Comments on: The Leader’s Daily Reminder List

By: Dorothy Dalton

Dorothy Dalton — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:45:06 +0000

Hi Art – Happy New Year! These are great ideas and because I’m not a fan of NY resolutions ( have wirtten about that! ) . I think these wonderful goals should on going and part of a daily routine – but great to remind everyone of their importance!

Best

Dorothy

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:57:27 +0000

Congratulations! This post was selected as one of the five best independent business blog posts of the week in my Three Star Leadership Midweek Review of the Business Blogs.

http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2010/01/06/1610-midweek-look-at-the-independent-business-blogs.aspx

Wally Bock

By: Arthur Petty

Arthur Petty — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:12:00 +0000

Wally, I’m still chuckling at the simple elegance of the “voluntary” idea. How about this…if a meeting is voluntary, then consider killing it altogether and dealing with the communications issues via a less time-invasive medium. Save meetings for when they really count. Thanks as always for reading and sharing your wisdom! -Art

By: Arthur Petty

Arthur Petty — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:09:02 +0000

Susan, thanks so much for reading and commenting! I love your point on the survival of long extinct administrative demands. Heck, I love all of your points! Great addition to the post. I look forward to sharing and hearing more from you in the future. -Art

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:04:30 +0000

Leadership and self-improvement are everyday things. Thanks for the reminder.

I especially like your point about being aware of how much time of others you suck up to no good purpose. Suggestion: make attendance at meetings voluntary.

By: Susan Bender Phelps

Susan Bender Phelps — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:58:23 +0000

Art,

This is my first visit to your site. I really like this article, especially the items about thinking what a leader can do to simplify and minimize the administrative time demands that we place on the people that work for us and about spending more time listening and asking questions.

In today’s flattened organizations, many managers don’t believe they have the time to think about how each reqeust they make of their team or group members impacts the overall flow of work and the ability of their staff to meet deadlines and reach goals. Added administrative tasks, or those with too many and perhaps unnecessary steps, can derail rather than support. Sometimes administrative tasks stay in place because they were once needed and that is how it has always been done.

I have seen very talented and able people burn-out and quit or become less effective due to the impact caused by not looking at the system before putting new demands on it. Sometimes all it takes is a short conversation on reordering priorities before things slide or take a turn for the worst. Sometimes it means taking a more global look at why things are beeing done and evaluating whether or not they should continue to be done that way.

Listening and asking questions is such a great tool for empowering people to think things through and discover answers for themselves. People remember what they discover for themselves far better than when someone tells them the answer or what to do.

In training people how to be effective mentors, these are two aspects I believe are essential for both partners to get the most from their mentoring relationship. These skills, when carried over, make people more effective managers and leaders.

I am looking forward to reading more of your posts.

All the BEST!
Susan

By: Arthur Petty

Arthur Petty — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:29:24 +0000

Monica, Happy New Year to you as well and thanks for sharing your insightful comment! Great example of your own time and priority management and I like the middle-ground approach that you describe. And yes, even though I talk tough about the challenges with annual resolutions, I appreciate the time to reflect as well. My own personal challenge is to do that more often…while striving to improve in at least some small way every day. Best, Art

By: Monica Diaz

Monica Diaz — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:10:11 +0000

Art: I believe both things have a different function. While New Years’ resolutions in the traditional sense (wishful thinking involved) do work like you describe here, the obvious stop in the road that year-end provides is a great time to reflect, envision where you are going, set goals for the upcoming 12 months. That reflection should of course include DAILY PRACTICES like you describe here. Many people get lost in the lofty, bigger picture without realizing that what they do everyday is what will cause the most impact. It is in many ways where you spend your life (the time you have on Earth) that determines who you are. I love the way that you talk here about using your time. Leaders, excecutives and other high-ranking people have lost control of their calendars for the sake of simplicity in their workload without realizing what they have given away. Moving around a lot makes it time-consuming and difficult to reach me and make an appointment, so my assistant does a lot of that. When I found I was doing too many things that didn’t matter to me last year, I decided to work on a middle ground: I planned a skeleton weekly calendar, with ammounts of time for connecting, taking care of admin stuff, meeting with clients, coaching, etc…then, she could send me ical invites knowing that they had to occupy the corresponding time slots. It worked wonders and my time moved closer to where I wanted it. Also, I use Timebridge for group meeting invitations and it takes care of the back-and-forth planning. Happy New Year and as always, thanks for your thought-provoking posts.