Plan, Focus, Results

Busy people often struggle to be effective. Their energy and drive works against them because they attempt to solve every issue by working harder. By working longer hours. In the extreme, their energy and drive conspire to make them ineffective.

Plan
Smart people plan their time and mentor their team to plan effectively. By planning effectively, people find it easier to avoid the distraction trap and to focus their time on the tasks and initiatives which are aligned to the business goals. The creation of an effective operating plan, which is derived from a complete and honest strategic plan which, in turn, is aligned to the business vision and goals is a straightforward task that many intelligent senior managers and directors manage to avoid. With an effective plan, it becomes possible to focus limited resources on to the highest priority tasks and to ensure that the scarcest resources are being managed to deliver maximum effect.

Focus
The management art of keeping the team on track. Focus will ensure that people are working on the agreed priorities so that there are no surprises at the review meetings. The objectivity which is required to ensure that the review process works properly can on occasions be elusive. This is especially true if the focus is allowed to shift from facts and data (usually the basis of the plan you spent so much time writing and agreeing) to the emotions and opinions that arise from assumption and a complete lack of detachment.

Results
If you create a realistic and complete plan and then focus your team on working to that plan, the results will follow.

Objective Review
If you struggle to create a review process which includes the objectivity and detachment from the day-to-day struggle, consider hiring an external advisor. It may cost a lot less than you expect to engage a non-executive director (or business manager if you prefer) who is able to help the whole team to focus on the data. Hire the right help, and you will see the improvement in the performance of the management team in a number of areas.