A VIEWPOINT ON: TIME - PRIORITIES - MULTI TASKING

TIME vs. PRIORITIES

"I didn't have enough time".

A feeble rationale.

We all have the same time - 168 hours each 7 day week.

The personal variable is our set of priorities.

'I didn't have enough time' is code for "It was not an important priority for me."

Our execution effectiveness is a reflection of our ability, willingness and discipline to act upon our values and reality based priorities. It is not a reflection of time.

MULTI - TASKING

"I am a multi - tasker" is the proud comment we hear.

There is no such thing.

What is true is that some individuals are superb prioritizers and are exceptional at rapidly sequencing a number of tasks within a given time period. The sequence is rapid but remains a sequence - one task at a time.

UNDERSTANDING EXECUTION

To understand execution three things must be kept in mind:

• Execution is a discipline and integral to strategy.
• Execution is the major job of the business leader.
• Execution must be a core element of an organization's culture.

Execution is a systematic process of rigorous;y discussing hows and whats, questioning, tenaciously followsing through and ensuring accountability. It includes making assumptions about the business environment, assessing the organization's capabilities, linking strategy to operations and the people who are going to implement the strategy, synchronizing those people and their various disciplines and linking rewards to outcomes. It also includes mechanisms for changing assumptions as the environment changes and upgrading the company's capabilities to meet the challenges of an ambitious strategy.

In its most fundamental sense execution is a systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it. Most companies don't face reality very well.