Monthly Archives: March 2018

The not to do list

Book Review

We are all familiar with the to do list.  I hate these and do not have them.  I have themes (such as health, career etc) in my life and goals around these themes.  Each day I decide three things that I am going to do today.  That’s it.  Just three things.  These three things must be important or they do not make it on my short list.  If you make an open ended to-do list then all kinds of things can be there.  Even the unimportant.  The danger is then that you will focus on just getting things done on the list rather than focusing on getting important things done.  We will be very busy but not achieve much.

Another concept that I think is a great idea is the not to do list.  There are things that we do that we shouldn’t do.  For example I used to start my day with email.  I put that on my not to do list and now I get 2 hours work done related to important goals before opening my email.  This makes me much more productive.  I found that even if I just scanned my email before working on something important that my mind would continue to be distracted by the email.  Another thing on my not to do list is not work after 9pm.  No matter what I am doing its time to switch off the computer and stop.  Rest, relaxation, family time and sleep are more important and by that stage I have done enough for the day.

At the moment I am reading the book ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins as to why good companies become great companies.  Interestingly great companies focus on what to do but also focus equally on what not to do and what to stop doing.  We can also apply this learning to our own lives.

How about you:  What do you need to stop doing?

PS I will be discussing other lessons from Good to Great that we can learn and apply in our personal lives over the coming weeks.

Destructive Internal Competition

Book Review, Business Book
Work cooperatively with others for the company’s welfare and not just your own

This week is the final post in the series where we look at why there is a gap between knowing and doing something in business.

Competition within and between businesses is widely thought to be a good thing.  It is widely thought to promote innovation, efficiency and higher levels of organisational performance.  It is a zero sum game where we have winners and losers and the winner takes all type thinking.  I can just imagine Donald Trump in the apprentice pointing his finger at me saying “your fired!”.

The problem with this type of zero-sum winners and losers type thinking is that it focuses on individuals while at the same time undermining teams.  Where people are rewarded for their individual performance this goes against the idea of sharing information so that best practices are shared.  Competition for rewards and status undermines knowledge sharing.  The type of thinking: “I am not going to help the next guy – he is my competitor for a bonus”.  Competition between units within the organisation can also undermine sharing of knowledge which will benefit the whole organisation.

One of the best ways to overcome too much internal competition is to reinforce a common organisational identity by highlighting external threats and enemies.  Workers should be able to work cooperatively for the overall organisation’s benefit and these workers who put the organisation’s welfare ahead of their own should be rewarded.

In summary, team work skills and skills around building groups where members cooperate, share information and help each other are vital skills needed to make any business or organisation successful.

Ref: ‘The Knowing-Doing Gap – How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton. Harvard Business School Press, 2000