The Edinger Consulting Group newsletter - Edinger's Monthly Insights, jammed with resources, focuses on providing information and value to our clients. If you do not wish to receive it, just let us know by replying to this email with the subject REMOVE or click on the unsubscribe option at the bottom of the newsletter.
 
Join Our Mailing List

Ideas to Improve Your Performance

  • Avoid unnecessary meetings. Make sure if it is going on your calendar, that there is a clear purpose or plan that helps you to achieve one of your priority objectives. Too many people are having meetings out of obligation or to appease others. Or worse, to feel important.

  • If you are in a meeting, it ought to be important enough to not read/send email from your smartphone.  If not, then why would you attend. Better to focus intensely for 30 minutes than partially for 90.

  • As a leader, you should be using at least half of your interactions with others to define work. That is, defining desired outcomes and what needs to be done versus how those tasks should be completed. The latter is micro-managing and low value.

 

 

Reflections

Disconnects

In my line of work I see a lot of disconnects. Between a headquarters operation and a business unit. Between the executive committee and middle management. Between members of teams, and so forth. Disconnects create competing objectives, poor goal congruence, and misunderstandings that lead to wasted effort, energy, time, and dollars. Think about the issues and problems facing your own organization. I'd be willing to bet that somewhere along the line, the existence of that challenge, is at least in part due to a disconnect; between people, divisions, or even organizations (e.g. supplier/customer) The good news is that in most cases they are either preventable or reparable.

 

To do so you need the discipline to identify common ground and determine what specifically is out of alignment. Focus on getting in sync with key objectives before speeding headlong in to action. My observation is that of a lot of these disconnects are a result of frenetic action and busyness, without clarity as to what constitutes a successful outcome. Don't do this in a breathless minute with background noise from the airport on your mobile phone. Take the time to do this well and you will be able to move rapidly to action.

 

To read more on addressing disconnects, read Scott's article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal on alignment.   

 

 

A Slice of Life Balance           

  • Call a friend you haven't spoken with in a while. Even if it's been years. An out of the blue call just to say hello is likely to be the highlight of the day for both of you.