BOOK SUMMARY 230 Doing the Right Things Right
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Summary written by: Jacqueline van
Dyk
"Truly successful executives are those who can
thoroughly mine the intersection of efficiency and effectiveness to maximize
their value and that of their team’s."
- Doing the Right Things Right, page 143
Laura
Stack is a productivity expert. Her specialty is showing people how to do more
in less time. Laura categorizes the three areas where leaders spend their time
into what she calls “The Three Ts”: Thinking Strategically, Team
Focus, and Tactical Work.
She divides each of those
three domains into four principles and covers a myriad of ideas and examples
for how to quickly obtain profitable and productive results. Always with a
focus on managing the intersection of two critical dimensions: effectiveness
and efficiency.
The beauty of Doing
the Right Things Right is that it is written in the most efficient and
effective way possible; it’s a quick read! She conveys her ideas succinctly and
logically. Busy executives can quickly pick up time management strategies that
will be immediately effective.
One time management
strategy that I can incorporate immediately is to boost productivity by
eliminating bad habits. Overly long breaks, failure to take breaks,
unproductive discussions, poorly planned meetings, procrastination and
multitasking are all time-wasters. I routinely skip lunches and breaks; it
never occurred to me that taking them canincrease productivity.
Setting a good example and holding others accountable are ways to eliminate
these bad habits and increase productivity.
The
Golden Egg
Think
about how you think
"The more you think
about how you think, the more you can use your self-knowledge to improve your
productivity and boost your professional growth."- Doing the Right Things
Right, page 133
As a passionate life-long
learner, this idea of framing self-development as an efficiency measure took me
by surprise. Makes plenty of sense though: intentional effort invested in
continuous quality improvement and personal excellence not only increases one’s
effectiveness, but is more than likely to involve some measure of efficiency
too.
In my experience,
self-knowledge involves much more than thinking about how I think:
understanding my abilities, motivations and emotions, and acknowledging my
beliefs, attitudes and behaviours are all part of the self-knowledge package.
But Stack’s point rings true: self-knowledge leads to personal growth, which
leads to greater effectiveness and productivity.
It also leads to
leadership-by-example and the ability to nurture the development of others. The
more we can influence the engagement of those we work with, the more effective
they will become. That in turn increases organizational productivity and
effectiveness.
Gem #1
Empower
your people
"Perhaps the
greatest change we’ve seen while boldly going deeper into the Information Era
is that the roles of manager and worker have evolved toward each other."-
Doing the Right Things Right, page 208
Working closely together
and empowering staff is a leadership approach that I embrace. When managers and
workers work together as a solid team, things run smoother and the
organization’s capacity builds.
Empowering employees to
make responsible decisions about how they spend their time and do their work
requires a leader who can create the conditions to support safety and success.
A leader has to make it easy for the team to excel by removing obstacles to
success, encouraging teamwork, and emphasizing accountability. As well, one has
to be tolerant of failure: people have to be able to fail without worrying
about punishment. By owning mistakes and reflecting on failure, individuals can
grow and develop, the team improves and the organization benefits.
As Stack points out,
“Smart leaders realize they get further by forming partnerships with their
employees.” Let them know why their work matters and how it moves the
organization forward. And when employees can take ownership of their jobs, they
will be empowered to use whatever strategy works best in the moment to be
effective and productive. Develop your people, support them, and trust them to
do the right thing.
Gem #2
Boost
innovation and flexibility
"While we have
procedures and traditions for a reason, we can’t let them hold us back.
Mavericks who keep their eyes open and are willing to try something new drive
innovation. So open your eyes to the possibilities."- Doing the Right
Things Right, page 125
Coming from the world of
public funding and bureaucratic red tape, this statement jumped out for me.
Sometimes we can find more efficient ways to meet the controls and
accountability of red tape, and sometimes we can’t.
And sometimes it’s all
too easy to see the established procedures, traditions and bureaucratic
processes as the only thing that matters. But when we reach that point, we’ve
forgotten the mission of our organization.
In my case, the
organization is a public library. Traditions and established procedures are
ingrained in our service model. We’re classic at doing things “because we’ve
always done them this way”. But in this new information era, the digital
landscape requires some serious reflection in order to remain loyal to the core
mission while being open to doing some things very differently.
Certainly there are
constraints, and yet innovation requires looking at things in a new way, and
looking beyond the established traditions and bureaucratic requirements. The
motto “creativity loves constraint” applies in my context. For me, opening my
eyes to innovation and possibility requires a creative mindset!
The theme of flexibility
runs through this entire book. Stack describes how best to triage tasks,
embrace change, avoid techno-traps, improve continually, facilitate tasks, and
adhere to purpose and goals.
And while this book packs
in lots of good ideas and solid practical advice, I was grateful that Stack
extols the necessity of a balanced life in the effort to be efficient and
effective. As she says, “Sometimes work has to wait while you live the rest of
your life.”
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