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Panic is my Friend!
By Ron Black |
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Sound
familiar?
When
everything is a priority, deadlines are
looming, and there just isn't enough of
you or your team to go around, how do you
cope with the stress, stay focused on results,
and make things happen?
Perhaps you rely on the axiom, “I do my
best work under pressure”. In truth, few
of us really do. When tension and pressure
build, mistakes are introduced, emotions
get frayed, and neither the worker nor the
work are better for it. Spending too much
time at too high of an intensity not only
prevents us from operating at our productive
best, it can turn a labor of love into an
exasperating experience. |
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Our
productivity is largely dependent on the interrelationships
of
our workloads and our attitudes. |
Each
of us undoubtedly has some optimal zone of achievement—a
balance of tension and clarity, of urgency and
focus, of impetus and workload—wherein we are
most productive, most fulfilled, and most able
to develop to our fullest potential.
While
I often joke that panic is my friend, I know better.
I'm actually most productive in what I call my
balanced zone. In this situation, my goals are
clear, the steps to success are well laid out,
the workload is reasonable, and I'm able to systematically
achieve smaller results that build to a larger
end. In short, I can effectively put thoughts
into meaningful action. My attitude is positive
and my daily routine has discipline and structure.
I get to work on time. Even the little things
like filing and organization get done. I take
a decent lunch break. And perhaps most importantly,
I end the day with a little energy left over to
enjoy life. Ah, life (and work) is good!
Unfortunately,
it's easy to stray out of the productive zone.
Problems, customer demands, and a host of other
issues can arise that drive us beyond the limits
of a balanced approach. To compensate, what do
you do? I work a little longer. I work a little
faster. I work a little harder. Don't we all?
But at some point this strategy falls short—we're
working as hard, as fast, and as long as we possibly
can. Sooner or later this do or die imbalanced
approach takes its toll.
As
my productivity, decisions, and sense of achievement
deteriorates, so does my attitude—meetings become
difficult to endure, deadlines seem insurmountable,
and responsibilities grow endlessly. Sound familiar?
We've entered the zone of imbalance.
At
this point, the situation is becoming dangerous.
One more unexpected problem, fickle customer,
or accelerated deadline could easily create a
frenzy of misdirected, fractured effort. Seemingly,
everything is a priority and everything was due
yesterday. The probability of errors and omissions
increases dramatically. Eventually, a noteworthy
mistake occurs, a meeting is missed, or a deadline
is broken—and the damage is done.
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To
get into a balanced zone of productivity, an environment
of
manageable urgency must be created.
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No
work system is completely immune to fickle markets,
demanding customers, or self-imposed over optimism,
but achievement can be improved by applying these
simple rules to your work schedule.
Rule
#1: Productivity doesn't come from hard work—it
comes from hard results.
If
you ask the people on your team what they're paid
for, they'll likely reply, “They pay me to work!”
In reality, what matters are the results we achieve,
not the work we do. Make sure that you and your
team focus on results rather than work. Be goal-driven
for both the long- and short-term. Long-term goals
help make us decisions, set strategy, and provides
directional steerage. Supporting, smaller goals
are the building blocks of results, giving us
the traction to create real progress. When you
hold yourself accountable to achieving your goals
on a daily basis, you'll be moving forward in
a real way.
Rule
#2: If your schedule is 100% booked, you're over-booked.
Problems
inevitably arise, situations change, and issues
seemingly appear out of nowhere. To get more accomplished,
schedule less. Keep some capacity in reserve for
the unknown problems and you'll be more able to
adapt and overcome when adversity arises. If problems
don't materialize, the capacity won't go to waste—you'll
just be able to achieve that much more!
Rule
#3: Mom was wrong—you shouldn't always do your
best work.
While
high quality and personal excellence are admirable,
be careful that you don't squander away precious
time and energy on excess quality. Not everything
deserves your best work. All too often our quest
for excellence turns into a Don Quixote-type of
quest for perfection. Just because you could make
it better, doesn't mean you should spend the time
or resources. Misplaced effort in unneeded improvements
could be spent on additional achievement. The
best way to determine how good is good enough,
is not whether you can do it better, but whether
or not it is fit for the intended purpose. Complete
all work at a level of appropriate fitness for
purpose, then move on.
Rule
#4: Deadlines are important, but start dates are
more important.
Ask
anyone what the most important date on a project
is and they'll likely tell you the due date—the
deadline. While deadlines are important to stimulate
action, coordinate work, and manage expectations,
“finish no later than” deadlines and the huge
goals that often accompany them can create an
overwhelming sense of despair. As such, dramatic
goals and deadlines may reduce, rather than improve,
productivity and achievement. To prevent panic
and build an environment conducive to achievement,
create and maintain a sense of managed urgency.
To
create your zone of achievement:
Step
1. Break the deliverables down into more manageable
component tasks. In the project management
body of knowledge this is known as decomposing
the work, breaking major goals into phases of
work, each phase into work activities, and each
activity into the smallest unit, the task. Essentially,
each task is a small goal. If for example a needs
assessment was to be delivered on a given date,
the assessment might be broken down into tasks
such as collect data, survey users, compile data,
and write report.
Step
2. Estimate amount of time you need to allow in
your personal schedule to complete each task,
given your other responsibilities and workload. For example, if a task takes two uninterrupted,
focused hours of effort to complete, you might
want to allow a total time in your schedule of
a two days (or even more), to allow for your current
workload, responsibilities, and typical interruptions.
Step
3. Determine what the latest possible start date
could be for that task in order to meet the delivery
deadline. This is your “late start”
date and it obviously cannot be missed. To determine
the late start date simple back up from the task's
deadline by it's duration. For example, if the
deadline was noon on Friday and your estimated
duration allowed in your schedule was two days,
the late start date for this task is noon on Wednesday.
Step
4. Determine the earliest possible start date
for this task. In a simple situation,
the earliest a task could be started is “right
now”. In reality, you may be waiting on someone
else's data (seek their commitment to this date)
or perhaps on your own availability, in order
to establish your earliest possible start date.
Step
5. Choose when to complete this task by scheduling
it between the earliest possible start date and
the latest possible start date , and
hold yourself accountable to the timeframe.
The
figure below illustrates the process of creating
a manageable sense of urgency for all your tasks.
With
this approach, even when it seems that everything
is a priority, deadlines are looming, and there
just isn't enough of you or your team to go around,
you don't have to panic!
Relax
and get into the achievement zone:
- Focus
on your goals
- Break
them into manageable pieces
- Identify
the earliest and latest possible starts
- Schedule
the work and hold yourself accountable
Put
this Productivity PowerTool to work
and balance your tension and clarity, urgency
and focus, impetus and workload — and drive your
success to new heights!
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Ron
Black works with top managers
who want to move their organizations to new levels
of performance, with entrepreneurs launching new
products and services, and with the world's most
productive achievers. With over 30 years of business
experience, Ron has built a reputation for delivering
down-to-earth, results-proven tools of success in
his seminars and books on project management, productivity
and leadership. He is the author of two books, the
latest of which is The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Project Management with Microsoft Project 2003.
Contact him at 800-381-8686 or at
RonBlack@TheMentorGroup.com
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
for training, project facilitation, and consultation.
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