April 2013
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| Learn the purpose behind the chart and the Blackberry. |
Since 2006, my Accountability Partners and I have followed the same process and format for defining and evaluating the tasks underlying "Todd's Results." At our monthly meeting to go over March's results, one Accountability Partner noted that, over the years, this process and format had become ... stale.
What began as specific and substantive strategic tasks gradually morphed to more general and routine operational tasks. We all agreed we'd think about ideas to reinvigorate things, and discuss these when we reviewed April's results.
In our next meeting, after April's results had been reviewed, we put our ideas on the table and batted them around. While acknowledging the need to make certain tasks more substantive, I also shared I found some "rote" tasks very helpful, because they ensured I planned and completed those activities.
Thus, my Accountability Partners and I dropped, added, and edited various tasks, then divvied them up between "Routine" and "Substantive." We discussed and agreed upon expectations about how I would perform and document the two sets of tasks.
- "Routine" tasks would follow a checklist-like format – I only needed to document whether or not they got done.
- "Substantive" tasks would be different, because we agreed I would document HOW I complied with the "intent" of the task, rather than carrying out the "mechanics" of the task.
I liken these changes to test formats – we moved from 100% objective questions, to a mix of objective and short-answer questions.
Obviously, this is a major change for all of us, so my Accountability Partners agreed to provide flexibility in their evaluations over the next few months, as we used and refined the new process and format.
Keep in mind – all of these changes are "behind the scenes." The monthly "Todd's Results" shown in this section will have the same look-and-feel. Even so, rest assured there have been major changes in how we do things.
Lesson learned? When people feel like they're doing things just for the sake of doing things, it's a sure sign a "time out" is needed to discuss WHY they feel this way and WHAT can be done about it.
