You Stopped Doing WHAT?

Sounds familiar!  During difficult times, the leaders of companies are working frantically to come up with turnaround strategies.  It is during such times, that one receives directives upon directives to execute.  Some of these directives may not even make sense, but as a senior manager you had your orders to execute.

For some, your company may be doing better.  The vision is clear and well communicated.  The video playing in your mind is similar to that of your leadership.  In this situation, enjoy your journey.

For others, the journey is challenging.  I remember a game I played at a carnival, when I was young.  You may have played it too.  It’s the Whack-A-Mole game.  A mole pops up, and you are to whack it down.  As you progress, they pop up at increased frequency.  Soon you will miss whacking some.  The initiatives and directives coming from the leaders of your company sometimes feel like the mole popping up.  You whack and you whack but they keep popping up.  It never ends!

So how do you end it?  You can get more people to help you whack the moles.  But that is against the rule.  The rule is “do more with less.”  In fact, they may tighten the rule by tying up one hand or blind-folding you.  You can of course walk away from the game and end the frustration.  You risk being labeled with all kinds of names for walking out.  That may not be an option either.  You have your pride.

As manager in your organization, you have your role cut out.  You cannot be piling initiatives upon initiatives; strategies upon strategies; and actions upon actions on yourself and your team.  Something has to give.  So, before you make a decision or take an action, ask yourself or your team this question.

What have you stopped doing in the last couple of months to create capacity so your team can focus on new strategies, actions, and behaviors?

When I was working on the strategic planning for my unit, I asked myself this question.  I asked my team this same question.  I can feel a sense of relief when the question was asked.  Of course, I asked many other questions but for this posting I wanted to focus on just this one.  I was surprised at the responses.  There were so many activities that we were doing that are questionable.  On further investigation, I found that the actions were taken appropriately to address certain problems.  Over time the problems have been resolved or the conditions had changed.  We continue the activities because no manager stopped them.  The action did not have an expiration date.  We all have selective memory, so a good documentation of why we took an action is important.  It helped me when we reviewed the action.

Reflect on these concepts! 

1.      To do more, we have to stop doing some.

2.      Every action or activity introduced must have an expiration date.

"You stopped doing what," may be a great strategy to improve your output and productivity.  It is time to ask this simple question. Be mindful that the answers may be difficult and complex.  In the end, they can only help strengthen your unit’s strategy and execution and move your organization forward in the right direction.