Do you ever have those days where you work frenetically, but go home feeling \u201cI got nothing done today?\u201d\u00a0So many of the clients I work with are overwhelmed. \u00a0They get to the end of one task: there are tens more waiting.\u00a0So they start with the smaller things (because that shortens the list), and they work frenetically but go home feeling that they have achieved little.<\/p>\n
All of us have three types of task:<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0\u00a0Core deliverables<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 the tasks that you get paid to do \u2013 they\u2019re on your job description.\u00a0Somebody is waiting for them, there\u2019s a deadline and their quality is noticed.<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0The sunk costs<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 all the stuff that you need to do, but it\u2019s not in your job description.\u00a0Making arrangements, travelling, complying with financial, health and safety, HR and other organisational systems and processes.\u00a0These tasks must be done but there\u2019s no reward for doing them well.\u00a0It\u2019s generally only noticed when they are not done well enough or on time.<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0\u00a0The Capacity-Building tasks<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 These are the tasks that help us to deliver high quality, quickly.\u00a0As the name suggests, they are all about building capacity so that when work needs to be turned around quickly and well, you can \u2018pull the rabbit out of the hat\u2019.\u00a0On the downside, typically there\u2019s no deadline and the only person waiting for them is you.\u00a0There are four types of capacity building tasks:<\/p>\n a.\u00a0\u00a0Planning – which is not just about tasks and time, it\u2019s also about attitude, beliefs, determination, focus and motivation.\u00a0Also about reflecting on what could be better.<\/p>\n b.\u00a0\u00a0Creating great infrastructure \u2013 which can be as simple as putting someone\u2019s contact details into your phone or as complex as a SAP programme.\u00a0It\u2019s about developing templates, processes, systems, checklists, SLAs, technology and physical workspace that allows you access and produce great work quickly.<\/p>\n c.\u00a0\u00a0Building great relationships \u2013 including staying close to your boss, developing your team, networking within your industry or profession.<\/p>\n d.\u00a0\u00a0Learning and Development \u2013 reading, research, seminars, on-line\u2026 staying up to date with developments in your field,<\/p>\n The tendency is to push the capacity-building tasks back because they are not deadline-driven.\u00a0But we build capacity when we take on one or two of these on at a time \u2013 working with a report so that we can delegate a time-consuming task, building a great data-base so that we can quickly target the right people, taking the team away on a strategy day, reading about where our industry is going, and so on.<\/p>\n All of the leaders I work with want to spend more time on these tasks \u2013 but the operational \u2018stuff\u2019 doesn\u2019t go away.\u00a0These are not \u2018tick them off the list\u2019 tasks \u2013 they are more like the \u2018law of the farmyard\u2019 tasks which Stephen Covey talks about \u2013 tasks that cannot be crammed in just before a deadline \u2013 they need to be nurtured before they are harvested.\u00a0I\u2019ve found that two approaches work \u2013 either dedicating the first hour of each day or dedicating a half-day a week. \u00a0By dedicating, I mean blocking off the time in your calendar and being off-line.\u00a0Maybe even working from a quiet place.<\/p>\n The other thing that works is a to-do list which helps you to categorise your tasks into deliverables, sunk cost and capacity-building (a useful exercise in itself). I\u2019ve designed planning sheets for this exercise, just drop me an email and I’ll send them to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"