Organizational Results: Focus Relentlessly on Results

Nov 29, 2009

Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.

This is not nearly as easy as it sounds. Our lives are filled with distractions that tempt us to remove our noses from the unpleasant grindstones that produce results. Crises interrupt. We would much rather manage these anyway. Our colleagues whine, gossip and complain. Someone reads a book or attends a conference and suggests a new management fad. A good leader moves on. A worthless boss digs in. Too much is going on to focus on results. It’s boring. People just want to have fun.

Immersed in this seductive corporate cacophony, real leaders cover their ears and hunker down. They focus themselves. They focus others. Here’s how they do it:

1. Focus yourself first. Don’t fret about the slackers and pot stirrers until you have yourself in hand. Look at whatever piece of paper or screen is in front of you. Write “RESULTS” in big letters at the top of it. That will help you think straight.

2. Refocus yourself several times a day. As you work through your daily schedule, ask yourself what results you want from this meeting. If you must attend a worthless meeting—and they cannot all be avoided—multitask mentally while occasionally making eye contact with the speakers and nodding. Think about results. Your colleagues will be none the wiser.

3. Ask the obvious questions no one else is asking. “What results are we trying to produce here? What is the problem exactly? What are our options? What’s the best option? What will we do next? Who will do it? When will we do it?”

How do you relentlessly focus yourself and others on results?

8 Comments

Vicki Noel • Dec 1, 2009 @9:34 pm

This post is SO TRUE…how easy and seductive it is to spin your wheels in crisis/fighting fires mode. I find myself in this trap more often than I would like. The technique that keeps me most focused is a high level “To Do” list. For my HR functions I have a 3-year plan of initiatives and I regularly review those with the responsible Directors. I personally have a master “What I want to accomplish” list that I create each fiscal year (of course it gets added to regularly). I outline as many detail level tasks as possible for each potential accomplishment and mark them off when I am completed. Simple, right? (Grin)
Kendall L. Stewart • Dec 2, 2009 @3:16 am

Do your lists sometimes become a distraction themselves?
How much time do you invest in managing your lists?
Do you find yourself keeping task lists for others as well as yourself?
Vicki Noel • Dec 2, 2009 @6:06 am

Yes my lists do sometimes distract me, but more so when I try to do everything on the the list myself.
I try to review my high-level “to-do’s” once a week and generate a weekly checklist of things to accomplish. This takes me about 15 minutes or so on Sunday/Monday.
Most of my responsible leaders maintain their own task list and we check in on these tasks when we round (and on-going whatever is needed). For those that have not developed systems on their own, I have now required it with some challenge. I do not manage others task lists, but on my system I have what leader is accountable and again, I follow-up regularly with them on “where are you on this xyz?” For the less self-motivated leaders this is like pulling teeth. And I really do not prefer a micromanaging style..but sometimes have to.
Kendall L. Stewart • Dec 2, 2009 @7:11 am

This has been my experience too.
Some leaders simply cannot focus themselves on results.
I have to focus on results for them.
Expecting others to do something they cannot do just leads to frustration and failure.
Of course, there are limits to the degree of leadership failure one can tolerate.
Leeann Sammons • Dec 9, 2009 @10:25 am

I have a list of projects, ideas and concepts to help keep me focused on the big pictre. However, like both of you I get distracted and frustrated with the day-to-day tasks and fires. I really don’t like to micromanage. I really like it when leaders are able to focus on results and do whatever it takes to get results. There is a difference in having the ability to produce results and no desire, while others have the desire and no ability. Both of these scenarios is frustrating.
Shawn K. Jordan • Dec 9, 2009 @4:57 pm

This particular message has helped us realign quite a bit over the past two weeks. Not only am I continually asking, “what result will this project produce” but my team is now thinking in the same design. We have been able to eliminate projects that were taking up endless hours of wheel spinning. And, it has allowed us an avenue to say, “no” to requests that have no link to producing results for the organization. Our focus is now set on meaningful projects that will gain the most marketing value for our organization.
decampv • Dec 9, 2009 @6:02 pm

I find myself constantly assessing the priorities in my work life and asking if tasks are getting in the way of producing results. I recently read a book titled “A Sense of Urgency” and one of the keys to being successful at sustaining results is to constantly re-evaluate the priorities. And for those of us who like to please others, it may mean we have to say no, or continually ask others if doing that particular task will help produce results.
Gary • Dec 11, 2009 @9:55 am

This is great message all leaders need to take to heart. I have read Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” twice this year and it is helping transform me professional, personally, and spiritually (growth is a journey). One of the habits is “begin with the end in mind.” Another thing I have read that is helpful is from Jim Collins “Good to Great.” In this book one of the points of emphasis is that great organizations identify what they are wasting effort on and stop doing those things.