The Manager’s Golden Rule: Make Production Goals Visible
Carrie is a longtime friend who has one persistent delusion: she thinks the people in her work group are all committed to producing the results she mentioned in the weekly staff meeting. But the truth is that she is the only one who really focuses on Getting Things Done.
Poor Carrie is astounded – at least once a week – to discover (for the millionth time) that not everyone is dedicated to Getting Things Done. “What’s the matter with them?” she asks me. “Do they forget what we’re doing here? Or are they just not organized for getting their work done?”
And, for the millionth time, I remind her that if you don’t have a visible “scoreboard” of the results you want, most people will focus on their own preoccupations. As I learned in a recent Landmark Worldwide program, most of us are going through life on auto-pilot, at least most of the time.
I remember when I learned that some people are not interested in Getting Things Done. Our publisher broke the news to me (ever so gently) as we were all trying to come up with a subtitle for our book, “The Four Conversations”. Me: “What? Some people don’t care about Getting Things Done? What are they doing with their lives?” OK, I gave up my subtitle idea and bowed to their expertise, eventually settling on the subtitle “Daily Communication that Gets Results” .
In case you, like Carrie, are interested in Getting Things Done – both for yourself and with other people – it helps to know all three parts of the Manager’s Golden Rule:
- Spell out the results you want to see.
- Specify when you want to see those results: what day, and what time. And, if you have other people who need to produce or deliver something, make note of that too.
- Then display that simple chart in a place where you (and everybody else) can see them at least twice a day.
A sample of items from Carrie’s chart looks like this:
| Get It DONE! | When | Who Does It? |
| Newsletter out | Noon – every 3rd Friday | Arnie |
| Training materials updated & printed | Friday 3 PM before every training program delivery | Training-IT-Marketing Committee |
| Subscriber Report | Before Tuesday staff meetings (9:15 am) | Marketing Team |
| Budget plans & projections | For the mid-month Tuesday staff meeting | Kelsey’s Money Team |
Carrie posted it on the door outside the meeting room, in a hallway between people’s offices and the coffee pot, where everyone would see it. One member of the Marketing Team told me, “It gives me a little boost every time I go by it, just to see how we’re all working together to make something happen.” Carrie rolled her eyes when she heard about that, and said, “They should know their jobs.” (Sometimes she’s crabby.)
Yes, maybe. Or maybe it’s just nice to be reminded that there IS a “big picture” purpose for the team, and not just a bunch of humans running around being busy. I know I keep my own list on the wall in my study. It helps me manage this rogue brain.
