"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." Henry Ford, pioneering American automaker.
The Managerial Bulldozer: Removing Obstacles to Your Team's Success |
In my upcoming book Execution IS the Strategy (Berrett-Koehler, March 2014), I emphasize the fact that, for all intents and purposes, leaders can no longer legislate strategic execution or plan too far into the future. Rigid strategies quickly become stale in the current business arena, and binding our front-line team members to them may result in consistent failure.
A more effective solution? Empower individuals to take ownership of their jobs, so they can use whatever strategy works best in the moment to execute effectively and productively. In fact, leaders often don't know the best way to achieve a goal. They rely on their team members to tell them how. Today's leader acts as a collaborative facilitator, asking questions and determining what obstacles are in the way of success. They scout ahead and smooth the way for the team, so everyone can succeed more easily.
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As prizewinning economist Robert M. Townsend puts it, "One of the most important tasks of a manager is to eliminate his people's excuses for failure." While not well-known to the general public, Townsend's name is instantly recognizable in economics circles for his development work in India and Thailand, where he has displayed an innovative talent for combining theory and data and putting solutions into action. His thought leadership has made life easier for potentially millions of people, by removing barriers to economic development and microfinancing efforts. A Broad Initiative
Similarly, leaders remove barriers to productivity:
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1. Eliminate time wasters. Time wasters include anything that slows team workflow, making it less productive. Here are just a few things you can do to fight them:-
Remove distractions, by doing things like asking for quiet hallway conversations, and offering quiet rooms for those under deadlines or need privacy to focus.
- MBWA. Manage by walking around, visiting people, and asking them what would help them be more efficient.
- Clarify priorities. When you assign a task to a team member, make it clear where it fits on the to-do list.
- Establish an interruption-free period. Set up a time during the week, for example on Friday morning, when everyone commits to core working hours: no meetings, drop-in visits, or phone calls.
- Allow "Do Not Disturb" Setting. Make it culturally acceptable to set your IM or Skype status on DND if faced with an important deadline.
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Thanks for reading! Make it a productive day.™ |
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All Articles (C) 2013 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. This information may not be distributed, sold, publicly presented, or used in any other manner, except as described below. Permission to reprint all or part of this article in your magazine, e-zine, website, blog, or organization newsletter is hereby GRANTED, provided: (1) The ENTIRE credit line below is present, (2) the website link to www.TheProductivityPro.com is clickable (LIVE), and (3) you send a copy, PDF, link, tearsheet, etc. of the work in which the article is used when published.
This credit line MUST be reprinted in its entirety to use any articles from Laura Stack: (C) 2013 Laura Stack. Laura Stack is America's premier expert in personal productivity. For over 20 years, her speeches and seminars have helped professionals, leaders, teams, and organizations improve output, execute efficiently, and save time at work. She's the author or coauthor of 10 books, most recently, What to Do When There's Too Much to Do. To invite Laura to speak at your next meet or register for her free monthly newsletter, visit www.TheProductivityPro.com. |
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