If you had to evaluate a sales person's performance, what criteria would you set to rate it? No. of calls made? No. of activities conducted? Promotional inputs distributed? Timely sending of daily report?
Certainly, you would take all this into account when evaluating his performance. Now, suppose that he is the "model salesman". He does all this with diligence. Would you rate his performance as good and give him a raise, promotion and incentive? The answer would be "It depends, because while all this would fetch him certain points, the ultimate deciding factor for performance in a salesman's case would be the sales that he generates."
This is a classic example of the different between "Activities" and "Accomplishment". One is about knowing the right things to do as well as doing them as they are meant to be done. The second is about Delivering Outcomes.
Herein also lies the difference between the role of a Manager and an Executive. The problem arises because most Managers do not understand the different correctly. To quote Drucker , "What is the manager's job? It is to direct the resources and the efforts of the business toward opportunities for economically significant results. In other words, the Manager must focus on Effectiveness and Outcomes, rather than simply on Activities.
Are you playing the role of a "Manager" in the true sense? Ask yourself these critical questions...
- Do you have the orientation to focus on results or outcomes, whenever you take on a task?
- Do you prioritize allocation of resources time and attention, people, and money based on the principle of Return on Investment?
- Do you ensure that an adequate amount of your time and attention is spent on capturing opportunities and development, and not just problem resolution?
- Do you have the knack for identifying the productive v/s non-productive, nurturing the productive aspects and eliminating the non-productive ones?
- Do you take the time to stop and evaluate the results, rather than focusing on running faster and faster?
This is my challenge to you today...Honestly evaluate what is your current level of effectiveness. Understand what difference would it make to your life and work if this level were raised. Examine all the important areas of your work and life. Find out which are the areas in which you are being incredibly efficient but contributing effectively nothing towards the achievement of ultimate goals.
Set this situation right. Effective working is easy to achieve if you follow these simple steps...
- Share your vision with the team. Ensure their complete involvement
- Maintain continuous communication and transparency
- Delegate well, and use information and control systems to stay in close touch with what is happening
- Invest in building your team. Choose good people, train them well, define systems and processes for working, teach them tools and techniques for enhancing their efficiency, reward and recognize outstanding performance.
- Make the Power of Planning and Information Systems work for you.
- Continuously Measure / Evaluate performance through a structured and unstructured review mechanism.
- Set up a paradigm for your work and benchmark with best practices.
- Set up processes and systems for efficient and effective working.
- Manage your own time well
- Focus on your own need for continuous self development
Get this "Secret Mantra" of balancing Efficiency and Effectiveness right. And watch your performance and career graph soar beyond your wildest imagination
As a first generation entrepreneur, Mr. Sushil Handa took his own decisions, made his own mistakes, learnt from them and continued to grow. However, one thing he has sorely missed is the presence of a 'mentor' who could have guided him through the various crests and troughs of his career and life. This, along with an innate ability to recognize the uniqueness and potential of ideas, opportunities and people, have evolved into the vision behind The FifthVeda Entrepreneurs - a platform through which Mr. Sushil Handa seeks to partner with young and enterprising people who have the desire to nurture an entrepreneurial dream and are willing to lead from the front, and share his belief and commitment in shaping the creation of a brave new world.
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