Getting Things Done Through Our People

Sometimes I think managers leaders aren’t as impactful as we can be because we get our jobs wrong.

We think our jobs are about developing great strategies, systems, tools, processes, programs.  We spend lot of time analyzing reports and data, trying to determine the keys to driving performance.  We’re in constant meetings—far too many internal meetings, and consumed by all sorts of activity.  These are important aspects of our jobs, well maybe not all the internal meetings and activities.  But they’re not how we get things done.

We’re accountable for producing results.  Our only vehicle for producing results is through our people.

Once we get our heads wrapped around this–Our job is getting things done through our people—it changes our perspectives and dramatically improves our impact.

The slight shift in perspective changes everything.  Great strategies, programs, systems, tools, processes are meaningless unless our people can execute them sharply.  All the work we do in developing wonderful organizational designs, great metrics do nothing unless they help our people perform at the highest levels possible.  However “fantastic” we are in making “killer sales calls,” and doing deals–if our people can’t execute, if they aren’t aligned with what we are trying to achieve, we won’t achieve our goals.

Our jobs are defined simply as “Getting Things Done Through Our People.”

How do you spend your days and weeks?

What percent of your time is spent making calls with your people, helping them move deals forward, coaching them afterwards?

What percent of your time is spent in reviewing deals not just getting status reports, but helping them develop more powerful strategies?

What percent of your time is spent in helping your sales people think about how they use their time?  Are you helping them organize to get the most of their days?

What percent of your time is spent helping people think about what they do—getting them off “autopilot?”

What percent of your time is spent helping your team develop new skills–not just sales skills, but business acumen, market knowledge, project management, change management, collaboration skills?

What percent of your time are you spending understanding the growth goals of each of your people, helping them develop and achieve their goals?

Are you using the tools and processes you’ve put in place in your meetings with your people–setting an example for how they work?

If you aren’t spending the majority of your time doing these things, then your team isn’t performing at the highest levels possible.  Yes, there are other things that we need to do–hopefully getting things done for our people, but the only way we achieve results, is through our people.

Are you getting things done through your people?