time management

12 Effectiveness Lessons from The Effective Executive

By on July 1, 2009 in What I Learned From

effective-executivePeter F. Drucker’s The Effective Executive is one of the best-known, oft-cited books on management ever written.  Since it’s publication in 1967, it has transformed regular managers into effective executives by answering the question, “What makes an effective executive?” The book is filled with insights and perspective and is still just as applicable today, 40 years later.

Here are 12 lessons in effectiveness I learned from The Effective Executive.

1. Do What Needs to Be Done

“The first practice is to ask what needs to be done. Note that the question is not ‘What do I want to do?’” (page XII)

It’s not good enough for you, the effective executive, to get things done. You must also get the right things done.  By looking at the needs of the business, you have to determine where your contributions will make the largest impact, and  then execute, delivering for the business what needed to be delivered.

The truly fortunate, and effective executives are those who can answer both of the above questions with the same answer.  If what needs to be done matches what you want to do, you’ve found the work that is right for you.

2. Exploit Opportunities

“Problem solving does not produce results.  It prevents damage.  Exploiting opportunities produces results.” (page XVIII)

When you are trying to determine what needs to be done, you should look for opportunities, not problems.  Problems can usually be solved through delegation, but opportunities require the know-how of the effective executive to be fully leveraged.

The key is often to be able to distinguish between a true opportunity and a problem that through corporate speak is being called an “opportunity.”  A broken copier is not an “opportunity” to get a new copier, it’s a problem to be solved.  Creating a new part that prevents the copier from breaking down is an opportunity (if you work in the copier-making business) that could be exploited to create a new, more durable copier.

3. Direct Yourself

“The knowledge worker cannot be supervised closely or in detail.  He can only be helped.  But he must direct himself, and he must direct himself toward performance and contribution, that is, toward effectiveness.” (page 4)

If you are an executive, you can’t be told what to do.  If you can be, the person telling you what to do is an executive, not you. You can only be assisted in finding out what needs to be done; everything else is up to you.

That is why it’s so important you are effective, because it is your job to be and no one can do it for you.  Take ownership of your work and direct yourself to success by focusing on opportunities and doing what needs to be done.

4. Develop Practices for Effectiveness

“Effectiveness is a habit.” (page 23)

The ability to be effective is really just the use of efficient practices.  Consistent use of these practices become habits, and these habits lead to effectiveness.

That means there’s no massive undertaking you must complete in order to be effective, just small, daily practices that when added up over time equal being effective.  “You are what you repeatedly do…”

5.Manage Your Time

“Everything requires time.  It is the one truly universal condition.” (page 26)

The most important thing you can manage is not people or budgets, but time.  Depending on your role, you may need to manage people or budgets, but you will always have to manage your time.  And what you do with that time determines how effective you are.

Time management must be conscious for time is a non-renewable resource.  You must make choices about what you will and won’t do, knowing that every decision you make has the cost of time associated with it.

6. Focus on Contribution

“The focus on contribution is the key to effectiveness.” (page 52)

To be effective, get in the habit of asking yourself “What can I contribute?”  Whether it’s in a meeting, during a crisis, or when responding to email, ask yourself this question and you’ll be working as effectively as possible.

By focusing on the work you can do, and not the power you’re supposed to have, or whether or not it’s in your job description, you weed out the unnecessary and make room for the effective.  You also recognize what you can’t do, and through delegation with an emphasis on contribution, you make others effective with you.  It’s not about getting something done, it’s about getting the right things done.

7. Organize for Excellence

“The test of organization is not genius.  It is its capacity to make common people achieve uncommon performance.” (page 80)

As an executive, you are part of an organization, either as a leader or an integral part of it.  That organization’s task is to help ordinary individuals achieve extraordinary results.

To achieve excellence, you must look to leverage people’s strengths, not try to fix their weaknesses.  You could try to teach Joe Montana to throw left-handed, but why? Staffing from strength is taking advantage of the talent you have to build an effective organization.

8. Desire Greatness

“To be more requires a man who is conceited enough to believe that the world really needs him and depends on his getting into power.” (page 87)

Having confidence in yourself and your decisions is vital to becoming an effective executive.  An unsure person wavers on decisions and second-guesses their actions, but an effective executive is constantly moving forward.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be humble or admit mistakes, but that you focus on what you can actually change or do.  Dwelling on past mistakes is not actionable.  And you know that even if you have made mistakes in the past, you have the know-how and capacity to make up for them and still obtain incredible results.

9. Concentrate Your Efforts

“If there is any one ‘secret’ to effectiveness, it is concentration.” (page 100)

Multi-tasking may be the norm these days, but it is single-tasking that makes you effective.  You have far more to-do than can reasonably be done, and the fastest way to get from one task to another is to focus on that one thing until it is completed.

By setting priorities, as well consciously choosing what not to do, you’ll also know that the single item you are working on is the most important contribution you can be making right now.

10. Be Courageous

“Scientists have shown that achievement depends less on ability in doing research than on the courage to go after opportunity.” (page 111)

When you are deciding on which tasks to focus, choose the one that will have the biggest impact and will make a difference.  Often times this will take courage as the biggest opportunities come with the biggest perceived risk.  But your job as an effective executive is not to play it safe or maintain the status quo, it is to strive for excellence.

Concentrating your contributions to those opportunities that can make a difference makes all the difference in your level of effectiveness.  The Fortune 500 favors the bold.

11. Decide Sparingly

“An executive who makes many decisions is both lazy and ineffectual.” (page 129)

Well managed organizations are “boring” because few crises occur and “fire drills” are limited to actual test of a building’s fire system.  That’s because as an effective executive, you have to create a set of rules or processes that manages for the predictable occurrences.  If you are constantly making decisions, it’s because you haven’t looked at the big picture and established guidelines.

If something out of the ordinary does arise, or circumstances change, you should make the decision that is both best for the situation and that can be reapplied again if necessary.  Making the same decision twice is redundant, inefficient and redundant.

12. Learn to be Effective

“Effectiveness, while capable of being learned, surely cannot be taught.” (page 166)

Effectiveness is not like a subject in school that can be taught from a textbook.  It is a self-discipline that must be learned over time and through experience.  The guidelines provided by Drucker certainly help you in the right direction, but you must ultimately direct yourself.

You will make mistakes.  There will be things you could do better.  But if you follow these guidelines you’ll be on the path towards success, and to becoming an effective executive.

Let me know what you learned The Effective Executive.  Still haven’t read the “definitive guide to getting the right things done?” Pick it up at Amazon.com: The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker

To be more requires a man who is conceited enough to believe that the world really needs him and depends on his getting into power.

{ 1 comment }

How to Have a More Productive Day

By on February 24, 2009 in Learn with Humor

Do you ever have a day where you are just running on all cylinders, you move from one task to another, accomplishing more in a day than some people do in a week? Do you ever have a day where you’ve run out of gas, it seems you get nothing done, and despite your desire for it to have been a productive day, you have nothing to account for during the time you were awake?

What’s the difference between those two days? How do you have more of the former and less of the latter?

Motivators and Demotivators

The difference often lies in small, seemingly inconsequential events or activities, triggers that either motivate or demotivate you to work on what you should be working on.

For example, if I receive praise at the office for a project I’m working on, something as simple as “Drew, great work so far on the X project”, I’m more motivated to work harder on that project–I want to keep up the good work and continue it through to completion. On the flip side, if I talk at the water cooler with someone who has a negative attitude towards their work or a project we’re on, I sometimes find it incredibly difficult to get back into what I need to get done.

That’s because these events and activities have a mental and emotional effect on me.  The praise lifts my spirits and re-enforces that what I’ve been doing is appreciated.  Hearing cynicism doesn’t necessarily make me dislike the project, it just doesn’t put me in a mood to work.  Both of these events might take approximately the same amount of time (depending on how long the person talks), but they leave me in completely different mental states.  By pinpointing these events and understanding their effects, we can start to find ways to control our entire day.

The Right Motivators for the Right Projects

Everyone has multiple things on their plate, multiple roles they must play on a daily and weekly basis. I am a project manager/entrepreneur/stand-up comedian/improviser/blogger/writer, and those are just my “job” roles. You can also throw in son, brother, friend, apartment owner and many more.  Given all of these responsibilities, it’s important to be able to stay focused on the task at hand–I can’t be revved up to clean my apartment while I’m at work, and I shouldn’t be ready to create a project plan right before I’m about to go on stage.

That’s why it’s important to understand that not all motivators are equal, and not all are appropriate for your different roles. In fact what motivates you in one area will often demotivate you in another.  If I work on stand-up ideas on the subway on my way to work, when I get to the office, I want to continue writing jokes instead of prepping for a board meeting.

Instead, I should be using my time on the subway doing something that will motivate me in the office, so I can hit the ground running. I’ve found that reading business books, looking at my upcoming work tasks, and just mentally reviewing the current status of some of my work projects allows me to be ready to work once I get settled in my cube.

Identifying Your Motivators and Demotivators

Getting back to the original question, the difference between your productive and non-productive days is often the difference between whether you had the right motivators helping you throughout the day.

In order to start increasing your number of productive days, you have to purposefully do things that will motivate you for the appropriate task at hand, and consciously avoid the things that will demotivate you. Luckily, finding these triggers is as easy as observing your behaviors.

Think back to the last time you had a great day. How did it start? What was the first thing you did in the morning? Throughout the day, how did you recharge? What did you do before each of your big tasks? What was missing, what didn’t you do?  Now, think back to a day where you felt sluggish and got very little done.  How did it start? What was the first thing you did in the morning? What other things did you do and not do throughout the day?

Ask yourself these same questions for each of your roles. Think of the last time you had a really productive day at the office, or in taking care of the kids.  Based on these answers, you can start to identify your triggers.  Write them down and think about what role they motivate you for.

To help you get started, here’s a list of some of my motivators and demotivators, with their role in parenthesis.  Keep in mind that a trigger can be as big as waking up early or as small as listening to a certain song.

Motivators

  • An energizing work out (Multiple).
  • Waking up early (Multiple).
  • Listening to upbeat music (Multiple).
  • Reading a business book (Work).
  • Reviewing promotion criteria (Work).
  • Looking at Google Analytics (Blog).
  • Watching stand-up promo video (Stand-up).

Demotivators

  • Hitting snooze (Multiple).
  • Aimlessly browsing websites (Multiple).
  • Watching TV (Multiple).
  • Taking too long of a lunch (Work).
  • Checking personal email (Work).
  • Writer’s block (Blog).
  • Performing for a small audience (Stand-up).

Building Consistency

With this list in your arsenal, you can now increase the liklihood of having a great day.  Whenever you’re stalling on a project, return to your list and find one of your triggers for your current role.  Over time, as you use the same triggers, they’ll become even more powerful conditioners, essentially becoming a Pavlovian bell that mentally hypes you up.  To build a wildly productive day, you can string these motivators throughout, all-the-while avoiding demotivating triggers.

As more people embrace the “slash effect,” as coined in One Person, Multiple Careers, rarely will you go through an entire day where you only have to work on one of your roles.  It’s more likely that you’ll move in between your various roles throughout the day, sometimes coming and going between four or five of them.  Your motivators can serve as very important transition tasks when you go from one role to another, maintaining your momentum from the previous project.  This is especially true if that transitioning task is simple.

Let’s say that one of your motivators for cleaning up at home is listening to “Splish Splash” by Bobby Darin (I don’t know, it could happen).  After a long day of productive work, you may not be in the mood to clean up.  So rather than throw out any intention of cleaning up, or trying to force yourself to work through that pile of dishes, you just start splishin’ and a-splashin.  After a few minutes with Mr. Darin, you’ll be more inclined to tackle what awaits you in the sink.

Motivators in Action

To bring the concept home, let’s take a look at how a productive day for me might go:

I know that if I hit snooze in the morning, I’ll have a slacker mentality in the back of my head for the rest of the day.  But, if I wake up early and exercise, I’m more likely to want to continue to be productive in my other roles.  So I wake up early, workout, and then on the subway to work, read a business book to mentally prepare for the corporate world.

After a few hours of work, I take a break to re-charge.  I walk around and talk to people or go back to the business book.  Once I have some more energy, I jump back into the appropriate mindset for my projects.

This continues throughout the day until it’s time for me to leave for my next role as a stand-up comedian.  On my way to the comedy club, I now have to go from Corporate Drew to Comedian Drew, so I listen to a few songs to hype me up, review my set-list, and smile more.  I have a great set, see the other comedians, and then head home.

If I was done for the night, then I’d do whatever I wanted to rewind.  Since there’s always something to be done, and I still have some energy, I spend my walk home brainstorming ideas for some sketches I have to write later in the week.  When I get home, I’m now in the right mindset to start writing some of them out.  I finish up with the sketches and, since it’s nearing my bedtime, I spend some time on important tasks that are sometimes demotivating, such as checking my personal email or catching up on some TV shows.

You can see that throughout the course of a single day, you might use ten or twenty triggers to motivate you for the task at hand.  Equally important, you might consciously avoid ten or twenty triggers that demotivate you.  In the end, you’ll have a number of items checked off on your to-do list, and you’ll have the answer the question–what’s the difference between the productive and unproductive days.

{ 2 comments }