Is there a wrong answer to this question? People often answer this question by describing a list of activities they complete on a daily basis.
“I review and correct data that goes to three other departments.”
“I’m responsible for a team of people so I spend most of my days participating in or leading meeting after meeting.”
“I make visits to our sites across the globe so I’m in and out of airplanes and hotels a lot.”
“I weld handlebars all day that go on our motorcycles.”
The problem? Those answers focus on activities that even when done perfectly can still leave us missing the result. We actually train ourselves to think this way. Look at job descriptions for moment…what’s on them? Typically a list of activities! We try to compensate for this by putting that line at the bottom of the descriptions that says “anything else we decide to give you”, but people largely focus on the list.
If it’s not on the list, it’s not my job.
So why do you get paid every month? Are you contributing to the value equation substantially enough to justify your organization’s decision to doll out a chunk of the resources to have you involved?
Anyone who’s ever been part of a startup or owns a small business knows… job descriptions are irrelevant. You do what needs to be done – that day. Period.
“I’m sending out invoices so we bring in the cash needed to run the machines and pay salaries.”
In that environment, you’re clear on the connection between what you’re doing and the impact on the results. It’s all about the results! As we grow and bring more people on board we start to lose this “results” connection and shift to an “activity” focus. The activity mindset pays more attention to completing the checklist vs delivering on the result the checklist was designed to produce.
The solution to this phenomenon:
1. Clearly Define the Results your team needs to achieve (the magic number is 3 results…any more than three and you lose focus and alignment)
2. Create Joint Accountability for those results with everyone on the team (be clear with everyone about their direct or indirect connection to the results)
3. Celebrate Success along the way (recognize small wins & contributions and use examples to point out the impact of the collective effort to reach your targets)
Nine out of ten senior teams struggle with focus. Most of us are creating too many targets and too much complexity. Years ago we had a leader tell us they used a balanced scorecard. When we asked what was on it she said “hold on let me get it out and read it to you.” We quickly found she had 80 measures on the scorecard. To their credit they had broken them down into 4 categories, but there were still 80 measures on “the list”. When asking leaders why this happens the same response shows up over and over… we don’t want to leave anyone out. We want everyone to look at the list and see themselves on it.
Unfortunately this creates confusion and frustration throughout the system. Reverse this thinking for a minute. What if you approached it completely differently saying:
- “These are the three things that really tell us we've been successful at the end of year.”
- “You know better than anyone what you do for us, what else can you do in your part of the organization that will help us ensure we deliver those three things?”
This approach encourages people all over the organization to work together on those three results, creating unity and collaboration throughout our teams. Next ask every team to identify their three results that link to the organization’s 3 KEY RESULTS and you’ll grab all 80 or more of those measures you were shooting for to begin with but in a way that creates alignment and focus.
Great leaders take the complex and make it simple.
Connect with & Follow Jared Jones, National Best Selling Author, Senior Partner, @Lone Rock Consulting for more content every week.
