"I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team." -- Lee Iacocca, former CEO and Chairman of Chrysler Corporation.
How to Create a Culture of Speed |
Though we like to think of ourselves as living in the Space Age or the Information Era, future historians may well label this the "Hurry Up Epoch." For decades now, we've scrambled to keep pace with technological change, ramping up our productivity to startling levels, which helps us further advance our technology, leading to greater productivity...and so on in a rising spiral. Nowadays you have to put the pedal to the metal, or the go-getters will leave you eating their dust, taking big bites off the edges of your market. You can't compete effectively without an agile internal culture capable of reducing time-to-market and cycle speed for all essential processes.
This begs the question: how do you build and maintain such a culture of speed? Let's look at some principles.
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1. Perfect Your Systems.
Create and document procedures for every type of task handled by your team. Make sure everyone who's involved learns them and provide them with any training they need. My office manager keeps a "white notebook" with every process she can possibly think of that she touches. If she gets hit by a bus tomorrow, I can hire a temp to step in and take over her job, thanks to these step-by-step instructions. How fast can you be up and running if you lose a key person? Consistently update your procedures to match current reality, so nothing is ever out of date.
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2. Establish a Broad Support Base.
Do everything possible to establish buy-in from all team personnel. Give target figures each year and update ideally monthly. Motivate your people in every way you can think of. Keep careful track of performance---rewarding fast, effective employees with special rewards when targets are met-while providing benchmarks for everyone to shootoffice w for. Spread the authority, so the workflow process doesn't break down just because someone's on vacation, hesitant, or not allowed to make a basic decision. Giving in to the "slowest common denominator" kills team productivity, so try to keep everyone on the same productivity page, and minimize resistance wherever possible. You may need to help some employees other opportunities more suited to their style or personality if they can't keep up.
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3. Eliminate Myopia. When working closely with other teams, develop intergroup protocols to smooth the way. For example, a piece of your hiring or training process may be handed off to the HR department. Encouraging speedy implementation may require delicate diplomacy, so strive to build bridges in all directions and on all levels-even as you work to demolish information silos caused by inertia, greed, misunderstandings, or sheer stupidity.
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Productivity Pro Public Workshop on February 25, 2013 |
Attend an immersive, interactive workshop, based on Laura Stack's newest book, What to Do When There's Too Much to Do! This full-day experience will be facilitated by Productivity Pro certified trainer, Kathy Cooperman.
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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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