What happens when your computer gets overloaded?

It slows down. Everything takes longer. It starts giving you error messages. Soon it freezes, and then it crashes.

It’s the same thing that happens to you when you get overloaded. There’s a natural principle at work here: the things I have to do are infinite, but the capacity I have to do them is limited.  (In my case, quite limited.) In our new book, Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times, we talk about how to “push the reset button” on your work and your life when things get scary.

Here’s the issue: At work, everybody’s trying to do more with less. But the real question is, more of what? Are you just trying to do more stuff whether customers value it or not? Are you trying to do the jobs of people who aren’t here anymore, whether those jobs are worth doing or not?

Push the reset button. Ask yourself, what’s the job that really needs to be done? What job do my customers want me to do more than anything else?

Say you’re the only finance person left after everybody else is let go. Do you really need to keep track of every single data point that’s always been tracked? What are the company’s real needs right now? Protecting cash flow? Getting accounts receivable paid up? 

Figure out what the organization really needs you to do. Then focus on that job. Instead of trying to do 2 or 3 jobs that “kind of, ought to” be done, strip yourself down to the job that you must do and that only you can do.

 I hear you giggling. “Tell that to my boss.”  No, you tell it to your boss.  In these scary times, nobody—including you—can afford to carry responsibilities that aren’t core to the organization’s purpose.

What else can you do to succeed in the middle of the wild ride we’re all taking right now? We would love to hear from you.

Get a copy of Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times for 30% off.

They did this by applying a key principle from Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times: focusing simply on the job real customers want done. Clearly, the App Store is successful because it allows customers to get exactly what they want immediately and in a simple and inexpensive way. As we said in the book, “Simplification reduces uncertainty. You can get more predictable results if you focus on simple, high-value offerings for the customer.”

Is the App Store simple? Absolutely.  Search the catalog for what you want, and buy with one click. 

Is the App Store “high-value”? Absolutely. You get low-cost applications that solve such pesky everyday problems as remembering your schedule, counting calories, and checking the weather, as well as giving you instant access to your favorite music.

We agree with the comment from Domonic on our previous post, who contributed this insight:  “One of the biggest challenges I see is that people are focused more on what they have to offer than really identifying the needs of the market. They are telling the market what it needs instead of listening to clients and letting them identify what the true need is.”  So true.

So many organizations just don’t get it. They are, as Domonic says, focused inwardly on what they have to offer while deluding themselves that they are customer focused. In crazy, unpredictable times, customers are very careful, but they do know a good deal when they see it.

If the App Store can solve one of my problems right now and for 99 cents, I’ll buy. And, it so happens, so will a billion other people. 

So what are you doing to focus more on your customers in these wild times? Is it paying off for you?  We’d love to hear.

Check out videos and tools from the book Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times 

The key to being proactive is remembering that between stimulus and response there is a space. That space represents our choice- how we will choose to respond to any given situation, person, thought or event. Imagine a pause button between stimulus and response-a button you can engage to pause and think about what is the principle-based response to your given situation. Listen to what your conscience tells you. Listen for what is wise and the principle-based thing to do, and then act. Have you done this? I would love to hear how your experiences have changed.

Remember being proactive becomes much more powerful when connected and related to the other habits. The key to the habits is the power of their combined synergy and meaningful purpose.

Join my free social learning community at www.stephencovey.com

 At FranklinCovey we are passionate and serious about preparing future leaders. For the last 18 months FranklinCovey has been working on an exciting new offering for elementary schools. It is called The Leader in Me, and it is designed to prepare children to be leaders in our changing society.

 The process is based upon the experience of educators and students at A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1999, this school was struggling with low academic performance and lack of engagement among faculty and parents. After searching for a solution, the administrators and teachers began learning principle-based leadership skills, including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®, and then began teaching them to their students. In a short amount of time, end-of-grade tests improved dramatically. At the same time, the school saw significant and sustained increases in students’ self-confidence, dramatic drops in discipline problems, and impressive increases in teacher and administrator job satisfaction. 

 Following the success of A.B. Combs, other schools began implementing similar programs with very similar results. English Estates, an elementary school in Florida, was named the most academically improved school in its district after only one year of implementation.  Internationally, an elementary school in Canada reports that parent satisfaction with what is being taught has leaped from 67 to 98 percent.  The success stories continue to come to us.  Schools across the United States-along with schools in Guatemala, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and Europe are beginning to excitedly report comparable outcomes.

 This process of teaching students principles was the start of The Leader in Me. Currently we are seeing schools around the globe who are interested in using The Leader in Me process to prepare the next generation for the future by emphasizing personal leadership in every student. The Leader in Me offers this solution to all schools by providing the tools and necessary support through trainings, a web community that includes lesson plans and forums, videos, student activity guides, teachers’ resource books, and much more.

 FranklinCovey is eager for this opportunity to help children around the world prepare for the future.  To learn more, visit www.theleaderinme.org. 

Author: Sarah Noble, The Leader In Me Project Leader, FranklinCovey

You’re not alone.

I mean, there are still other people in your organization, right?

Tip#2: Embrace Others

Odds are, when you’re working fast and furious, there is probably someone, somewhere in your organization that may have some downtime, or they’re worried about not being aligned with strategic projects. Find them. Grab them. Capitalize on their skills. And have them chip in. People are generally happier when they’re engaged and contributing. Sure, quality might slip a bit and it might take longer for you to get that project done. But there is a huge feeling of relief when you delegate a task to someone and you go back to your office and are able to tackle something else. And there is an even better feeling when they come back to you and the project is finished and better than if you did it yourself.

 In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey outlines the principle of abundance. What this means is that there is always enough work for me and you, and the person in the office down the hall. Don’t be afraid to relinquish a bit of control over your projects. It will only benefit you and the people you bring into your circle. Your projects will get done better than before and you’ll be helping other people become engaged.

In my next post I’ll cover Tip #3: Plan or Perish.

Author: Matt Murdoch, FranklinCovey

In an interview I recently had with Dr. Stephen R. Covey for the FranklinCovey Client Facilitation Academy, I asked him a series of questions provided by our client facilitators that included challenges they are facing as they teach in their organizations to issues some may be struggling with when living the principles of effectiveness. In some cases, as the interviewer, I took the liberty of asking for further clarity or a “deeper dive” on topics that might be of interest. Those additional questions are italicized. Here are a few of the responses.

Q – Thomas Sibert of the Naval Support Activity asked :
“Early in the 7 Habits Signature Program, the idea of “principles” is introduced. It has worked for me to ask participants what principles of government the United States is based on. They quickly come to the Declaration of Independence and the statement “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Do you find this example consistent with your definition of a principle?”

A – Dr. Covey’s response:
“Definitely yes, but that is only the beginning because it took over 120 years for women to get the right to vote and over 80 years before we had the Emancipation Proclamation. So to enculturate and institutionalize these principles is the real challenge today.”

Please refresh us on the definition of principles vs values.

“To expand, a principle is a natural law like gravity. It’s different than a value. Values are subjective; principles are objective. Gravity… if you drop something, gravity controls. If I don’t tell you the truth, you won’t trust me-that’s a natural law. If I tell you the truth consistently and try to live it and apologize when I don’t and try to get back on track, then I’m living a natural law-repentance, making improvements, showing change.”

Q – Mark Allman with MEADWESTVACO asked:
“Of all of the items that you have worked with people on to help them in both their private and professional lives, if you could only share one thing with people, what in your opinion would impact them the most.”

A – Dr. Covey’s response:
“Educate and obey their conscience. Educate their conscience by studying the scriptures or the material that inspires them the most, until it becomes part of your conscience. Then obey it. Little by little, as you obey it, you will get more education and then you obey that. More and more light will come.
To read the interview in its entirety please clicks the link below to access the Academy archives or to learn how to become a certified FranklinCovey facilitator.
http://www.franklincovey.com/tc/facilitation

Author: Scott Miller, General Manager Global Client Facilitator Services, FranklinCovey