Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: effectiveness

  • Question of the Week

    What are seven personal attributes of yours that distinguish you from the rest of the team? How do they enhance your effectiveness?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Question of the Week

    How often to you review procedures to evaluate for continued relevance or effectiveness?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Question of the Week

    How might others’ effectiveness increase if you chose to pause and chat with team members as you walk through the office?

  • Out-of-Contact Doesn’t Have To Mean Out-of-Touch

    If your working rhythm thrives on extended periods of concentration and focus, you need to turn off the phone, close your email browser, quit all your messaging programs and close the door. No question about it. No question, that is, from your perspective.

    Continuing our discussion of this week’s podcast interview with software developer Jorge Rosas, from the perspective of others (clients, team members, supervisors) a complete communication cut-off can be quite disconcerting, if not problem-causing.

    What we want is for others to feel that we are accessible without having instant accessibility be the only form contact can take.

    All communication technologies include a means to notify others of how and when you will respond to their contact. I have found that as long as others hear:

    1. That their message is important to you, and
    2. A time frame for when you will get back to them, they will be satisfied.

    Now your communication “absence” serves both your working needs and others’ contact needs.

    Please don’t sacrifice your own effectiveness in order to stay in touch with others. Those are not mutually exclusive outcomes.

    How do you get things done while remaining accessible 24/7?

  • Resource Find! Concrete Goals Tracker

    Concrete Goals TrackerCheck 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