want an ego- affirming title. Even more, though, they want their lives to mean something, they want their lives to have a reason”.