The Big Picture of Business – Doing Your Best Work on Deadlines: Mobilizing the Energy for Best Business Success

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We just had the first live TV musical play extravaganza on television after a 50-year hiatus. The production was The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood. This TV special got a lot of attention because it was unique live, just like opening night of the Broadway show on which it was based.

Truth is that throughout the 1950’s (the Golden Age of Television), there were comparable live TV extravaganzas on the air every night of the decade.

Many of them were consistently great. They were live, in real time. They had top talent behind them. They were well rehearsed. They had the adrenaline of ‘going live,’ and they shined with luster.

Among those crown jewel TV moments were:

  • Our Town, starring Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.
  • Requiem for a Heavyweight, the premiere of “Playhouse 90.” It was written by Rod Sterling and starred Jack Palance and Ed Wynn.
  • The Petrified Forest, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda. In it, Bogey reprised the 1930’s Broadway hit and movie that launched his career.
  • The Ford 50th Anniversary, a two-hour musical starring Ethel Merman and Mary Martin. This was the first TV special and set the tone for thousands of others since.
  • The first Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, where the whole world was watching. The Beatles topped that by composing “All You Need is Love” while they performed it on a global telecast.

I have those any other live TV gems on DVD. I watch them to experience the magical energy of live performances.

Many of us remember writing the college theme paper the night before it was due. We recall compiling the case notes or sales projections just before the presentation meeting.

The truth is that we do some of our best work under pressure. We might think that the chaos and delays of life are always with us, but we handle them better when on tight time frames.

Before you know it, you’re on deadline again. Even though the tasks mount up, you have a knack for performing magnificently under deadline, stress and high expectations.

This is not meant to suggest putting off sequential steps and daily tasks. Learn when deadline crunch time is best to accomplish the optimum business objecftives.

I’m a big advocate of Strategic Planning and Visioning. Every company needs it but rarely conducts the process because they’re knee-deep in daily minutia.

I know from experience that planning while going through the ‘alligators’ is the most effective way to conduct the process. By seeing the daily changes resulting from the planning, companies are poised to rise above the current daily crises. I recommend that diversity audits, quality control reviews, ethics programs and other important regimen be conducted as part of Strategic Planning, rather than as stand-alone, distracting and energy diverting activities.

Those of us who grew up working on typewriters know how to master the medium. You had to get your ideas on paper correctly the first time, without typographical errors and with great clarity. The first time that I worked on a computer was when I was 40 years old. I took that typewriter mentality with me when I had to compose a brochure and do the desktop publishing graphics in the same two-hour window where I was learning how to work on a computer.

There were years where I kept the typewriter on the work station next to the computer. When I had five minutes to write a cohesive memo and fax it off to the client, I wrote it on the typewriter. Though I wrote all my books on computers, I wrote the modern technology chapters on the typewriter, to make points to myself that the readers could never have grasped.

In mounting your next strategic Planning process for your company, go back and analyze what elements from the past can be rejuvenated as your future. That’s a trademarked concept that I call Yesterdayism.

With planning and organizing, you can meet and beat most deadlines without working in a pressure cooker. Don’t work and worry yourself into exhaustion over every detail. Sometimes it makes sense to move the deadline to the 11th hour. Having too much time to get projects accomplished tends to breed procrastination.

Here are my final take-aways on the subject of doing your best work when on last-minute deadlines:

  • Learn what working style goes best with you.
  • Care about deadlines.
  • Prioritize the real deadlines, apart from the artificial or self-imposed ones.
  • Review the work that you’ve done on tight deadlines. Analyze what makes it different.
  • Know your own strengths and limitations.
  • Work on your own timetable.
  • When working with teams, determine the best compromise working tempo.
  • Get Your ‘to do lists’ in order.
  • Evaluate your progress.
  • Remove the distractions to doing your best-focused work.
  • Ready… Set… Be productive.

This article was written in one hour, just before the impending deadline.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

The Advisor’s Corner – How do I deal with those who support me in public and sabotage me in private?

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How do I deal with those who support me in public and sabotage me in private?Question:

What can I do about people who tell me they support my vision but I’ve heard through the grapevine that they are sabotaging me?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

These people are most likely, what I call ‘Termites.’ The term fits them well because they manage to smile and slide their way into the accepted norms and culture, and then wreck havoc just underneath the surface. Highly skilled Termites can be hard to spot until they’ve done so much damage the ‘walls’ begin to shake or fall down. The damage is often not discovered right after a Termite has moved on to fresh territory. So… what can you do?

Prevention

The best way to prevent Termite damage is to have a very strong set of organizational values that include integrity or truth or a similar concept around honesty. When these are firmly in place AND people are measured objectively and regularly against those values, Termites find fewer and fewer places to hide.

Cultural and operational values function exactly like a strong foundation for your ‘house,’ and are made even stronger when there are supports in the walls. That means values with accountability. Checks and balances also need to be in place, so that no single person has unfettered power and influence within their workgroup. If they have too much power, Termites will use it to disguise their damage and isolate their people from others to create a protective cover for and big lies about their dirty deeds.

Detection

You should suspect Termite activity in your midst by noticing things that don’t quite add up for feel “fishy” to you. Watching, observe carefully how people behave, and walk around your workplace frequently. Termites can’t fool everyone all the time. Pick up on conversations, patterns, and become a deep listener, truly hearing ALL of what people are trying to tell you.

Eradication

Assume nothing. Once you’ve discovered a Termite in your midst, ask a lot of questions and require good answers. Get multiple sources to verify and provide you clean data about what you need to know. Another support for your ‘house’ is having a true ‘safety net’ within your organization where people can go to express their concerns without fear, and with anonymity. Look for repetition and for patterns of the Termite’s behavior. If you get anonymous pain mail under your door – I call them POW notes – don’t ignore them. They are usually ‘smoke signals’ sending you a message you need to hear.

Trust your instincts. Trust what you see and hear with all the subtle and not so subtle body language people are telegraphing to you. Finally, pay attention to ‘those who protest too much!’

There are Termites and then there are people who exaggerate, even might gossip a bit, or use hyperbole. The latter are not Termites. These people can usually be guided down a better path with good coaching.

You can’t ‘fix’ a Termite. Once a workplace liar, always a liar – it’s just the size of the lies and the target that will vary. You cannot coach a liar into honesty. Lying is okay for them; it’s part of their value system and their end does justify their means.

The only solution to a workplace Termite is to call in pest control and rid yourself of the pain and damage as soon as you can.

About the Author

Roxi HewertsonLeadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

Do You Know What Your Boss Wants From You?

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As an executive coach, I’ve worked with hundreds of people in all types of organizations. Each person has their own story, of course – a unique narrative that includes their skills, experience, strengths, weaknesses, and relationships. While every engagement is different, these people all have one thing in common; their boss always plays a central role in the story. That’s why my first coaching question is “what does your boss really want from you?”

Now, some of my clients have great bosses, so we discuss the relationship briefly and move on. However, a lot of my clients don’t work for a great boss. They’re not clear about his views, or don’t understand what she really wants… and all of this is impacting their engagement, performance, and happiness.

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About the Author

Steve Arneson is one of America’s top executive coaches and corporate leadership speakers. His follow-up to the best-selling Bootstrap Leadership is What Your Boss Really Wants from You. Both books are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com.

The Advisor’s Corner – How do I deal with so much on my plate?

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How do I deal with so much on my plate?Question:

There is SO much on my plate – how do I sort out priorities, recognize the blocks, and keep an open mind for possibilities?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

You might find that you are so focused on the ‘tasks’ at hand that the most important work is getting the short end of the stick. Let’s identify some ‘buckets’ to help you navigate your way to success.

Perhaps you have just been given a challenge to solve by your leader. Your job is to identify the relevant factors, create priorities, and then execute on your own or with others on your team. My advice: start by identifying which items fall into each of four buckets: Fat Rabbits, Quick Wins, Rocks, and Who Cares.

You know what a Fat Rabbit looks like, and it probably makes you smile! These are those parts of the challenge that are foundational, have the highest/fattest impact, and must be in place to succeed at executing your assignment. These are the big fat chunks of your challenge that need to be addressed or nothing else will work matter.

Quick Wins are those parts of your challenge that require minimal effort with maximum payoff. They demonstrate tangible, visible progress. Getting them done and making them known to the appropriate stakeholders, significantly boosts momentum. Too many people think they have to get the Fat Rabbits well underway or completed before going for any Quick Wins. Ignoring Quick Wins often results in Slow Wins or No Wins.

Then there are the Rocks. These are tough blocks in the road to completion of a successful challenge. These Rocks need to be identified without denial or wishful thinking. Pretending they aren’t there won’t make them go away. Sometimes Rocks are pebble like, and sometimes they are more like Mt. Rushmore. Solutions may not be known immediately, and that’s ok. You won’t move forward without moving the Rocks out of the way one way or another, or finding a way around them. If the Rocks are too formidable, reconsider the challenge – is it the right challenge at the right time? Moving Rocks requires a lot of effort and energy, so you need it to pay off.

Finally, we have the Who Cares bucket. These might be interesting, but they are a distraction. Identify the Who Cares items so your valuable time and energy are not waste and that no one really cares about.

Let’s take one challenge, Succession Planning and dip into the four buckets for a look. This sample is by no means complete, but it will give you the idea to apply to your own work.

Fat Rabbits

  • Define the workforce realities with indisputable facts, and create the ‘burning platform’ of urgency
  • Identify current competencies and compare with necessary next generation competencies
  • Align all HR/OD functions: to meet forecasted job content and design

Quick Wins

  • Learn why people come to work at ABC Company, why they stay, and why they leave
  • Identify key positions and key people to target for succession planning
  • Analyze internal/external labor demographics/pipelines

Rocks

  • Decentralization reality vs. having one ABC Company strategy, are in conflict
  • IT Systems, as they are today, and aggregate data reporting are insufficient to collect enough accurate data

Who Cares

  • Offices need to be rennovated when people leave, thus impacting the budget (lots of things impact the budget – it’s off topic or very low priority)

When you focus on the things that really matter, you make progress. When you don’t, you don’t make progress. Make sure your Rocks are not show stoppers, then go for a few visible and happy Quick Wins as you work on your Fat Rabbits!

About the Author

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

A penny saved is a penny earned. Or is it?

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Ben Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726), and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life.

His autobiography lists his 13 virtues as:

  1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
  2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
  3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
  4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
  5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
  6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
  7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
  8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
  9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
  10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths (sic), or habitation.
  11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
  12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
  13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Franklin didn’t try to work on them all at once. Instead, he would work on one and only one each week, leaving all others to their ordinary chance. While Ben did not live completely by his virtues, and by his own admission fell short of them many times, he believed the attempt at living them made him a better man. He believed these virtues contributed greatly to his success and happiness.

In his autobiography, Franklin listed and wrote about the virtues, “I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit.”

His list is certainly no be-all end-all list of virtuous characteristics, BUT it gets you thinking about yourself and your virtues. Impossible not to.
Not wanting to in any way infringe on the genius of what was Ben Franklin, I’d like to offer some of today’s characteristics of virtue and add to Ben’s list.

I’ll add a few words of definition to each, but more important, think about each of these virtues as it relates to you, your self-disciplines, your actions, and your ethics. Maybe even RATE YOURSELF on each one as you read.

Were he alive today, Ben’s virtues might have included:

  • Truth. Your ability to be truthful to others and truthful to yourself.
  • Honesty. Take honest actions you can be proud of.
  • Trust. Be trustworthy and trusting. Trust others until proven otherwise. Be trustworthy by example.
  • Ethics. The right way you conduct yourself in business and life.
  • Speed. Response it today’s world is immediate. How immediate are you?
  • Reliable. People want to deal with reliable people. How reliable are you?
  • Loyal. Getting loyalty because you earned it. Giving loyalty because it’s your philosophy.
  • Responsible. Not just responsible to others, but both to yourself and for yourself.
  • Observant. Having value based peripheral vision, both of others and yourself.
  • Consistent. Making the highest and best decision – all the time.
  • Independent. Not a follower to be ‘safe,’ but a self-ruler of your time and fate.
  • Faith. Not just religion, faith in people, faith in family, and spirituality of self.
  • Self-belief. Belief in company, product, customer, and especially in yourself. Be a believer.
  • Confidence. Confidence is evident often without saying a word. Radiate yours.
  • Enthusiasm. Generate the inner spark of self-induced energy that lights up a room and the people in it.
  • Study/Student. Learning more leads to earning more. Resolve to learn something new every day.
  • Respect. Things and people deserve initial respect. Give it to get it.
  • Kindness. Every ounce of kindness is worth a fortune to those on the receiving end of yours.
  • Forgive. Until you forgive the past – both actions and people – you are likely to repeat it.
  • Thoughtful. Expressing both thanks and feelings. Remembering events and people.
  • Open-minded. Willing to accept new things. Willing to encounter at ‘change’ and see it as ‘opportunity.’
  • Appreciate. Art and life. Look and see the beauty that abounds, the opportunity life affords, and appreciate your ability to choose the values you represent.
  • Grateful. For health and happiness. Saying grace. Counting blessings, daily.
  • Loving. Give love to get love. Give love to be loved.

Wow! Those are some values. How many are yours?

Why not tackle one a week? I’ve given you a six-month supply.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].