Where is your focus - paperwork or people work?

Busy?

My guess is that nine out of 10 of you would answer "very."

I'll even go so far as to predict that you what you are busy with is attending meetings, submitting reports, doing rosters, complying with regulations, reviewing contracts, renewing leases, updating policies, replying to emails etc. You get the drift. Busyness. Kind of finds a way of filling our days, weeks, months.

I get it. None of us can actually opt out of this mostly paperwork stuff completely, but many of us are risking taking our eye off the most important responsibility we have - to make people better. 

When we submit to being consumed by the paperwork, and neglect people work, we simply become managers, not leaders. If maintaining the status quo ie being happy with tomorrow being the same as today and yesterday is OK with you, then by all means, keep your focus on the paperwork.

If, and I suspect it is, you'd rather make sure the future is as bright as it can be, focusing on making people better is the key.

Leadership is about people work! 

5 THINGS TO TURN YOUR BAD BUSYNESS INTO GOOD BUSINESS

It’s become customary that when someone is asked how they are, the answer comes back something like, “flat out, busy as, out of control” or, as a client recently said to me “I’m as busy as a one legged man in an butt kicking competition”! It seems like it’s a badge of honour to admit that you are really, really busy.

My issue is, that just being busy does not cut it. Being productive, efficient and making progress towards your vision or purpose should be the name of the game, but I see too many people floundering despite being ‘busy’. It’s simply not good business.

Here are five things that will make a difference.

1. Get a system for your time management. Be disciplined and systematic about how you allocate your time to your tasks.

2. Slow down. I see too many people in chaos and they are running really hard and basically getting no where. Slow down or STOP! Get in control, and go again.

3. Prioritise. We simply cannot have it all and do it all. Work out what are the most important things and work on those first.

4. Delegate. Every senior executive I have worked with was doing tasks that someone else in the organisation could and should be doing. Focus on your highest value contribution to you business. Delegate the rest.

5. Say No! We all like to be liked and sometimes we say yes just so we can please or not offend others, when we really should be saying no. Be honest and say no, so you don’t set yourself up for failure.

WHY YOU SHOULD SAY "NO" MORE OFTEN

In his book Essentialism, Greg McKeown encourages us to discern 'the essential few from the trivial many'. He recommends focusing only on essential tasks, those things that make the highest value contribution to achieving our vision or purpose. (By the way, its a great read / listen. I highly recommend it).

In order to make your highest value contribution, you need to say "No" more often.

You should say 'No" when ... you are saying "Yes" just to be nice or please someone else. We all want to be liked, but we will create a difficult situation if we become a "Yes person". Leaders need to get comfortable with not being liked.

You should say 'No" when ... you know that saying "Yes" will set you up for failure. When you know you can't deliver on what is being asked, you have to either decline or negotiate a different time frame. This isn't being rude, just assertive.

You should say 'No" when ... you know that the task is not your highest value contribution to your vision or purpose. You have a responsibility to be as productive and efficient as possible and being caught up with tasks that someone else could do defeats this purpose. Delegation is the key here.

You should say 'No" when ... being authentic is important to you (and it should be). Saying "Yes" when you know you should be saying "No" means that you are compromising your values. Being authentic sometimes means pushing back.

You should say 'No" when ... you need time to think, create, plan, recharge. We can't be at our best when we are too busy. We need to eliminate non essential activity and focus on 'protecting the asset', as Greg McKeown puts it. Don't feel guilty about looking after yourself.

Saying "No" to a lot of things means that you are saying "Yes" to just a few, but it is the laser sharp focus on the most important stuff that the best leaders apart.

ARE YOU GETTING ENGAGED THIS YEAR?

A hot topic at the moment is ‘employee engagement’.  What is it and how important is it?

When two people become engaged it means they are making a commitment to each other. It means that they intend to be loyal and loving into the future. It means that they care, deeply, about each other.

How I explain employee engagement is whether your people care about the organisation they work for or not. What is their ‘Care Factor’?  This could range from ‘Care Factor Zero’, where, as a someone recently told me “They couldn’t give a sh#t”, to ‘Care Factor 100’ (the name of my next book), where 100% of your people are 100% engaged.

There is strong worldwide evidence (Gallup Consulting) that high levels of engagement correlate with positive organisational performance. Organisations where the ‘Care Factor’ is high experience better profitability, productivity, growth, safety and quality.

Think about this question. What is the ‘Care Factor’ of employees at your organisation? How much do they care about your organisation? Where, on the scale between ‘Care Factor Zero’ and ‘Care Factor 100’, would you employees be?

It’s our goal in 2017 to help as many people get engaged as possible! We want both employees and organisations to care more about each other, so there is loyalty, happiness and greater organisation outcomes.

Can we help you to achieve ‘Care Factor 100’?

FOUR THINGS TO DO MORE OF IN 2017 (& SOME COOL LINKS)

Read / Listen - Audio book sales are growing at 40% per year. They are a great way to learn and grow productively. Get a free 30 day trial of Audible here. It's an app that you listen to audio books on.

BONUS TIP: Essentialism by Greg McKeown is the best book I've listened to in the last five years.

Sleep - there is strong evidence that we perform better when we are well rested. If you want to be at your best you must get enough sleep. Here is a great TED talk by Russell Foster on the importance of sleep.

Laugh - 'living lightly,' as Marty Wilson puts it, helps us build resilience and boost our mental health, Marty is a friend of mine, professional speaker and ex Australian Comic of the Year. In this TEDX talk he shares the wisdom he has gained from interviewing over 1,00 high achievers.

Meditate - I am amazed at the difference meditating for just 10 minutes each day makes to how productive I am. Calming the 'monkey mind' makes everything better. Calm is a great free app that guides your meditation practice. Check it out.

What good habits are you going to make in 2017?