A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak as a panelist on the topic of performance. The discussion revolved around the business organization and basically how to get things done. I spoke at length about service and how every position in an organization must serve the customer or serve someone who does whether that be internal or external. But I spent even more time talking about productivity and execution. Simply stated I shared that the best thing we can do is to identify those tasks which are most productive and then execute through completion. So often the urgent creeps in on the important and before you know it the really important things get left behind. Perhaps you told a customer you would call back at a specific time or you promised a co-worker to assist with a task and as often does, you get pulled away for something urgent. The result may be a bad customer experience, a missed sale or if internal it may cause friction with your co-worker. We all have many “irons in the fire” and the days often get short which makes it that much more important to identify what you need to accomplish each day and get it done. Every decision and action should either make money or save money which are the most important things we can do as a for-profit business. If you have identified an important task be sure it on the top of your list for completion. Otherwise the urgent may squeeze out the important.
As I concluded speaking about Performance I wrapped up with Accountability and gave them the question I use at my company and hope you use as well. At the end of an assignment and at the end of each day I ask…“Did I Serve and Execute with Excellence?”
- We Serve by identifying an internal or external need.
- We Execute by completing all the steps necessary to meet the identified need
- Excellence is meeting the need to the best of your ability as you said you would.
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