Efforts Fail: Why do some leadership development efforts not work out?

 

Organizations invest large amounts of time – and even more money trying to develop their leaders.  Unfortunately much of that investment doesn’t get the return it should. 

If you will permit me, here is a scenario for you:

George was seen as an up-and-coming leader in the organization.  The people who worked under him liked and respected him. Those in senior leadership saw his potential, so he was slated to attend the company’s leadership development workshop.

George was ecstatic!  He loved the organization and wanted to move up and contribute as much as he could.  He saw this opportunity as a positive step in that progression.  Plus, he had some challenges in his job that he hoped he could learn how to deal with more successfully.

After he found out he was slated to attend, George didn’t hear much more about the training until about a week before it began.  The email gave him all of the details and he was excited all over again.  Excited, that is, until he looked at his calendar and saw how much he had to do.

Because the training meant so much to him, he was determined and focused while he was there, so he worked hard to get his projects all caught up before he left for the workshop, leaving nothing unfinished to distract him while at the training.

George loved the workshop!  The facilitator was great, the content was helpful, and the food was even good!  He was so motivated by the new ideas and the people he met.  He gained in confidence as they practiced some of the things they learned. As a part of the program he built an action plan.  He left the two days completely stoked about what he had learned and how he would be able to apply it.

 

After the Workshop

 

George awoke the next morning and reviewed his action plan.  He was excited because he knew what he would do to be a better leader, starting today.  Then, George got back to work.  As he fired up his computer he checked his voice mail. 

23 messages. 

His heart sank a little.  As he listened to the messages, taking notes when needed on his next steps, he opened up his email and found an even more depressing sight.  91 emails.  A quick glance found that there was little fluff there – it wasn’t 20 serious emails and a bunch of reading or jokes, it was a solid 91 emails to read, work through, reply to and take action on.

After getting a cup of coffee, George went to say hello to his team.  This took awhile because they had questions and things they wanted to talk to him about – which was only natural since he had been out-of-pocket for two days.  By 9:15 he was back at his desk, ready to tackle all the messages – including the 7 new emails that had come in while he was out.

By 3:00 he had mostly forgotten about his action plan – he remembered it only when he saw it in his briefcase.  He took it out and looked at it wistfully.  He was still committed to working on those items, but they would have to wait, the next project meeting was all day tomorrow. . .

 

Reviewing the Situation

 

I know, the scene played out a little long, but it does set the stage for the topic of this post. Perhaps the situation above sounds familiar.  What is written up to the “After the Workshop” heading looks good; a willing learner, a well-designed workshop, and a person leaving excited about his action plan.  This story might be a bit too rosy – admittedly, not every one who attends training will be as excited and motivated as George, but in the end it doesn’t really matter – because a highly motivated person like George won’t get as much from this effort as he could or even wants to.

Why is that you ask?

Because while most leadership development programs focus on developing a great training program, that is a small part of the overall likelihood of success.  You see, training is an event, but learning (including leadership development) is a process.

We don’t learn important, complex life skills in a brief instant.  In an instant we might be able to gain new insight or inspiration, but then the law of diminished intent kicks in.  The law of diminished intent basically states that the longer you go without acting on something, the less likely you are to do it.

In an event we can get ideas, approaches, checklists and knowledge.  But skills come to us over time – not in a one shot, one time training course (regardless of how well it is designed or how awesome the trainer is). Skills come with practice and application.

Leadership development is a process and as long as those efforts look like events, the return on those investments will never be high.

Much can be written about the specifics that can be done to make the process more effective, but you can start without that list of ideas.  Reread the story above.  Connect it to your situation and then think of two things you can do to make your leadership development process (whether for yourself or your organization) to be more successful.

The key is to make it an ongoing experience, not an event. True leadership comes from growth, not a playbook of guidelines.

 

 

How To Organize Your Office

Having an unorganized office can be a recipe for disaster in the business world. It can be very easy for things to get out of control and for your performance to begin to suffer. It is important to get things in your control and organized in your office as soon as possible. The main rule of thumb here is everything has a place and everything should stay in it’s place. Start by organizing your paperwork. Use file holders and make sure that your cabinets are all in order. Use labels and file paperwork accordingly. This is the first step towards organizing your office. You have to also organize your time when you are in the office. Your time is one of your greatest assets, period. Many people find that they waste a great deal of time when it comes to work because they allow others to dictate their time instead of making their own time count. You need to prioritize the work that you have to do and get done first before other work. If you work in any type of average office, there is always some sort of emergency arising or fire that needs to be put out. You often will have to stop working on a project to take care of these emergencies. This does not mean that you cannot be organized. To the contrary, you need to be organized so that you can effectively prioritize your work and get the job done. You also have to be able to be flexible in your organization. One way to do this is to map out your day so that you have a goal set of what you plan to do for the day. Leave some time open so that in case an emergency arises, you can take care of it. Have a list in front of you for what you plan to do each day and check off the projects as you finish them. Each day should begin with goals that will enable you to do your work. Keeping a list of these goals is one of the most effective ways to organize your time in the office. Leave out personal phone calls or at the very least, keep them to a minimum. People tend to waste time in the office talking to other employees or talking on the phone with friends and family. This not only throws you off kilter with regard to your organization, but it can also catch the eyes of the boss. If your employer sees that you are idle for a good part of the day, or wasting time talking, they may feel that you are not necessary to the staff. These days, it pays to be as productive as ever when it comes to work. If you are in the position of calling for meetings, make sure that they are short and to the point. Prepare ahead of time by using software like Power Point and printing up information so that everyone can be informed to your point and then keep the information for later use. Be sure to take your lunch and breaks as scheduled. Some people have the idea that they should work through their lunch that they will be more productive. This is not true. People who skip their lunch often get less done because they get burned out. You need to take a lunch break and a few coffee breaks during the day so that you can be more effective, especially if you are working at a computer. Eyestrain, carpal tunnel, and back fatigue happen when you do not take adequate breaks from the computer. Keep up to date with the latest computer technology that can also help you stay more organized. There are many office programs available that you can use for this purpose Make sure that you keep your computer free from dust and use a tool that will keep the keyboard clean. Keep coffee and drinks away from the computer so that you do not end up spilling it on the keyboard and harming your computer. By keeping your office papers organized, using the right organizational tools and making sure that you make the most of your time when you are in the office, you will find that you are much more productive. Keeping a list of goals and writing them down is one way that you can make sure that you are doing your job each day. Remember to be flexible enough so that you can help with emergency situations that arise during working hours.

Organization: The Top 100 Best Ways To Organize Your Life

Power Question: What do you really, really want out of life?

Top Ten Tips For Saving Time Every Day

Part of being organized is making sure that you are a good steward of your time and that it is just as organized as everything else. You will feel less stress if you use some time saving tips to help you throughout the day. Here are my top 10 tips on saving time that you can use every day to help organize your time: 1. Make lunches the night before Instead of rushing around in the morning, trying to get everyone ready for school and work, make lunches the night before and put them in the refrigerator. By doing this, you can also fix multiple meals at once so that all you need to do is pull it out and heat it up. 2. Lay your clothes out the evening before Another way to save time every day is to pick out your clothes that you are going to wear the night before and have them ready for you in the morning. This can save you time in the morning as you do not have to waste time in a groggy state trying to figure out what to wear. 3. Do errands on your lunch hour Take the time to do some errands and get some things that you need. This can save you a trip to the store after work and will help you stay organized. 4. Do your banking online You can pay your bills online and also have an automatic deposit of your check into your bank account. Most employers encourage automatic deposits and the good news is that the money is available for you right away. This saves you a trip to the bank as well as time when it comes to writing out checks to pay bills and mailing them. 5. Send packages Priority Mail You can have Priority Mail boxes delivered to your home from the post office and have any package picked up right at your home. You should have these boxes, which are free, available at your home so that whenever you have to mail a package. It can save you time in going to the post office. 6. Fill up your gas tank when you need gas I know, in the current economy, this is hard to justify, but instead of having to stop all of the time at the gas station for gas, fill up your tank. This saves you time and is much more of an organized way to keep track of how much gas you use each week. Since you are likely to use up the gas anyway, you might as well fill it up and save countless trips to the gas station. Another plus for doing this, is the average tank develops gunk after so much use; when you run your tank to under a quarter of a tank, this gunk gets put into your lines which makes it to your engine. 7. Put an extension cord on your vacuum cleaner This is a simple tip that can save you time in moving the cord of the vacuum cleaner when you are vacuuming. You can get to all of the rooms at once and minimize changing the cord into different sockets, thus saving you time. 8. Wake up 15 minutes early to exercise Not only will you be feeling more energized, but this can also save you time in going to the gym. If you like to go to the gym, this is another thing that you can do on your lunch hour if you can find one close to where you work. 9. Make dinners two nights a week Instead of trying to figure out what you are going to cook for dinner each night, make dinner in advance. Two nights a week, or on the weekends, you can make such things like casseroles that will keep in the refrigerator. There was a story about a woman a few years ago that cooked for an entire year and put things into a chest freezer in portions. This may be going to the extreme, but you can cook in advance and save yourself an enormous amount of time. 10. Have dinner out once a week Once a week, treat yourself and your family to carry out foods. This will save you time and give you a break from the kitchen. We always called this “Fast Food Fridays.” It was a nice way to start the weekend without having to cook dinner and everyone enjoyed the different foods. Each week, someone in the family got to pick the carry out of choice. There are other time saving tips you can use. For example, if you have to go downstairs to do laundry, do not go empty handed when you come up. Bring up something that you need and condense your trips. This can help you save yourself many trips up and down the steps. Saving time makes you much more organized. This can actually be the first step to getting better organized. As you continue to organize your time, you will come up with other time saving tips for yourself as well. If you come up with any, I would love to hear them.

Organization: The Top 100 Best Ways To Organize Your Life

Power Question: For your life to be perfect, what would have to change?

The Importance Of Routines

 

Organization is like any other positive habit, it involves developing routines when it comes to cleaning out clutter, closets, and drawers as well as cleaning your home in general. You are better off to have a schedule or some sort of date in mind when it comes to cleaning or your work will never be done. If you get into a habit of cleaning and organizing on a regular basis, your home will not only look cleaner, but also you will feel much more relaxed. This is also true for the office, or at least your section of the office should you be in a cubical type setting.

 

Whether you are cleaning by yourself or with a partner (or partners), you should develop a routine as to when you do your cleaning. You can take one job a day to make it easier, or you can clean your entire house from top to bottom in one day.

 

I have found that the average house can get cleaned to the point where it looks pretty presentable within two to three hours. Start with the basics by dusting and sweeping. My room of choice to start in is always the kitchen, emptying things out of the refrigerator before they become science experiments, cleaning the counters, sink and wiping down the cabinets. Then I take the mop out and clean the floor last. The entire room can be done in a half an hour, usually.

 

After that, I go to the living room, straighten the couches, dust and vacuum. This is another project that only takes about a half hour. I , then, move to the bedrooms and then head off for the bathrooms last. The reason for this is that the bathrooms have to be scrubbed down and disinfected. With the use of proper cleaning supplies and doing this on a regular basis, the cleanliness will easily last a week.

 

I am often sorely tempted to clean my daughter’s room as she often leaves her room like a tornado whipped through it, but as this would not be teaching her anything, I bite my lip and my wife or I will go in and ‘help’ her do it. Never do it for them if you can help it. No matter how old they are, it they are at least helping in the efforts to clean their room, it develops independence as well as a sense of accomplishment.

 

The main thing is to have a routine. I know just how to get started and when it is over. By developing this routine and doing it in a repetitive way that I come to expect, it gives me a great satisfaction when it is all over, the house is clean for a while and I know that next time, I will do it again.

 

If I just cleaned whenever I felt that the house needed it, I could be cleaning all of the time and my work would never be done. I would find myself cleaning certain areas more than once while not touching other areas but every two to three months. The routine gives me a sense of accomplishment and also allows me to relax and not worry about cleaning again until the next week, unless something happens to interrupt the routine - like someone spilling something on the floor.

Routines are not just about cleaning your house, they are a way for you to maintain order and organization in your own life. In addition to cleaning, I also have a cooking routine. I plan out my meals when I go to the grocery store. By organizing your menu for the week and having an idea of what to cook, you not only save time, but save money. Eating out all of the time can be expensive and who wants to fret over what they are going to eat for dinner every night?

 

In addition to helping you with the house, routines will also help you when it comes to raising your children. Little kids thrive on routine. You know how important it is for babies to be fed regularly and changed. Babies thrive on routine as it gives them a sense of security. The same goes for children. I wouldn’t ever be too strict when it came to mapping out each second of their lives and never would them to live in an environment where they had no time to just play or be kids, but a healthy routine teaches them that there is a time and place for everything.

 

Set a bedtime early on for you and your kids. Before bed, have a routine for settling down. This was something that your children will look forward to every night. When they are younger, this is a good time to read to them and get them to enjoy reading. As they get older, begin to have them help read the books. This inspires a love of reading and allows a steady transition into them reading to you which then moves into them reading on their own. You are probably wondering how and why I moved on to this rabbit trail, but setting up routines that lead to your children being self efficient, will lead to you having more time to yourself later which leads to you having more time to organize your own thoughts and prepare for the next day.

 

People with dogs also know the value of routine. If you have a dog, the secret to getting it housebroken and becoming a well-behaved dog is routine. Dogs, like children, thrive on routine. Cats don’t care as they are in a world of their own, although it does matter to them that you regularly feed them, change their water and clean their litter box.

 

Kids and dogs, however, are not the only things that thrive on routine. Adults also feel a sense of comfort at enjoying routines. It does make them have a more organized life as well as a healthier life. If you go to bed the same time each night and wake in the morning at the same time, it is better for your body. If you watch a certain program on TV before you go to bed or read a certain amount of time, you will feel as though you have something to look forward to each night. Most of us all have an innate desire for some sort of structure in our lives.

Routines, however, are not etched in stone.

 

There are times when routines are broken. This happens now and then and you should not get anxious about it. Simply fall back into the routine when whatever situation drove you out of the routine has calmed down. For example, bedtime routine are going to get broken on many occasions such as holidays, parties, overnight trips and vacations. While you want to establish a routine that will make everyone feel more secure and yourself more organized, you also do not want to feel like you are running a boot camp. Becoming so rigid in your routine that you cannot alter it now and then will not make anyone feel more relaxed as you will be so worried about the routine that you skip things that break into your schedule.

 

So, while the secret of good organization is routine, it should not be one that is so rigid that it defeats the purpose and actually causes anxiety. Learn to try to stick with a routine as much as possible, but do not pop a vessel if something happens to upset the schedule. Just go with the flow and get back into the groove when you can. The routine should be a tool you use to stay organized, not a prison that confines you to a rigid schedule.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:.

What’s one thing that you would love to do before you die?

Why Get Organized?

If you are like most of us today, you are probably feeling that you have too little time and too much to do. As a result, you try to ‘multitask and often end up not getting the things done that are needed. Even little things grow into mountains of work that you feel you can never quite reach the summit on.

 

I spent years being very unorganized. I had a desk that was a mess at school and a room that was a mess at home. As I grew older, I found myself with a messy desk at work and a messy car in the driveway and multiple messy rooms in my house.

 

It wasn’t until I came to the conclusion that I needed to change the direction that my life was going that I realized how things as little as a cluttered desk could be keeping me from reaching my goals and having a better life. It was then that I determined that I had to get organized, why it was so important and how to teach this to my child so she would know how to stay organized as well in order to give her a head start advantage that I didn’t have.

 

The purpose of this series is not just to tell you how to clean your home or desk so that everything is where you can find it, but also how to organize your life so that it is easier to manage and alleviates overwhelm. Although I eventually realized that it was much easier to have my important papers in a place that I could have easy access to as well as the value of having a home that didn’t look like a pigsty, I found that my mind was still unorganized throughout much of my life. I often felt like a hamster on a wheel. It wasn’t until much later when I learned not only how to organize my home and work place, but also my mind.

 

This series, I hope, will teach you how to organize every aspect of your life - from your home, your work and even your entire lifestyle. It will also teach you some valuable tips and teaching secrets that you can pass on to your children so that they can learn the value of organization as well. You will learn valuable lessons on organization that you can use to keep your life in order and avoid feeling overwhelmed all of the time as well as read some anecdotes that perhaps you can relate to.

 

It will also teach you how you can stay organized even when things occur that throw you off your routine. We are not robots, we’re humans. And as everyone knows, we have things that come up that are unpredictable that can throw us off. You want to be organized, but you do not want to be so rigid that you can’t handle a break in the routine without being able to adjust.

 

Organization is essential for you to live a healthier life in both mind and body. When you feel as though you are well organized, you also feel as though you have more control in your every day life. It makes those around you more comfortable and can also lead to more harmony with those around you. Why get a little organization in your life? The answer is simple - to keep your sanity, make you more efficient and to also give some sort of structure to your life and those around you.

 

No matter how unorganized you are, you can become the epitome of organization by taking the tips from this series. The first step is to realize that you did not get overwhelmed all at once, it took months, years or even a lifetime for you to get to the state you are in now. However, even if your house is a total wreck, your kids are sapping all of your energy, your dog is constantly having ‘accidents’ and leaving your ‘presents’ around the house and your work life is a mess because you keep skipping from one project to another or you spend part of your day just looking for stuff, you can get it all back on track. It is important to know the first step in the process is to remember the old question, “how do you eat an elephant?” The answer…One bite at a time.

 

Remember that you have to train your organization skills “one bite at a time” and start with small goals that will eventually lead up to the big goal, which is having organization in your life, work and home. Trust me, if I can do this, so can you.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

Make a list of negatives in your life; now, how can you make those into positives?

100 Ways To Be A Better Time Manager

Want a quick list of tips to be a better time manager? Then read, apply and develop these 100 great hints and your effectiveness as a time manager will zoom overnight.

 

 

I promised you that there would be something special in this. Here are 100 ways to be a better time manager. Practice them all and you'll discover that you'll get more done, improve the quality of your time with others, and have a better balance between all the demands on your work and life.

 

1. Value your time.

2. Treat time as a resource to be managed.

3. Measure your time.

4. Assess how much time you have to manage.

5. Negotiate more control over your working time.

6. Decide the best work pattern for yourself.

7. Get control of your tasks.

8. Have the freedom to balance your tasks.

9. Work at an even pace.

10. Plan ahead.

11. Balance the demands on your time.

12. Don't work more than you need.

13. Be a pearl diver: look for the gifts that time brings.

14. Use time to get results not just fulfill duties.

15. Do something productive and enjoyable each day.

16. Ask "what is the best use of my time now?" questions.

17. Identify your time robbers.

18. Have a purpose to your life.

19. Be effective...

20. ...and then efficient.

21. Don't rush or overwork.

22. Inject variety into your daily tasks.

23. Spend up to a quarter of your day on routine tasks.

24. Do routine tasks in the shortest time possible.

25. Develop good time habits.

26. Experiment with different methods for doing routine tasks.

27. Use the Shoeshine principle of doubling-up routine tasks.

28. Make the most of shortcuts.

29. Prepare your materials in advance.

30. Tidy up as you go.

31. Question every bit of paper you use.

32. Automate.

33. Identify bottlenecks and eliminate them.

34. Create easy work flows.

35. Use systems that minimize clutter.

36. Bunch similar tasks together.

37. Identify the quickest work methods and then train everyone.

38. Know which jobs can be speeded up and which can't.

39. Have a regular time slot for chores.

40. Put aside time for maintenance tasks.

41. Don't encourage unnecessary paperwork.

42. Organize your filing systems.

43. Back up your computer records at fixed times.

44. Clear your files out regularly.

45. Keep your desk clear.

46. Handle every piece of paper just once.

47. Eliminate junk mail and spam.

48. Phone rather than write.

49. Don't photocopy anything unless it is essential.

50. Send replies on the same piece of paper.

51. Keep your communications sweet and short.

52. Manage your projects with time, cost and quality estimates.

53. Run projects with detailed time plans.

54. Add on 20% to your initial project plans.

55. Have detailed lists of your project tasks.

56. Create a series of deadlines for your projects.

57. Look for weak links in your project and have back-up plans.

58. Streamline low-priority project tasks.

59. Keep on top of what's going on in your project.

60. Track and monitor your project progress.

61. Spend up to a quarter of your day on progress work.

62. Have a clear vision of your goals.

63. Align your goals with your values.

64. Be certain of achieving all your goals.

65. Write down your goals.

66. Plan your key result areas.

67. Set SMART goals for short-term tasks.

68. Identify jobs you hate and delegate them.

69. Break down big jobs into smaller chunks.

70. Prioritize your tasks according to their importance.

71. When you're overwhelmed, write out to-do lists and prioritise.

72. Leave loose ends so you can come back easily.

73. Use little scraps of unused time for itsy-bitsy jobs.

74. Plan 60% of your day; leave the rest for what comes up.

75. Put big jobs in your diary first, then the little ones.

76. Celebrate reaching your goals.

77. Spend up to a quarter of your day on non-doing tasks.

78. Take time out to sit and think.

79. Look after your health.

80. Get a sense of the times.

81. Take time to enjoy and appreciate.

82. Use the energy of the moment.

83. Occasionally just do what you want to do.

84. Take breaks at least every 90 minutes.

85. Review your day or week.

86. Spend up to a quarter of your day with others.

87. Always turn up to meetings on time.

88. Be courteous and brisk with others.

89. Only hold meetings that have a clear purpose.

90. Let people know when you're not free.

91. Minimize unnecessary interruptions.

92. Learn to say No to jobs that aren't yours.

93. Avoid time-wasters.

94. Control your phone.

95. Screen all incoming calls.

96. Devise a team time policy.

97. Keep a clock on the wall.

98. Know your time manager personality.

99. Check whether you have a tendency to overwork or underwork and adjust.

100. Enjoy your time.

 

No, the list wasn’t the special deal that I mentioned. This is:

 

Get a Grip on Life is 31 pages of great read. $12.96 value, yours f r e e. it’s helped me out and I know it will help you.

 

Click here for your absolutely F R E E download.

 

P.S. I appreciate your feedback, so let me know if this series has helped you. Also, we all have friends, family and associates that could benefit from this information, so don’t hesitate to forward this to them.

 

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

What one thing would you try right now if you knew you could not fail.

 

Blessings,

F.W. Haynes