Paperwork

With responsibility comes paperwork. It is important to keep the paperwork process flowing efficiently. Whenever you find too much paperwork on your desk, take time out to reorganize. Review all the papers on your desk just once and divide it into the following classifications: [Do this, while standing over the waste paper basket]

– Do it now
– Action pending
– Reading material
– Round file [Garbage]

Try to put the highest priority item at the top of your Do it now pile, then act on it immediately. This way, you will not feel overwhelmed with disorganization by having a large volume of paperwork laying around. Clearing your desk completely, or at least organizing it before you leave the office each night, should be a standard practice. This helps to get you off to a good start the next morning.

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Communication

One of the major causes of failure is the lack of clear, direct communication between people. Too many times we miscommunicate with our boss, subordinates, fellow workers or customers. We tend to communicate in terms of what we think we should say, or in terms of what we think the other person would like to hear, instead of expressing our real thoughts and feelings. Open, clear communication is better for everyone concerned. It avoids a lot of wasted time and problems that miscommunication creates.

This is not to say that one shouldn’t be diplomatic. For instance, telling an employee that they are not doing well is far less productive than coaching them in the areas that will help them to improve. Be clear with your expectations of everyone that you deal with. Know where you’re going. Act with purpose and try to avoid frivolous communication. That only steals your time and inhibits your ability to accomplish. Listen to others first. Understand their position. You don’t have to agree with it but you should at least understand it.
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Management By Objectives

“Management By Objectives” means keeping your focus on achieving results [the end in mind], rather than the means or policies and procedures required to accomplish them. It is important not to confuse hard work with accomplishment. Working super hard in the wrong direction is self defeating. It is too easy to become preoccupied with policies and procedures. Policies and procedures should be used as a guide with the end result in mind. If you can reach your objectives without the bureaucracy, effort, or red tape, then do it. Follow up by making suggestions to upper management on how the organization can be more effective with less effort.
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Follow Up

You must follow up until tasks are completed. Most activities can be completed up to 98% with little effort. It’s that 2% more that makes all the difference in the world. If you assign a task to a subordinate, peer, or co-worker and consistently do not get a timely response, you should ask yourself first how you can improve. Have you left a past impression that missing deadlines is okay? Have you properly tracked your assignments to insure they are being worked on? Be consistent about your expectations to have assignments completed in a timely manner. Don’t leave follow up activities in your memory. You must write them down to ensure that the task you delegated will be performed on time. Keep in mind that, if you are following up properly, and still find that you are checking up on people more than you should, you should ask yourself these questions; Did I set a deadline? Did I issue the request in writing? Have I made myself clear? Do I encourage communication so that people can provide feedback as to what assignments they may consider non-important, and therefore have little motivation to follow through on?

Follow up gets the job done.

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