MODERN LEADERSHIP
week, anticipate what is coming
up, and realign your priorities with
what you are trying to achieve –
your outcomes.
Tools like MS Outlook are seen
as email clients, but they are so
much more. They are designed
to help you manage your actions,
inputs and outcomes. If they are
used in a co-ordinated way, they
can give you the leverage you
need to stay productive in the
modern workplace.
be cleared to zero at least once
per week. When you process your
emails, be decisive. Delete what
you don’t need. File the things
you are finished with, but feel
you need to keep (But please, a
few well thought out folders is
quicker and more effective than
a complicated filing hierarchy).
Delegate anything that is not
a good use of your time. But
most importantly, schedule your
actions into your task list or
calendar rather than keeping them
highlighted in your inbox. This will
give you greater control over your
actions as you will be managing
the priority within the context of
your time.
Step 3: Realise your
Outcomes
How often do you feel like your job
has become a series of endless
meetings and emails? What about
the time that you need to work on
the really meaningful work? That
time just seems to evaporate or
get stolen by somebody else’s
urgent crises. While meetings and
emails are a critical way of getting
stuff done, your ability to deliver
in your role requires more. It
requires time to think, to plan and
to work on the activities that are
driven by your outcomes, rather
than just your inputs.
Many executives that I work with
complain about not being able
to find time for the important
work. But you will never find time
for this, you have to make time
in your schedule. You need to
proactively schedule time for the
important stuff, and then protect
it fiercely. You should protect it
from the other people that want
to steal your time away, and
also from yourself, as it is easy
to procrastinate over the more
complex work that contributes to
our outcomes.
The best way to create a
connection between your
outcomes and your actions is
to invest some of your time in
personal planning. Sometimes we
need to stop doing, and take some
time to plan and prioritise. Having
a robust weekly planning routine
in place is a good way to build
a habit around this. Each week,
review last week, organise next
Nelson Jackson once said “I do
not believe you can do today’s job
with yesterday’s methods and be
in business tomorrow”. I would
also suggest that we cannot do
today’s job with yesterday’s tools
and be in business tomorrow.
Technology has contributed to our
productivity challenges over the
last decade, and it can also be a
part of the solution. But only if we
learn to use it in a smart way.
Dermot Crowley is a productivity
thought leader, author, speaker and
trainer. Dermot works with leaders,
executives and professionals in many
of Australia’s leading organisations,
helping to boost the productivity of
their people and teams. He is the
author of Smart Work, published by
Wiley. For more information, visit www.
dermotcrowley.com.au or email dermot.
[email protected]
March 2016
ModernBusiness
11