Tag: management

Meetings As Contracts

MattLeave a Comment on Meetings As Contracts

One of the biggest complaints I’ve run into in the past few years is that of the meeting. Done correctly, meetings are an efficient way to share information and make decisions. Done incorrectly, they are a dreadful waste of time and energy.

My advice is to treat meetings as contracts and to treat the people involved as clients. When you request to meet with someone have the end goal in mind. Don’t simply meet because you, “have several things to discuss.” Draw up an agenda for where the meeting will go and important questions that need answered and stick to the time allotted.

You wouldn’t show up late to a meeting with important clients, so don’t do it for your internal clients either. Encourage everyone to be there on time, if one person is 15 minutes late for a meeting with four other people – that’s one hour of productivity lost forever. End on time as well – you never know what other meetings yours is running into.

Some other quick tips: Produce and circulate summary of the decisions made and next steps to help keep everyone on the same page. Only invite those people absolutely necessary to the process, if they can’t make the call, they probably don’t need to be there.

The Hidden Dangers of Micro-Management

Matt2 Comments on The Hidden Dangers of Micro-Management

I don’t think you’ll find too many management consultants espousing the benefits of micro-management. But, a lot has been made of Steve Jobs’ command-and-control-style management. Legend has it that Mr. Jobs was deeply involved in each project, including designing the Apple stores’ famous glass staircases.

We are all well aware of the success that Apple enjoyed under Jobs’ watchful eye. What we are yet to see, is whether he succeeded in passing on his passion for detail, design, and simplicity.

When we micro-manage everything, we may think we are relieving our co-workers of work. In the end though, we aren’t relieving them, we are depriving them.

Micro-management deprives co-workers of the lessons learned from first-hand experience. It stifles creativity, favors inactivity over pro-activity, breeds dependence, and creates workers that are robbed of the thrill of a victory or the agony of defeat (both are important).

One of the main rewards of the employer/employee relationship is that the employee gains experience that can be used to succeed in a more senior position within or without the company. By teaching workers to wait for someone else to give the answer, we rob them of that reward. When you teach someone to depend on you for everything – they depend on you for everything. That’s a great ego boost for you and that’s fine for folks that just want to keep their head down and float along. It’s a death trap for career-minded people. And what happens when you are gone?

As leaders, we need to build environments that thrive on creativity, managed conflict, independent thought, and responsibility. Set goals, provide vision, and give feedback, but try to steer away from becoming the micro-manager-in-chief.

Set Your Goals

MattLeave a Comment on Set Your Goals


With the new year in full swing, let’s talk about goal setting. Goal setting and tracking should be an essential part of your planning process. If you don’t have the Commander’s Intent in mind before starting, you are likely to end up somewhere nobody anticipated, with little idea of how you got there.

The article linked above is interesting because it states that the Commander’s Intent is not simply the end state, but also a description of the tasks, and sometimes, the purpose of the mission. This helps teams better understand the reasons for the mission and thus helps them think proactively about achieving the preferred end state.

Does this take more effort? Sure. Does it delay the work? In the short term. Is it worth it? Absolutely. The time and effort spent planning and tracking your goals will reap plenty of rewards in terms of a shared vision, results, and knowledge.

There are plenty of tools out there for goal planning, I’ll list some below. But the main point is to take the time to think about your goals BEFORE starting any project and to revisit them while you are chasing them. Otherwise, it’s very hard to know where you came from and even harder to control where you are going.

http://milestoneplanner.com/

http://www.goalsontrack.com/

http://weekplan.net/why/