"I can't get any work done with all these distractions!" All bosses hear it. Especially in creative functions like design, engineering, R&D. I imagine lawyers, writers, nurses and many other professions could also (along with the rest of us) use reasonable periods of time where they can put 100% of their concentration into their work. In these days where "multitasking" is a "skill", leaders must combat the whittling away of their employee's productivity.
I was reminded of my experience as a leader of a custom engineering/manufacturing company. Designers would complain of having no time to get into their detailed design work. Distractions and interruptions from the floor, suppliers, bosses, meetings, would fragment their time. We found that an hour a day (or less) was a common amount to be spent on a project! Since many of these were design and development projects you can imagine that productivity was not as good as we wanted. We arrived at a good solution by establishing daily "quiet hours". For a period each day the engineering department did not answer phones, emails, attend meetings or entertain other interruptions. They were declared "offline" to the rest of the organization. It turned out to be very effective and was widely respected all coworkers. Psychologically it was important that as a leader I recognized the need for the "quiet time", and by doing so I empowered the people to take charge of their working time themselves.
Google search "Managing Interruptions" and you will get a laundry list of good tips you can pick from. In the end effectively managing interruptions is something that the employee has to take on for themselves as part of their daily interactions. Learning to say "no" to interruptions is a learned communications skill for most of us. Often it is an assertiveness issue as well. It is the job of the boss to recognize what habits the worker needs to change and give them the support they need to make the changes. Empowerment can can be defined as "permission and support from the boss to practice new behaviours in the workplace".
The "One Minute Manager meets the Monkey" is a quick read that gets to the heart of the matter for those ultra-committed souls that habitually take on too much.
Ultimately the boss has to guard his people and their time so they are most productive. Controlling the frequency and length of meetings and easing the difficulty of bureacratic processes are a couple of big ones. Set a good balanced example yourself: get results and have a good life. Send the right message Boss!
Points to ponder....
“After you plant a seed in the ground, you don’t dig it up every week to see how it is doing.”
In his 1975 HBR classic “The Manager’s Job,” Henry Mintzberg wrote: “Someone, only half in jest, once defined the manager as that person who sees visitors so that everyone else can get his work done.”
“Guard against the director’s first great vice—rabbiting on, making the same point again and again, getting laughs from your inimitable (and interminable) anecdotes.”
Say to your employees: “My job is to open the umbrella when the crap rains down from above. Your job is to keep me from having to open it too often.”
"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." -Ronald Reagan, 40th president of US (1911 - 2004)
"There is never enough time, unless you're serving it."- Malcolm Forbes
"Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but is also a disruption of thought." Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 - 1860)
Recommended Reads
Showing posts with label Quotations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quotations. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Back to it! More Motivational Messages
Summer is gone, and we are all pretty much back to the grind full force. I think the time is right for another dose of motivational quotes. Hope you get inspired. Now go out there and Git'er Dun!
"Nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently tenacious fool!"
Stop itching and start pitching!
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
Move like you are going somewhere.
None of us is as smart as all of us. - Japanese Proverb
Pain is a fact of life...Misery is optional
"Failure is not an option"
1) Carve your own path, 2) you are your own lottery & 3) luck is the intersection of preparedness and opportunity.
"You see things and you say 'Why'. But I dream things that never were and I say 'Why not'."
Before you say you can't, say I'll try
There are no runners up in a battle
The best way to get people to build a ship is not to teach them carpentry, assign them tasks and give them schedule to follow but to make them long for the infinite immensity of the sea
" IF YOU CAN'T DO IT I WILL FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN"
Work is love made visible. And if you can't work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of the people who work with joy.
All that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing.
"LET'S DO AMAZING"
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
—Charles R. Swindoll (b.1934), writer, clergyman
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile - Roger Staubach
"The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is how high you raise your feet"
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” - Wayne Gretzky
Adversity has the ability to elicit talents which, in more prosperous times would have lain dormant. -Horace, 45BC
It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf. ~Jonatan Mårtensson
If your actions inspire others to dream, to learn, to do more and to be better, then you're a leader. - Jack Welch.
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted . . . " Randy Pausch
"Minds are like parachutes, not much good unless they are open"
"It is NOW or NEVER"
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all" - Peter F Drucker
Vision without execution is delusion - Thomas Edison
"If a man doesn't know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him”. (Seneca)
"You get what you give." - Tom Baker
Fail to plan .... plan to fail.
"That's all I can stand, I can't stands no more" - Popeye the Sailorman
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." -Nelson Mandela
If you haven't failed yet today, you're underestimating your potential!
He who hesitates is lost.
It is amazing what becomes possible , when you have seen it done before.
Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
It is amazing how much you can get done when you are always doing. - Thomas Jefferson
I never learned anything from someone who agreed with me
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.
Do or Do Not. There is no try. - Yoda
You can transform your world in an instant by the way you choose to see it. You can change problems into opportunities, anxiety into enthusiasm, and despair into determination.
Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. (Albert Einstein)
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Seneca
No friction no shine
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." W. Edward Deming
Whatever Captures Your Focus, Controls Your Life.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up - Thomas Alva Edison
Anticipate & Accelerate!
Sometimes it is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Think like a man of action...act like a man of thought.
"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."
"I discovered plans to be useless and planning invaluable" -- Dwight D Eisenhower
"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving, but does not make any progress." - Alfred Montapert
"To lead a symphony, you must sometimes turn your back to the crowd."
Culture eats strategy for breakfast - Jack Walsh
It's never the important person who is in a rush to get somewhere.
"Everything you want in life is waiting for you outside of your comfort zone" - Antony Fernando
" The function of LEADERSHIP is to produce more leaders not more FOLLOWERS " - Ralph Nader
"If people jumped at opportunities as fast as they do to conclusions they would be better off"
Rejoice in other people's triumphs.
An emergency on your part constitutes an opportunity on mine
What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?
Recommended Reads
"Nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently tenacious fool!"
Stop itching and start pitching!
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
Move like you are going somewhere.
None of us is as smart as all of us. - Japanese Proverb
Pain is a fact of life...Misery is optional
"Failure is not an option"
1) Carve your own path, 2) you are your own lottery & 3) luck is the intersection of preparedness and opportunity.
"You see things and you say 'Why'. But I dream things that never were and I say 'Why not'."
Before you say you can't, say I'll try
There are no runners up in a battle
The best way to get people to build a ship is not to teach them carpentry, assign them tasks and give them schedule to follow but to make them long for the infinite immensity of the sea
" IF YOU CAN'T DO IT I WILL FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN"
Work is love made visible. And if you can't work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of the people who work with joy.
All that is necessary for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing.
"LET'S DO AMAZING"
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
—Charles R. Swindoll (b.1934), writer, clergyman
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile - Roger Staubach
"The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is how high you raise your feet"
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” - Wayne Gretzky
Adversity has the ability to elicit talents which, in more prosperous times would have lain dormant. -Horace, 45BC
It has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf. ~Jonatan Mårtensson
If your actions inspire others to dream, to learn, to do more and to be better, then you're a leader. - Jack Welch.
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted . . . " Randy Pausch
"Minds are like parachutes, not much good unless they are open"
"It is NOW or NEVER"
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all" - Peter F Drucker
Vision without execution is delusion - Thomas Edison
"If a man doesn't know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him”. (Seneca)
"You get what you give." - Tom Baker
Fail to plan .... plan to fail.
"That's all I can stand, I can't stands no more" - Popeye the Sailorman
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." -Nelson Mandela
If you haven't failed yet today, you're underestimating your potential!
He who hesitates is lost.
It is amazing what becomes possible , when you have seen it done before.
Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
It is amazing how much you can get done when you are always doing. - Thomas Jefferson
I never learned anything from someone who agreed with me
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.
Do or Do Not. There is no try. - Yoda
You can transform your world in an instant by the way you choose to see it. You can change problems into opportunities, anxiety into enthusiasm, and despair into determination.
Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. (Albert Einstein)
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Seneca
No friction no shine
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." W. Edward Deming
Whatever Captures Your Focus, Controls Your Life.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up - Thomas Alva Edison
Anticipate & Accelerate!
Sometimes it is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Think like a man of action...act like a man of thought.
"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."
"I discovered plans to be useless and planning invaluable" -- Dwight D Eisenhower
"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving, but does not make any progress." - Alfred Montapert
"To lead a symphony, you must sometimes turn your back to the crowd."
Culture eats strategy for breakfast - Jack Walsh
It's never the important person who is in a rush to get somewhere.
"Everything you want in life is waiting for you outside of your comfort zone" - Antony Fernando
" The function of LEADERSHIP is to produce more leaders not more FOLLOWERS " - Ralph Nader
"If people jumped at opportunities as fast as they do to conclusions they would be better off"
Rejoice in other people's triumphs.
An emergency on your part constitutes an opportunity on mine
What would you attempt if you knew you would not fail?
Recommended Reads
Friday, July 30, 2010
Motivational Quotes for after the Long Weekend
By far the most popular thread on Linked In's Lean Six Sigma group is the " What's your favorite motivational quote?" discussion. In honour of returning to work from a summer long weekend in need of motivation, here are some of my picks to keep you going. Enjoy.
In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock" Thomas Jefferson
"If you are not making waves, you are not making headway..."
"Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, it's not the end."
Daddy, I am hungry...
"Open your mind before you open your wallet"
"Why make a project difficult, when with a little thought and effort, you could make it impossible."
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. – Winston Churchill
A good plan executed violently today is always better than a perfect plan tomorrow. General George S Patton, US Armored Corps Commander WWII
In God we trust, all others bring data...
A Crisis is a terrible thing to waste!
"Change before you have to." - Jack Welch
Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
"Not failure, but low aim is the crime." Henry David Thoreau
I never once failed at making a light bulb. I just found out 99 ways not to make one. - EDISON
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in coveralls and looks like work. - Edison
The significant problems we face today can not be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -- Albert Einstein
The beatings will continue until morale improves.- Anonymous
"If not us who, if not now when? " Robert F. Kennedy's favorite quote
You can get everything you want in this life if you'll just help enough other people get what they want! - Zig Ziglar
"When you're going through hell, keep going!" Winston Churchill
"Pressure makes diamonds" - G. Patton.
"Today better than yesterday, tomorrow better than today".
Ive missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times Ive been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan.
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."
"Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
"A bad system will beat a good person every time." ~W. Edwards Deming
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." -Michael Drues
"The most unprofitable item ever manufactured is an excuse." John Mason
Pull your big girl panties up and move on!
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
“Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer.”
Fortune favours the brave
After the appointment of General Grant President Lincoln was asked; how do you know the right thing to do? He replied; "When met with a problem I always ask myself what is the right thing to do and then I do it.” - Abraham Lincoln
Noone can make you unhappy without your consent.
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier -- Colin Powell
"The ultimate inspiration is the deadline." - Nolan Bushnell
Good is the enemy of Great. If you are willing to settle for good, you will never be great!
"Diligence is the mother of good luck". Benjamin Franklin
"The only people who really want change is wet babies!" - Tanya Cole Harris
Stay tuned for more select quotes for the next long weekend. Hope you all enjoy a great summer!
Greg
My Recommended Reads
In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock" Thomas Jefferson
"If you are not making waves, you are not making headway..."
"Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, it's not the end."
Daddy, I am hungry...
"Open your mind before you open your wallet"
"Why make a project difficult, when with a little thought and effort, you could make it impossible."
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. – Winston Churchill
A good plan executed violently today is always better than a perfect plan tomorrow. General George S Patton, US Armored Corps Commander WWII
In God we trust, all others bring data...
A Crisis is a terrible thing to waste!
"Change before you have to." - Jack Welch
Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
"Not failure, but low aim is the crime." Henry David Thoreau
I never once failed at making a light bulb. I just found out 99 ways not to make one. - EDISON
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in coveralls and looks like work. - Edison
The significant problems we face today can not be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -- Albert Einstein
The beatings will continue until morale improves.- Anonymous
"If not us who, if not now when? " Robert F. Kennedy's favorite quote
You can get everything you want in this life if you'll just help enough other people get what they want! - Zig Ziglar
"When you're going through hell, keep going!" Winston Churchill
"Pressure makes diamonds" - G. Patton.
"Today better than yesterday, tomorrow better than today".
Ive missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times Ive been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan.
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."
"Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
"A bad system will beat a good person every time." ~W. Edwards Deming
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." -Michael Drues
"The most unprofitable item ever manufactured is an excuse." John Mason
Pull your big girl panties up and move on!
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
“Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer.”
Fortune favours the brave
After the appointment of General Grant President Lincoln was asked; how do you know the right thing to do? He replied; "When met with a problem I always ask myself what is the right thing to do and then I do it.” - Abraham Lincoln
Noone can make you unhappy without your consent.
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier -- Colin Powell
"The ultimate inspiration is the deadline." - Nolan Bushnell
Good is the enemy of Great. If you are willing to settle for good, you will never be great!
"Diligence is the mother of good luck". Benjamin Franklin
"The only people who really want change is wet babies!" - Tanya Cole Harris
Stay tuned for more select quotes for the next long weekend. Hope you all enjoy a great summer!
Greg
My Recommended Reads
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