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What Successful People Do the LAST Hour of Their Work Day

August 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Fast Company recently posted an article that created a mini online “buzz” because of its practical relevance.

The piece was simply titled “What Successful People Do the First Hour of Their Work Day” and outlined 6 activities that can help maximize your day.

In response to this outstanding post I believe there are also a set of 5 practices that leaders should anchor into the last hour of every work day.

Image via iStockPhoto.com

1.   Review the day’s accomplishments
Your work day was not simply 8 hours of clock-punching. Rather, it was an investment of your most precious leadership commodity; your time.

How well did you expend it? Did you accomplish what you set out to do? Take time to evaluate. Find ways to reward yourself for accomplishing an important goal, and determine why other goals were not met.

2.   Prioritize tomorrow’s goals
Don’t leave the office until you have a game plan set for the following day. Determine what a successful tomorrow looks like and what will be required to pull it off.

This is not a “to-do list”. It’s a leadership action plan designed to maximize results.

3.   Make someone’s day
The day wasn’t all about you.

Carve intentionality into the final hour of your day to connect with members of your team, and demonstrate the level of awareness required to engage in a meaningful conversation about their day.

A little of this goes a long way.

4.   Achieve “inbox zero”
In an earlier post I outlined practical steps to ensure your email inbox is empty by day’s end.

I won’t re-preach that message here, except to say don’t leave the office until the inbox is empty. Ever.

5.   Honour your stakeholders
Take 10 minutes to connect with a handful of stakeholders; board members, donors, key influencers, etc. Fire off a quick email, pop a thank-you note in the mail, send out a word of encouragement.

Make this a daily discipline at day’s end you’ll reap long-term rewards.

By bookending your day with Fast Company’s list for the first hour of your day, accompanied by these suggestions for the last hour of your day, the time you have in between could achieve far more than you ever imagined.

What strategies are on your “must do” list to start and end each day?

Filed Under: Effectiveness, Featured, Leadership, Strategy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Re-post When It’s Okay to Punt a Core Value

November 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Take out a copy of your team’s core values. You know the one I mean. It’s either filed away in a folder called “Documents”, or perhaps it’s in that binder labeled “2007 Off-site Retreat”. It’s possible that it’s framed and posted on the wall in your staff coffee room.

I’ll give you a minute while you go get it.

Read each value statement carefully. You probably have between 8 and 12 of them. They likely are peppered with phrases like “relentlessly focused on” and “wholly committed to”. Powerful stuff, eh?

The one I want you to zero in on is that one that jumps off the page, because quite frankly it just doesn’t fit. If the last time you did a review of your core values was more than two years ago, then in all probability there is at least one that simply doesn’t resonate with your present team.

You have three options:

1. You can re-cast vision around that value, “blow-torching it” until it once again is being lived out among your team, or

2. You can take out the white-out and simply eliminate the value, or

3. You can ignore the discrepancy and re-file the core values document back where you found it.

 

deleteI’m going to build a case for option #2; that sometimes the best option is have the courage to hit “delete”. This sounds like leadership heresy, but hear me out.

Teams change. And sometimes along with those changes new values emerge and old ones become out-dated.

Recently our team did a review of our core values and discovered one that was clearly a reflection of a different time in the history of the organization. After trying desperately to make this value “fit”, we finally had to look at each other and admit, “This value simply no longer reflects who we are.”

Don’t take the idea of deleting a core value lightly. This is a big deal. But be open to the possibility that a value once held in high regard by a previous team may simply no longer be true for this present team.

And have the courage to hit “delete”.

How do you keep your core values alive and relevant?

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,

When It’s Okay to Punt a Core Value

April 15, 2011 By 2 Comments

Take out a copy of your team’s core values. You know the one I mean. It’s either filed away in a folder called “Documents”, or perhaps it’s in that binder labeled “2007 Off-site Retreat”. It’s possible that it’s framed and posted on the wall in your staff coffee room.

I’ll give you a minute while you go get it.

Read each value statement carefully. You probably have between 8 and 12 of them. They likely are peppered with phrases like “relentlessly focused on” and “wholly committed to”. Powerful stuff, eh?

The one I want you to zero in on is that one that jumps off the page, because quite frankly it just doesn’t fit. If the last time you did a review of your core values was more than two years ago, then in all probability there is at least one that simply doesn’t resonate with your present team.

You have three options:

1. You can re-cast vision around that value, “blow-torching it” until it once again is being lived out among your team, or

2. You can take out the white-out and simply eliminate the value, or

3. You can ignore the discrepancy and re-file the core values document back where you found it.

deleteI’m going to build a case for option #2; that sometimes the best option is have the courage to hit “delete”. This sounds like leadership heresy, but hear me out.

Teams change. And sometimes along with those changes new values emerge and old ones become out-dated.

Recently our team did a review of our core values and discovered one that was clearly a reflection of a different time in the history of the organization. After trying desperately to make this value “fit”, we finally had to look at each other and admit, “This value simply no longer reflects who we are.”

Don’t take the idea of deleting a core value lightly. This is a big deal. But be open to the possibility that a value once held in high regard by a previous team may simply no longer be true for this present team.

And have the courage to hit “delete”.

How do you keep your core values alive and relevant?

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

How is your Pastor Doing, Really?

March 18, 2010 By 8 Comments

Chances are, if your church board functions like most, part of your mandate is to ensure the care, support and accountability of your lead pastor.

And chances are, if your church board functions like most, this vital function often gets overlooked.

Because let’s face it, this crucial role played by board members can often be awkward, and sometimes even be completely misunderstood.

On some boards the following sentiment gets inserted in a monthly board meeting agenda. With the pastor sitting at the end of the table the chairman will announce, “We will now check in with the lead pastor. So, pastor Bob… How’s it going?”

“Fine.”

“Great,” replies the chairman, crossing this item off the agenda. “Next item, repaving the parking lot…”

Here’s a practical suggestion to address this vital board function. Appoint a standing “sub-committee” whose sole purpose is the care, support and accountability of the lead pastor.

I serve on this group at our church, and this week’s coffee with our lead pastor reminded me again how important this role is.

This group, only three of us, meets four times per year with our pastor and includes:

  • Performance review. No sugar coating. We celebrate successes and press for results.
  • Support. To ensure his success we explore training opportunities and other resources.
  • Soul Care. In this safe setting we can look him straight in the eye and find out how he is doing…really. And we can respond with whatever spiritual care he requires. We are also on official “stand-by” to respond quickly should he require immediate care or counsel.

Bottom line? This week when we asked him “So, how are you doing, really,” we actually found out. For our pastor, our board and our church, that was a win.

How do you ensure the care, support and accountability of your pastor?

Filed Under: Action, Community, Leadership, Tension Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,