>MargMcI@aol.com got us going on Sat, 15 Mar 1997 10:29:59 with:
>...
>From my brief study of Workflow, one of the reasons is the inability of
>people to say "no" to requests of them. Unfortunately, the consequence of
>saying "no" sometimes is more than people want to accept, so they promise
>to do more and then suffer from the weight of it.
>...
> I believe that with more order (in an organic way, not imposed order)
>that people could actually be more productive and more satisfied. The
>difficulty I'm having is trying to create enough of an opening in people's
>awareness to generate the space for reflection and redesign. How to get
>off of the treadmill long enough to think systemically and come up with a
>better solution than working harder. People seemed resigned to this way
>as the way it is.
>... Regards,
> Margaret McIntyre Management Consultant Atlanta, GA 404-365-8420
I am constantly amazed at how people do have great difficulty "coping".
When we imagine how Jack Welch of GE or Bill Clinton manage to cope, it is
clear to me that coping with the challenges of business is the key
differentiator between those that rise in an organization and those that
do not.
Granted there are other differentiators, and much is based on luck but, IT
IS what we choose to do with our precious time that will ultimately
determine our relative contributions to our enterprises.
In my first sales management position, I discovered that many of my
salesmen spent time doing the wrong things. I worked hard to teach them to
rank their daily work in both importance and urgency dimensions, and to
spend at least 1 hour each day on the IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT.
Their productivity went up immediately! But most did not retain this
discipline once my stimulus was removed. They went back to doing what felt
good.
Gary's analogy of the bucket of oysters reminds me of a couple of stories.
Our CEO had an executive assistant. He was told never to present any mail
that was not personally addressed to the CEO and even then only what the
assistant could not handle on his own. The CEO said that enough people
brought items to his attention to keep him busy without his looking for
more... so ... I would threaten to transfer anyone in my units who spent
more than 30 minutes a day on Mail of all types, including eMail. This
forced them to make choices.
OTOH I probably increased their sense of "overwhelm" and for that I
offered training in "coping" with outside resources. It seemed to be a
reasonable compromise and we were quite productive. (I understand that
Computer Associates used to shut down their eMail system during prime time
to encourage interpersonal communications.)
(To steal a line from Scott) For the fun of it! ... Keith
K.C. Cowan - President - 72212.51@compuserve.com
<a href="http://OurWorld.CompuServe.Com/HomePages/YTI">YTI Web Site</a>
Created at 12:33 PM, on Wednesday, March 26, 1997 with WinCIM EMail/Assist
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>