Every Job Can Be Broken Down into 3 or 5 Components to Maximize Your Impact
You know that you should spend more time with your people. Help them get resources, prioritize their work. But you don’t. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. So in those precious few minutes you carve out for your people, how can you maximize your impact?
No matter whether you are a school crossing guard or CEO of a big company, your responsibilities can be condensed into 3 to 5 key components—no exceptions. If you have people reporting to you, an effective and efficient (and fun) exercise is to ask each of your people to identify (and label) the key areas of their responsibility. Then prioritize them. For success this year, determine which one (or two) are most important.
Now, when you meet with them:
1. Review the list and see if you agree on the 3 or 5 key areas. I can assure you that in minutes you will recognize opportunities to clarify or even correct misalignment.
2. Now that you are in alignment, agree on priorities. What is the top priority, and what is least important?
3. Finally, ask: “What do you need and how can I help you be successful?”
This will virtually assure that your people will understand their total job responsibilities, know the priorities for success, and feel like you are there to support their efforts.
And that is what good bosses do.
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