How available should you be when communication access is 24/7?
Who orders your day, when messages, calls, and emails continually interrupt?
This week’s podcast interview with software developer Jorge Rosas is a great conversation about avoiding overwhelm without having to avoid people.
Listen in.
The leader’s subject is neither data nor databases. The subject is decision-making.
Continuing our discussion of this week’s podcast, what information will help you make the best decision in the most timely manner? Forget “perfect” decisions or being “right.” We don’t need ALL the information viewed from EVERY perspective in order to take action. Nor can we look to the data to make our decisions for us.
Beware of information gluttony… it leads to decision paralysis.
As a rule of thumb, then, no report should be either designed or generated for which the specific decision that you are trying to make cannot be identified. Think about it. Imagine what else you could be working on once unchained from database hell.
Knowing what decision(s) you are trying to make will transform your relationships with your technical and administrative staffs as well. Instead of telling them what data or report you want to see, describe to them what decision you are trying to make. You will benefit from their expertise, and they will become more invested in their jobs.
How do you avoid information overload?
Have you listened to this week’s podcast interview with software developer Jorge Rosas yet? Click on the player in the right column. Or to hear the entire series so far, click here.
Check out this Concrete Goals Tracker. David Seah has put together an easy-to-use tool for prioritizing and encouraging progress on the tasks most important to you.
We’re always looking for ways to move away from overwhelmed busyness and move toward satisfying effectiveness. (Without, of course, needing to be divine first.) I like his priority categories for weighting the value of the various outcomes of our efforts.
Here is a simple tool I am going to try right away. I thought you’d like to know.
On your side,
– Karl
When does information become the leader’s enemy?
When the sifting and sorting of data overwhelms the timely decisions that need to result.
In this week’s podcast interview with software developer, Jorge Rosas, we look at database hell. Have you ever wondered how so many leaders get trapped in the quicksand of endless information and reports grasping for the perfect decision?
Sound decision-making need not be such a perilous and overwhelming process.
Listen in.
Greg Ogden. Intervarsity Press. Downers Grove, IL 2007.
If I could trace the most significant influences in my personal and professional journey, Greg Ogden would be at the top of the list.
And so I am especially excited that he is back with another formation tool, Leadership Essentials. Focused on developing emerging leaders in character, influence and vision, this new tool provides a simple structure for anyone wanting to build into the life of another.
Instead of imposing an ideal (read unattainable) model of leadership on us, he lays out a process which engages our individual formation stories.
The process provides structure and content for the personal and relational dynamics to take on a power all of their own. The benefits to each person’s leadership maturity increase directly and exponentially with the level of energy and love invested.
Designed for those who share a Christian spirituality and find the Bible a vital resource for life direction, personal health and vocational reflection.
If you find yourself resorting to the “over commit the good-hearted” method of leadership development, here is your ticket to change.
It was precisely such a personal and dynamic investment that transformed my own life. I recommend you find another leader or two and accompany each other on this experience.
It’s tempting to reduce software or hardware upgrade decisions to simple purchase choices. Can we afford the sticker price?
Talking with software developer Jorge Rosas in this week’s podcast, there are two problems with this strategy. 1.) There are also indirect costs, such as helping users get up-to-speed and adjusting business processes impacted by the upgrade. These are more difficult to calculate, but need to be considered. 2.) There are also indirect benefits, such as staying connected with support services to help solve problems and mitigate disasters.
More helpful might be to ask whether the upgrade will result in an “arithmetic benefit” or an “exponential benefit.” Arithmetic benefits include such things as: speed increases, feature enhancements, and quality improvements. Exponential benefits involve changes that permit you to eliminate entire business processes, reorganize for slimmer staffing, stop using paper or making certain telephone calls altogether.
As a rule of thumb, I wait for something to provide an exponential benefit before investing in extensive change.
How do you evaluate upgrade decisions?
What would happen if you made additional tools and support available to your employees without dictating to them how or for what to use them?
See what IBM experienced when it made various publishing and broadcasting tools available to its employees and trusted them with the uses. Read Eric Eggertson’s insights into how building a corporate “culture of trust and authenticity” will result in unanticipated creativity and buy-in.
People are not an interchangeable commodity whose energies we exploit as long as we can get away with it. They are our primary asset, a source of infinite energy and creativity, IF we come to terms with the reality that core to their (our) motivation is the opportunity to contribute and make a difference.
Try an experiment of your own and see what amazing new improvements, initiatives and/or innovations emerge from your team.
On your side.
Upgrade decisions are a fact of life in the fast-changing tech world.
Are you torn between wanting to stay abreast of advances in technology and wanting to keep spending to a minimum? When does an expense shift from being a resented and avoided intrusion caused by others to an investment that is anticipated and incorporated into one’s business strategy?
This week software developer Jorge Rosas and I tackle the upgrade investment quandry. We discuss decision-making criteria that lead to solutions that fit, not pre-fab solutions that force you to fit into some rigid upgrade formula.
Listen in.
It was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, except that I was lying awake thinking about my unmet goals for the year.
Tomorrow morning, the kids will revel in the gifts and delights of the a holiday key to our family’s faith. I will muster my focus to participate fully and set aside the concerns that I did not accomplish all I set out to in 2007.
What does the coming of the Christ Child represent if not the abrupt intrusion of the unexpected gift we need most? We learn that we are not alone and because we are not alone there is always hope.
And so, I do not beat myself up over missed targets. I learn. I get help. I look forward. I keep moving forward.
There is always a way forward. Even if it is not the path I had originally planned. I adjust. I try again. I stay in the game.
I find my energies and efforts renewed by knowing that I am not alone and that there is always hope.
I think I will have no problem being fully present with my family tomorrow morning. I hope you will learn from your 2007 as well, so we can all show up for a more vital 2008.
Merry Christmas.