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The Foundation of Management - Free eBook!

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on June 28, 2009

in Education and Managing

. 1 Comment

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No One is Born Knowing How to Manage

There was a time when the term “manager” suggested someone who controlled. Today the manager must facilitate. In the past, the manager kept people in line. Today the manager must lift people up. In our rapidly changing world the manager’s most vital role is to make sure every employee is performing at the highest possible level. And today, how well you perform this vital role determines your success.

“Today’s manager must emphasize vision, not supervision.” - Jack Welch

Jack Hayhow is back at it again, this time with his latest installment entitled The Foundation of Management. Since interviewing Jack back in February, I’ve followed much of his work both imprint and video briefs. His book, The Wisdom of the Flying Pig, has become a staple in guidance and inspiration for aspiring leaders.

In this most recent eBook, Jack explains fundamental principles and practical techniques that great managers use to propel employee performance.

Key topics include:

The Role of the Manager
What Great Managers Know About Motivation
The Four Key Activities of All Great Managers
1. How to Communicate Explicit Expectations
2. How to Provide the Information and Resources to Do the Job Right
3. How to Measure, Recognize and Celebrate
4. How to Show You Care by Encouraging Growth

Once again, Jack and his team at Opus have been generous enough to offer a free copy of this eBook for those looking to expand their management skill set. foundationebook1 The Foundation of Management Free eBook!

To download your free copy:
1. Click this eBook order page.
2. Enter coupon: JH-FOUNDATION
3. Click the “redeem coupon” button.
4. Fill out the fields and download your free eBook.

__________________________________________________________________________

Related articles by Zemanta

How Much Recognition Do Employees Need? (drivenleaders.com)
Boosting Employee Engagement and Productivity (drivenleaders.com)
How to Build a Successful Team (drivenleaders.com)

Is Your Business Leveraging the Power of Social Media?

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on June 25, 2009

in Technology and Thought Provoking

. 3 Comments

Social media has been the hot topic for some time now, seemingly expanding its reach each and every day in various capacities. For marketers, these social platforms have already been marketing game changers, providing endless opportunities for connecting with consumers in deeper and more meaningful ways.

Social networking sites (“Member Community” sites) eclipsed E-mail in global reach at 68.4% vs. 64.8% in February 2009. And even more significant, in only the first few months of 2009, the reach of these sites is growing at a brisk pace, faster than any other online sector. – The Nielson Company

From a global perspective, it’s interesting to note how quickly this phenomenon is continues to expand. The graph below, from Nielsen’s Global Online Media Landscape shows the growth from 07′-08′ on a country-by-country basis. Significant growth in a one year period.

Statistics such as these make it hard to deny the rapid growth and raw power that social media commands. Nevertheless, many organizations have been less than speedy with their entry into this digital environment. Some with good reason as it may not fit their organizations objectives, yet others hold out simply due to lack of understanding and fear of the unknown. The thought of navigating the social landscape can be a challenging task, especially for beginners uneasy about getting their feet wet.

Regardless of reason, that fact remains that there are many companies simply sitting on the sidelines, missing a prime opportunity to establish direct relationships with their customers and the possibility of transforming this “two-way communication” into increased sales.

While I don’t claim to be an expert in this area, my pure fascination of the digital marketing revolution fuels my desire to stay abreast of the changing dynamics. If you or your organization is one of the many sitting on the sidelines, I’ll challenge you to take the first step and educate yourself on social media and the possibilities it brings to the table. Introspectively evaluate your current marketing efforts and decide if this is a field you should be playing on. It may or may not be, but the one truth is that sitting on the sidelines waiting and wondering is no longer a viable option.

Where to start…

To get the ball rolling, 360i has developed a Social Marketing Playbook, designed to help marketers evaluate the social marketing opportunities available, determine which ones are best for their brands and develop a strategy following best practices for achieving success in social media.

The goals of the Playbook are to:

Provide a framework for establishing a set of clear objectives and strategy when approaching social marketing
Encourage thinking of social marketing as an opportunity to have a continuous, valuable exchange with customers
Advance discussions on amplifying marketing results through the integration of social marketing and offline campaigns

It’s an excellent read that will provide a foundation for the concepts and terminology you’ll need to understand. Download it here.

Secondly, I recommend following a few cutting edge digital marketers. With the landscape in a continual state of flux, they provide a fresh perspective on how to keep your company’s strategy current and relevant. While there are many excellent bloggers that I follow, I’ll keep the list short for the purposes of this post. A few that I recommend (in no particular order):

Dave Knox (hardknoxlife.com) -Dave is a CPG Brand Manager and true Marketing Technopologist. In may, Ad Age named Dave as one of their “25 Media People to Follow on Twitter.” As personal friend for quite some time, I can tell you first hand he will stretch your views on the mix of marketing and technology. (@daveknox)
Pete Blackshaw (consumergeneratedmedia.com) - Pete coined the term “consumer- generated media” (CGM) and authors a blog by that same name. He is an accomplished author, most recently publishing “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000.” Pete perspective in helping companies promote and protect their brands online is well worth following. (@pblackshaw)
Jeremiah Owyang (www.web-strategist.com/blog/) - Jeremiah is a big dog when it comes to web strategy. The focus of his blog is to discuss how web tools enable companies to connect with customers. An excellent place to start is with his analytical posts tagged Web Strategy. (@jowyang)

Feel free to comment on any additional resources that you have found helpful.

10 Tips on How to be Taken Seriously as a Leader

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on June 21, 2009

in Gen-Y and Leadership

. 3 Comments

gen y respect 10 Tips on How to be Taken Seriously as a Leader Earning credibility and being taken seriously continue to be challenging issues for many Gen-Y employees as they step into roles of increasing responsibly.

In preparation for advancement, many training programs focus solely on building “competencies,” the cornerstones to success. I agree the ability to negotiate, communicate, influence, and persuade others are indispensable qualities when it comes to leading successful teams. And there is no doubt that enhancing these skills builds one’s credibility and sets the groundwork for long-term success. However, for Gen-Y Leaders, the risk of undermining that credibility early on is very real thing. Many sabotage themselves, losing control and credibility before they even have the opportunity to utilize there abilities, simply by falling into classic traps that are easily overlooked.

Highlighting this point, authors Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio, offer some basic and practical suggestions that lay the foundation for being taken seriously when moving into the role of team leader. The following ten steps can be found with greater detail in their book, The Girl’s Guide To Starting Your Own Business.

1. Be on time every day. It’s your business. Lead by example.

2. Don’t make a habit of leaving early. Your employees will resent you if you walk out the door at three and call them from the gym at five-thirty to check in.

3. Don’t go drinking with your assistant. Or swap stories. You need to set the example. What you do in your private time away from the office should remain fodder for your peers, not your subordinates.

4. Don’t ask them to do anything that is not work-related. It’s rude and fosters resentment. This includes walking your dog, picking up your dry cleaning, and buying your personal holiday presents, unless, of course, the job is personal assistant.

5. Don’t let them hear you on personal calls. Not only will they will imitate you for months if they hear you refer to your spouse with pet names, they will feel entitled to be on their own calls all day.

6. You are not their friend. Be a pleasant boss, but never leave the door open to talk about personal drama. You want your employees to feel comfortable talking to you about serious personal problems (especially if they will impact her job performance) - a sick mother or child-care problem, for example. But the last thing you can afford is to become a surrogate therapist for employee dating or marital woes.

7. Pitch in when you can. If you have assigned what you know to be a tedious task, such as mailing five hundred company brochures, spend at least a few minutes pitching in. This is your team; make it happen together. A little willingness to get your hands dirty will go a long way when you need a really big ditch dug.

8. Do not share company financial issues or problems. If your employees suspect things are not going well, they will be looking for another job before you know it. There is a whole philosophy of open-book management that works in big public companies (the law requires it, anyway), but in small companies you don’t need your employees second-guessing your decisions.

9. If something goes wrong with a client or customer, you have to take the blame. As the boss, you are responsible for everything running smoothly. If you have a problem employee, you need to monitor him or her closely, provide more training, or let her go. You cannot make bad employees the scapegoats for mistakes.

10. Manage, but don’t smother. Granted this is your business and you’ve got the most to lose, but you’ve got to let your employees take responsibility for their workload. Guide, cajole, pester — don’t suffocate.

What other suggestions would you offer from your experience?

How to Earn Respect Quickly Despite your Youth (drivenleaders.com)
How to work better with Gen Y (money.cnn.com)

The Leader’s Lifelong Learner’s Permit

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on June 8, 2009

in Leadership and Thought Provoking

. 2 Comments

learnerspermit The Leaders Lifelong Learners Permit

This past week I connected with Sangeeth Varghese, founder of LeadCap, a leadership organization building future leaders in India, and the author of Decide to Lead. Sangeeth and I both subscribe to the belief that in a world of continuous change, one the most valuable skills is the ability to learn. Below are some of his thought provoking comments recently published on Forbes.com, pertaining to leadership and being a lifelong student.

You should be educating yourself at every moment.

Learning is like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does much about it. True leaders, though, can never be switched off to learning opportunities. As John F. Kennedy wrote in a speech he was to give the day he was assassinated, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
True leaders are beings who go around with a permanent learner’s permit. They use their minds to learn from even the most mundane things in life, and thereby they grow unceasingly. There are three broad ways in which they keep learning and growing.

First, leaders learn constantly. They actively strive to learn at every moment. They view taking a break as a chance to chew on information newly acquired, and to create an ideal state for imbibing more new information. Perhaps the best story of constant learning is that of Friedrich August Kekulé, who learned even in his sleep. He was struggling to decipher the structure of the benzene molecule, and it is said that one night he dreamed of a snake forming a ring by biting its own tail. Inspired by this, and prepared by all the research he had done, he saw how the benzene molecule could be in the form of a ring. He was correct. His discovery was a leap for organic chemistry.

Second, leaders learn continuously. That is, when they’re really at it they brook no distraction. Research has shown that it is more efficacious to study for one hour straight than for two hours with interruption. Interruptions break our train of thought and limit our ability to retain information. They take the power out of learning. Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective, attributed much of his success to his remarkable ability to detach his mind at will to focus on the problem at hand. Would-be leaders can learn a lesson from that idealized, imaginary detective.

Third, leaders learn cyclically. They understand that life is never one-dimensional. It must be studied from every side and turned upside down. They learn by repetition and repeated review. Whatever subject they choose, they always find more to learn. When they move to new areas of knowledge, they stay alert to picking up knowledge pertinent to previous topics. This builds deeper understanding. sangeethvarghese The Leaders Lifelong Learners Permit

Leadership takeaway: Leaders never let their minds shut down. Whatever you are doing at any given moment–watching the news, working on a business deal, talking to a friend, reading this article–give it your full attention, and keep on learning.

Stepping Up in the Absence of Leadership (drivenleaders.com)
5 Attributes of Inspirational Leaders (drivenleaders.com)

Free Webinar: How to Use Facebook for Business

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on June 1, 2009

in Entrepreneurship and Technology

. 2 Comments

It’s a fact. The Facebook phenomenon isn’t slowing down (at least anytime in the foreseeable future), as the site continues to hold its ground as one of the fastest growing websites year after year. According to Alexa.com (as of May 2009), Facebook is ranked number 4 for traffic on the internet, with users spending over 25 minutes on the site viewing the 13,000+ applications as they connect to friends, family and business associates.

With numbers like that, it’s easy to understand why more and more businesses are leveraging the power of Facebook to connect with their customers. According to a study released earlier this year, by interactive marketing agency Rosetta;

59% of 100 top retailers are now using Facebook.

With this number surely on the rise, it may be time to embrace the Facebook opportunity or risk being left behind.

“These results support what we’re seeing in our day-to-day client work, which is that we’ve reached a tipping point with Facebook among retailers,” says Adam Cohen, partner with Rosetta’s consumer goods and retail practice. “Social media sites continue to be an important source of community connection, and savvy retailers are reaping the benefits of Facebook’s rapid extension into new demographics, such as Gen-X and seniors.”

Yet amongst the excitement, Cohen cautions retailers in the study’s press release. He advises against a haphazard approach to the medium.

“It’s important that retailers don’t just slap up a page because everyone is talking about Facebook. An effective Facebook presence requires that you carefully consider what your customers are looking for, what you would like to communicate, and what role a fan page should play in your overall online strategy. If you take all of these into account, it can be effective in building customer loyalty. ”

To learn more about how to effectively use Facebook to further your business, Search Engine Strategies is offering a free webinar entitled “How to Use Facebook for Business” this Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT. It should be an interesting presentation that I’ll unfortuantly be unable to attend. If you’re able to catch it, please leave a comment below. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the discussion. Details are below.

__________________________________________________________________________________
How to Use Facebook for Business

Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT
Cost: Free! But you must register beforehand.

Welcome to a world of conversations and relationships. Facebook is not an evil time-waster, a community just for college students, or something scary or irrelevant for marketers – even you B2B folks. Facebook is a tool for connecting people with those around them. And, as with any social media tool, marketers have an opportunity to use Facebook to expand their online footprint and engage with customers directly. Join this free webinar to learn how to get started using Facebook to market your business. Presenters - Ellie Mirman, Inbound Marketing Manager, Hubspot & Mike Volpe, VP of Inbound Marketing, Hubspot

Topics include:

What is Facebook and why it is important for businesses
How to create a Facebook Business Page and interact with prospects directly
How to promote your business on Facebook
How to track the success of your Facebook marketing programs

Rypple: 360 Degree Feedback Reinvented

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on May 29, 2009

in Communication and Personal Development

. 3 Comments

360 feedback Rypple: 360 Degree Feedback Reinvented For years now, 360 degree feedback or “multi-rater feedback” has become all the rage when it comes to training, development, and in some cases, performance evaluations.

In a nutshell, 360 degree feedback is a method and a tool that provides an employee the opportunity to receive performance feedback from every aspect surrounding their role. Traditionally the feedback is given from a range of internal sources (including supervisors, peers, subordinates) and in some cases external sources as well (customers, business partners, etc.) 360 degree feedback allows an individual to understand how his or her effectiveness as an employee, coworker, or staff member is viewed by others.

“The purpose of the 360 degree feedback is to assist each individual to understand his or her strengths and weaknesses, and to contribute insights into aspects of his or her work needing professional development.” – Susan Heathfield, HR Expert - About.com

There is great debate as to whether 360 degree feedback should be used strictly for developmental purposes, or also used for end of year appraisals. Some argue that multiple sources lead to more well rounded fedback, while others feel that the method’s anonymity provides no recourse should one want further clarification on the feedback. Regardless of position, it’s hard to argue the power of receiving a full circle view of one’s effectiveness when it comes to personal development.

Recently while discussing the topic, a co-worker introduced me to Rypple.com, a quick and easy way to solicit feedback from managers, peers or really anyones opinion whom you respect. The flexibility of the system allows you to solict feedback from anyone, about anything from performance, to opinions on a meeting, or input from a team members on a project. Everything is presented in very simplistic manner allowing you to simply enter your question, choose whom you want to ask it to, and then track your performance.

What separates Rypple from other 360 feedback systems is that there are minimal constraints when it comes to what you can and cannot do. There are no pre-defined questions or limitations on who should give you feedback. The responses are completely anonymous, creating an open environment for honest and meaningful feedback. With this flexible functionality, some users have even employed the technology to survey customers and solicit feedback from clients.

Rypple is a web-based and free for the basic service, (a premium version costs a nominal fee per month, with corporate options rising from there) allowing users to sign-up today and receive feedback almost instantly. Certainly an interesting twist on receiving feedback that caters directly to Gen-Y. To learn more, take the Rypple Tour and check it out yourself. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts or experiences if you’ve used it.

Creating Your Personal Career Vision

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on May 20, 2009

in Advancement, Personal Development and Vision

. 1 Comment

career vision4 Creating Your Personal Career Vision

I know this sounds easier said than done, trust me. I was that kid who never had a straight answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I had new idea every few weeks, feeling that it was too hard to pick just one thing to do for the rest of my life. As time passed and experience came to my aid, I quickly learned that without a defined goal, vision, or endpoint for where I wanted to be later in life, the road to getting there was going to be that much tougher to travel.

Since those early days, I have become strong advocate of setting goals and creating a vision for one’s future; career ambitions included.

Even in a tough job market there are opportunities, perhaps reserved for the most talented, best networked, or best prepared, but they do exist. For many, the difference between being in that group verses being on the outside, is having an unyielding personal vision. Defining your career goals and developing a plan to reach them is the first step to achieving them. Expectedly this is only part of the equation; the execution is what will ultimately determine its level of success.

For Gen-Y, achieving our career ambitions will take much longer than we had once hoped; a blatant fact that may be discouraging, but is nevertheless true. This creates a perfect time to revisit (or create) your own Personal Career Vision and figure out where you truly want to be later in life. i believe we each need to define this vision before we can take the correct action on it.

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” - George Washington Carver

Creating your vision - Where to Start

Like most things, getting started is often the hardest part. Steve Bohler, Director for the Oxford Program of Career Change, offers some suggestions on how to approach creating your personal vision. If done correctly, this exercise may be a little eye opening. Get started today by asking yourself the following:

What is my CORE? Your core defines how you are hard-wired - your natural abilities and personal traits. Using these traits is required for a fulfilling work life. If your work makes it impossible for you to express these essential aspects of yourself, self-actualization will be just about impossible. The best way to understand your core is through a “triangulation” of objective testing, reflection, and external validation.

Objective Testing: Results from a sound interests/personality assessment can help you identify your role in life. For example, at work are you supposed to be a “creator” or a “doer?”
Reflection: Look over your employment history and identify themes that run through the jobs you’ve loved and those you’ve hated. Does the objective testing help to explain why those themes exist?
External Validation: What do others who know you well suggest are your greatest, natural talents?

What is my AMBITION? No Personal Career Vision can exist without getting intimately in touch with what you really want, now and in the future. Your ambition builds off of your core and paints a picture of your ideal destination. If you know where you want to go, you’ll have a much easier time getting there. Make a list on paper:

What time do you want to start work? What do you want to wear to work?
What organizational style do you find most compatible? What setting? Profit vs. non-profit? Summers off?
What are your lifetime goals? Retiring early? Becoming a homeowner?
Imagine being on your death bed. What are the things you must do or achieve in your life to feel satisfied? Becoming prominent in your field? Writing a book? Somehow making a difference in the world?

Then ask yourself, which of these are important enough to wait, create or fight for? Which of these will be a part of my Personal Career Vision?

What are my TRADEMARK ASSETS? Your assets make up your competitive advantage. They are your source of success and meaning as well as your greatest value to the world. Think about:

What are you really interested in? Do you look forward to reading the trade magazines for your job, or do you dread it? If you were stranded on a desert island and could get one magazine subscription, what would that magazine be about?
What gift (or gifts) do you have that you haven’t fully acknowledged?
What makes you more naturally suited to a profession than 95 percent of the population because you bring a unique passion, experience, or talent to the table?
What do you know a lot about, or know a little about and want to know more about?
What do you really love doing? Think about those tasks where time flies by and you don’t even notice because you’re truly in the moment.

The answers to theses main questions should tell you a great deal about yourself and your personal ambitions. Once you’ve created your vision, start exploring avenues that will help you turn these desires into reality. It’s unrealistic to expect all of these “wants” to happen quickly, but now that your vision is taking shape, you can figure out what it will take to make it reality. Share your vision with a trusted mentor and begin to formulate what steps you need to take to fulfill these goals. It may involve a career change, switching industries, or perhaps accepting an interim position as a stepping stone to a future career. Though it may not be your favorite position, it could play a crucial role in reaching your ultimate goal.

Remember, “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” So take a moment, look inside yourself, and outline your Personal Career Vision, you’ll thank yourself in the future.

Career Transition Tips for Success (halliecrawford.typepad.com)
A Gap Year Can Get Gen Ys’ Groove Back (blogs.harvardbusiness.org)
How to recognize bad advice about work (penelopetrunk.com)

Guest Post: Want a Killer Logo? Hire a Professional

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on May 17, 2009

in Guest Posts

. 0 Comments

(Today’s guest post comes from Ben Johnson of Logoinn, a custom logo design service provider based in UK. Ben povides his thoughts on the importance of creating a killer logo.)

I don’t understand the psychology behind businesses getting their logos designed for the price of $5 or $10. How do they expect quality and professionalism in such low budgets for the most important instrument of their corporate identity? Why don’t they realize that cheap logos are more susceptible to producing sunken corporate identities or no identities at all?

You would agree with me on the fact that, if a logo becomes instantly recognizable by the viewers, it gets promoted to the level of being called a brand. Creating a brand identity for any business plays a huge role in today’s competitive world, as the brand infiltrates almost every facet of the company we can see and this is the reason why businesses willingly pay whatever the design agencies charge them for their logos. There are many reasons why design agencies ask for a lot of money from clients and this is what we are going to cover in this article.

Both small and large scale companies, want to have a strong identity for themselves. However, not all of them have the budget to approach the top logo design agencies to create their logo. For small businesses, who set comparatively low budgets for a logo, the most suitable alternatives are online logo design companies which offer design pervices at affordable prices.

There are a lot of things that contribute to creating a killer logo. A design company charges you a high price because it has all the experts under one roof to work on your project. An agency thinks businesses shouldn’t be reluctant in paying more for their logo. They say their designers go through an entire process to come up with a logo which guarantees success. So, high price is justified. Moreover, they charge you high because they are:

Experienced: This is one of the major reasons why logo design agencies charge more money than a less experienced logo design company or a freelancer. Now this is one aspect, you as a business owner need to be careful about. Quality of course comes with experience. The more understanding your logo designer has about logo creation, the more aesthetic logo you will get in the end.

Professional: It’s all about professionalism in the end. This includes their expertise in logo designing, client handling, giving and taking the brief. Above all, you hire a high priced logo design agency because you are sure they are professional.

Accountable: Logo design agencies are considered more accountable as compared to freelance logo designers, because mostly logo design agencies have a proper chain of procedures. If you have hired a design agency, you don’t have to wait for someone to answer your call; their support is available all the time unlike freelancers.

Reliable: You pay more to a design agency because they are more reliable than a freelancer. It’s about your logo; you won’t hire someone who has the reputation of being unreliable. You can check whether the design company is trustworthy or not by asking different people about it or by reading reviews about it on the internet.

Capable of handling large number of accounts: this is another reason why they charge you more than a freelancer. They work with a proper system and because of that they are capable of handling large number of accounts without any mishandling or delays. They work on a large scale, with a battalion of designers along with a team of sales and customer support.

Loaded with professional Logo Designers and high quality Logo Concepts: The more superior the design agency, the bigger their team of professional designers. With so many quality designers, there is a guarantee that you would not end up with a bad logo for your business.

Equipped with broader skill set: You pay more to design agencies, because they possess broader skill sets for graphic designing. A freelancer might be specialized in graphic designing but he won’t be able to guide you in creating a brand identity. Moreover, you may have other services related to your business under one roof.

Frequently available for face to face meetings: Design agencies charge you higher than a freelancer, because you can meet with them anytime during the working hours, sit with them, talk to them about your project. While many of the freelancers work online and you can’t reach them face to face.

Of course if a design agency charges you more, it has to have the above mentioned reasons behind it. They must have a reputable name in the design industry, gained through ample experience and professionalism. They must have shown reliability to their clients and have produced high quality logo designs which later on proved successful and converted into big brands with remarkable identity. Unlike freelance designers, they occupy a physical workplace to accommodate a bunch of creative designers or even more to come up with the best logo concepts for their clients. The software they use cost them thousands of dollars, the computers, the stationery etc.

Now it depends upon you to either hire a freelancer who would charge you $5 or $10 for an awful logo or a professional logo design agency with a killer logo. Remember! Design agencies charge you high because they guarantee to provide 100% satisfaction with a killer logo and an exceptional customer service. It’s worth the investment. Do give your feedback in the comments section. - Ben Johnson

Confused between a Freelancer and a Logo design company? (startupstudent.com)
What’s Missing in Your Logo? (theengagingbrand.typepad.com)
Small Business Creative Logo Design (stepbysteptips.com)

Setting Priorities 101: Plan Each Day to Ensure Success

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on May 8, 2009

in Classroom 101 and Personal Development

. 4 Comments

todolists2 Setting Priorities 101: Plan Each Day to Ensure Success

We all have 168 hours in every week. No more, no less. And though many of us might wish we could, we will never have the power to add to that number. Our level of success is directly related to how we manage our time each and every day.

For those aspiring to get ahead, every new day brings greater challenges, new opportunities, and undoubtedly additional items to add to the “To-Do List.” We constantly have more and more demands placed on our time and it seems the closer we get to achieving our goals, the more and more things we have to get done each day. Setting priorities and planning ahead is no longer a “nice to do” option, it’s the price of admission in being effective.

The more time you invest in planning and setting your priorities before you begin your day, the more you’ll be able to accomplish — and the faster you’ll get those tasks done.

I know this isn’t breaking news - you’ve heard it before. Yet even knowing this, a majority of people neglect taking a few extra minutes to truly plan for their day and internalize what they want to accomplish in that given time. The key to maximizing your time and efforts is learning to identify and work on the most important tasks until they’re complete. Prioritizing is one of those things that sounds easy, but can be hard to do consistently. There are various published techniques on how to become better at setting your priorities; however the one I have personally found to be the most beneficial is the “ABCDE Method.”

It sounds basic, but if you truly understand the power of this technique and implement it every day, you will be amazed at its effectiveness.

The ABCDE Method of Prioritizing

The ABCDE Method requires that you review your list of given tasks and put an A, B, C, D, or E next to each one in order of priority. The way that you determine your highest priority at any moment is to think about the potential consequences of doing or not doing a particular task. The very act of performing this excise and thinking through your tasks before you start work will dramatically increase your efficiency and effectiveness once you begin working.

A - “A” tasks are extremely important, they are considered must do’s. They have serious consequences if they are completed or not. Whether you do them or don’t do them can have a major impact on your results and your success. You should always do your “A” tasks before anything else. Assuming that you have more than one “A” task, organize them by priority, as A-1, A-2, A-3, and so on.

B –“B” tasks are things that you should do, but they’re not as important as A-tasks. They have mild consequences if completed or not. Doing it or not doing it may cause some inconvenience, but the consequences are relatively minor compared to A-tasks.

C - “C” tasks are those that would be nice to do, but it will have no consequences at all. Whether you do them, attempt them, complete them or not, they will have no consequences in your life or work at all. They usually will not contribute to your long-term success in your personal life or career.

As you can tell by now, the general rule is to never to a “B-task” when there is an “A-task” left on the list. Likewise, never do a “C-task” when you still have “B-task” left undone. Stay focused on all the “A-tasks” before moving on to a “B” and so on down the list.

D - “D” tasks need to be completed but should be given to someone else to complete. Putting it bluntly, delegate them! The only time you should spend on these tasks is the amount of time it takes you to figure out to whom the task should be sent to and the needed direction for completion. The more you can delegate, the more time you will have to focus on the “A” tasks, which have the most impact on your success and happiness.

E - “E” stand for eliminate. These are the activities that are no longer important in the achievement of your most important goals today. When you take a close look at it, much of what you do during the day or week can be eliminated with no consequences at all.

Once you have completed this entire exercise, go back to you’re A-1 task and focus all your energy and concentration on starting and completing this job before you do anything else.

Give it a try! Or if you’ve had success with a different method, leave a comment with your suggestions. If done right, you’ll soon be asking yourself, “What am I going to do with my 168?” Now wouldn’t that be wishful thinking…

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Contest Winners! 1000 Free Business Cards

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on May 1, 2009

in Miscellaneous

. 1 Comment

A few weeks ago, I teamed up with UPrinting.com to offer a chance to win either 1,000 business cards or 500 standard brochures promoting your business, yourself or whatever you want! Thank you to those who entered the contest. Each entry was assigned a number and 2 winners were selected via random.org.

And The Winners Are…

1. Ben Eubanks - Wins 1,000 Free Business Cards
2. Tom Fijalkovic - Wins 500 Free Brochures

If you are one of the lucky winners, I will be sending you an email shortly with the details about how to claim your prize.

Thanks again to all who participated and a special thanks to UPrinting for sponsoring the contest. Stay tuned for further contest and giveaways on DrivenLeaders.com in the months to come.