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Open Door Or Closed? Balancing Approachability Against Authority

Posted on 07/03/2013 by ·

"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." -- Leonardo da Vinci. "Nothing traps you in the urgency of the moment like availability." -- Sam Raimer, Baptist pastor and blogger. Anyone in a leadership position, from an office manager to a church pastor, has to carefully balance authority with approachability. Which should take precedence, if either? At one time, the answer was simple: authority was always preferable. But the workplace has changed radically in the last half century, and management experts have been debating the concept of the "open door policy" for decades. Some advocate its adoption on a wide scale, while others insist it can utterly destroy a leader's productivity. Given the wide latitude here, where should you strike the balance? In general, here are some … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

The Leader’s Dilemma: No One Should Be Indispensable — Not Even You

Posted on 07/01/2013 by ·

"The graveyards are full of indispensable men." -- Charles DeGaulle One of the basic tenets of popular business advice, publicized even by industry leaders like Forbes, is that you should strive to make yourself indispensable to your boss. But just like pop culture, pop business advice can be, well, weird. Worse, it can damage your career. I understand why some people would advise workers to become indispensable in their roles; and given the current economic situation, it's even more understandable that some would listen. But that doesn’t make it good advice. Think about it: why would a manager promote away the one person their team literally couldn't do without? Indispensability = stagnation for the worker. From the management perspective, it limits team productivity, because it … [Read more...]

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The Smartphone: Pocket sized productivity, or contract time-killer?

Posted on 06/28/2013 by ·

Today's post is from Nick Moores of Office Time One of the perks of working in our modern environment is the abundance of technology available to make the way we work simpler, slicker, and more effective. But do Smartphones truly enhance our productivity, or do they hold us back from the task at hand? In theory, digitization should enhance the way we conduct business, but occasionally the misuse of gadgets results in complicating or duplicating workload. One of the key points to remember when using a Smartphone to help streamline your professional life is to know the product through and through, and to learn how to set up your gadget so that it works for your needs. The ability to sync modern Smartphones with other devices and platforms is an essential tool in the quest to save time and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tools & Systems · Tagged: , , ,

“That’s Not My Job”: The Lamest Excuse in Business Today

Posted on 06/26/2013 by ·

"If you ever answer someone important with "That's Not My Job," you will be RIGHT! It won't be your job when you're terminated for being unimportant or useless." -- Judd Weiss, American business blogger. The most profoundly unhelpful phrase in modern business consists of just four syllables: "That's not my job." While uttering this phrase is rarely grounds for dismissal, perhaps it should be—especially in these days of uncertain economic conditions and an ever-changing marketplace—when teamwork matters more than it ever has before. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, the members of a workplace team must hang together, or they'll surely hang separately. Just one person refusing to do you what need to have done can damage team productivity. But human beings can be remarkably selfish, so you'll … [Read more...]

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Squeaky Wheels: Troublemakers or Drivers of Change?

Posted on 06/24/2013 by ·

"The squeaky wheel doesn't always get greased; sometimes it gets replaced." -- John Peers, American humor writer. We've all heard the old adage that goes, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." It seems to make imminent sense: he who makes the most noise gets the most attention. This works well when it comes to customer service, which is why the bravest among us have long made our voices heard when it comes to getting special deals and better treatment. You've probably seen squeaky wheels in action in the workplace, too. Often, those willing to step forward and ask for what they want—or simply to complain—get the lion's share of attention from the leadership. Indeed, no organization can grow without innovators willing to ask for what they need and stand up for what they believe in. As a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , , ,

Changing Direction: How to Keep Cultural Inertia from Limiting Productivity

Posted on 06/21/2013 by ·

"The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia." Elbert Hubbard, American writer and philosopher. "Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia." -- Alexis Carrel, Nobel Prize winning French biologist and surgeon. Dictionaries define "inertia" as a tendency to resist change. In physical terms, a body in motion tends to stay in motion in a straight line, while a body at rest tends to stay at rest. But other types of inertia exist, and cultural inertia represents the one that applies to most of us most often. You probably know all you care to about bureaucratic inertia, for example. Once a bureaucracy makes a rule, woe to the individual who tries to buck it. Similarly, some corporate cultures resist change, often to … [Read more...]

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Letting Go: When Should You Cancel a Failing Project?

Posted on 06/19/2013 by ·

"When things go wrong, don't go with them." -- Elvis Presley, American singer. "Don't throw good money after bad." -- American folk saying. As much as it goes against the grain for most of us, sometimes the most productive thing a manager can do is give up on a project. Now, I'm not suggesting you throw in the towel as soon as the going gets a little tough; productive people never give up without a fight. But there may come a time when you hit a point of diminishing returns, when investing further resources in the product would just be wasteful. Remember Microsoft Bob, or Gerber's attempt to create adult entrees? Both companies wisely dropped those products when they flopped. Little Clues As a manager, canceling failing projects may be one of your most important secondary … [Read more...]

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The Snowball Analogy: How to Make Your Organization Lighter and More Agile

Posted on 06/17/2013 by ·

"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion." -- Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. "Efficiency is doing better what is already being done." -- Peter F. Drucker, Austrian-American management guru. Back when I was a kid, a big winter storm hit my hometown, delivering perfect snowman material—so naturally, my brother and I decided to build a huge one. We started with a very large base; easy enough. The real challenge was the next snowball up...it was just too heavy for us to lift. Luckily, my brother was a budding engineer. Using our Red Flyer wagon as a fulcrum and a 2 x 8 board as a lever, he lifted the middle snowball onto the base while I guided it. After that, finishing was easy! In a … [Read more...]

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Crises and Firefighting: How to Avoid Managing by Exception

Posted on 06/14/2013 by ·

"Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude." -- Colin Powell, former four-star general and U.S. Secretary of State. In recent years, I've observed the increasing popularity of "management by exception" in business. This concept basically boils down to leaders making decisions and assessing performance based on significant deviations from a project's goals, while otherwise ignoring its daily execution. Leaders who practice it don't want to be bothered unless something goes seriously wrong. But there’s a difference being agile and being disengaged. Given the nature of business today, this comes as no surprise. First of all, fewer managers juggling more projects means they can spend less time on traditional management, even as they face demands for higher productivity. New … [Read more...]

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Obsessive or Productive? The Difference Between Being Focused and Rigid

Posted on 06/12/2013 by ·

"Choose your productive obsession right now. Maybe you know exactly which one to select. Even if you're positive, give your idea a once-over and make sure it meets your current meaning needs and intentions..." -- Eric and Ann Maisel, authors of Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsessions. "Being taught that more is better, we're jumping to erroneous conclusions way too early, and all of a sudden being more productive has no limits in terms of enough." -- Slavko Desik, business blogger. While superior productivity is neither simple nor easily reduced to its component parts, most people would universally agree that productivity requires a focus on priorities—a focus that excludes the extraneous, stripping away anything that doesn't contribute to a specific goal. Some might … [Read more...]

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