THE FIVE PRACTICES FOR EFFECTIVENESS

I was recently reading some articles by the famous Peter Drucker regarding effectiveness, I thought you might like to read them too!

By Dr. Peter Drucker

All that effective people have in common is the ability to get the right things done - here's how

The effective executives I have seen differ widely in their temperaments and abilities, in what they do and how they do it, in their personalities, their knowledge, their interests – in fact, in almost everything that distinguishes human beings. But all effective executives I’ve known perform only necessary tasks and eliminate unnecessary ones.

Five practices have to be acquired to be effective:

1. 
   

Effective executives know where their time goes. They work systematically at managing the little of their time that can be brought under their control.

Effective executives focus on outward contributions.

Effective executives build on strengths - theirs and others. They do not build on weaknesses.

Effective executives concentrate on superior performance where superior performance will produce outstanding results. They force themselves to stay within priorities.

Effective executives make effective decisions. They know that this is a system – the right steps in the right sequence. They know that to make all decisions fast is to make some wrong decisions.

Whenever I have found a person who – no matter how great in intelligence, industry, imagination, or knowledge – fails to observe these practices, I have also found an executive deficient in effectiveness.

Leader or Manager?

One of the on-going challenges for managers is how to get the best out of their staff. Most aim to have people “do more” or “go faster”, some even aim to design more efficient systems.

However I think a better strategy is to encourage people to do better rather than more.

It will require more skill, coaching and patience however creating a team of people who are better far outweighs doing more, and the leader will automatically “get more” as a side benefit.
Learning to make the transition from Manager to Leader may be challenging but is ultimately very rewarding.

Training

Regularly arranging customer service training programs for your staff does much more than entertain them! We usually include simulations of various scenarios designed to keep people skills sharp – we all fall into poor habits without regular reminders – much like a knife needs regular sharpening so do we!

Recruiting staff

When recruiting new staff look for good attitudes and people-loving people. This may sound too simple, but employees who like people are often more outgoing and friendly and tend to be more empathetic concerning their problems. Intelligence and problem solving skills are also a plus.