End of Year Review, Helping Young Leaders
Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, 2021 Most Popular TED Talks
OPINION
Efficiency v The Right Outcome
There is a risk in the Knowledge Worker’s operational world to over-focus on efficiency and productivity to get the job done.
Knowledge Workers are efficient, and they want the job resolved.
The skilled Knowledge Worker is hopefully not so ruthless in engaging with their customer to make operational efficiency their articulated intent; however, no doubt they action the process as expeditiously as possible. After all, that’s what they are employed to do, and that’s what the good ones do.
The Team Leader needs to check that the customer receives the best outcome. The Team Leader may need to accept that working inefficiently to achieve the correct result is better than working efficiently to achieve the wrong result.
The right outcome is what benefits the business and the customer.
The Team Leader can tell when the Knowledge Worker is working to the right outcome by the feedback they get from the customer.
In Sales Support, the customer is both the paying punter and the company’s Sales rep. Their view of the world is important, and if customers feel their needs are met, the outcome is correct.
The Team Leader then needs to overlay the business model to ensure that everything is in line with the business offer.
If it’s not, then that’s another discussion.
NEW YEAR
Post Year Reviews
Like Tim Ferris, for some time now I haven’t followed the usual New Year template of making resolutions for the future. I find it more useful to review the year just passed.
Once the good and the bad have been identified then a plan for the next 12 months can be realistically set.
Regular readers will know that I’m a fan of the Notion life operating system, and August Bradley in particular, and he has two fabulous videos explaining how to action a review of the year, and based on that, how to plan for the next year coming.
I’ve spent the NYE long weekend doing both a review and a plan. It’s provided me with the clarity I needed to get things done in the priority areas that are important to me.
PS Here’s an example of someone doing a pretty thorough recap of the year just gone: 100 Things That Made My Year
MENTORING
Helping Young People Become Leaders
It’s probably one of the best things you can do as a leader in a team or a business - help younger team members become leaders.
I’ve found that the best we can do to support aspiring leaders is to set expectations that they not be a bystander. They seek to find a resolution. They need to be encouraged to see what needs to be done, and to do something about it. Help them learn the art of getting people to want to do what they see must be done.
Don’t let things drift. Be proactive and seek out options, pathways forward.
LINKS
Random
100 Tips for Living a Better Life
Most Popular TED Talks of 2021
Uplifting Video of Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama laughing together