I hope you found the time to relax, recharge and reflect in August. Welcome to September! During “The Hidden Golden Quarter” (May – July), you focused your energy on accomplishing your major goals. It is time for a major shift in mindset, focus and effort. Specifically:
- Shift your mindset from individual accomplishments to enterprise success. Most organizations have a December 31 year end, which means by September senior management has a good feel for how well the company is performing, and what adjustments, if any, are needed to meet Wall Street, investor, and customer expectations. Talk to your manager and/or review 2nd quarter financial results to get a deeper understanding of organizational performance.
- Shift your focus from your objectives to departmental success. What are the most important departmental deliverables between now and year end? What can you do to help achieve these objectives while still completing your individual goals? Your ability to balance these two perspectives is imperative.
- Shift your effort from 80% on your individual initiatives to 80% effort on your manager’s goals.
September is a great time to identify and analyze the problems and/or opportunities that are most important to your manager. Then you can take positive, proactive actions that position you as a valuable employee and team player.
Identify What is Really Important
When I was a salesperson, we called this taking the client down the pain funnel, using questioning techniques to identify the real needs. Ask you manager, or others who have the information:
- Level 1: Surface Problems
What problems/opportunities is your manager experiencing? What have they done to try to solve it so far? Once you have these answers, don’t stop there. - Level 2: General Impact and Underlying Reasons
Why have we not been able to solve this problem or capitalize on this opportunity to date? How much has this inability cost the department / organization? Don’t stop here… - Level 3: Personal Manager Impacts
If this problem is not solved, or this opportunity is missed, how will it affect your manager personally?
The goal is to work on problems that are important to the success of the organization (enterprise mindset) and have a personal impact on your manager (position you as a team player). Now you can analyze the problem / opportunity and determine the best way to take action.
Analyzing Problems / Opportunities and Taking Action
While each organization and situation appears unique, problems and opportunities often have similar characteristics. They can be clumped into types. Effective action strategies are associated with each cluster. Below are six common types highlighted by Dan Roam in his book The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. Which cluster type best relates to your current problem or opportunity?
- Who and what problems / opportunities.
Challenges that relate to things, people, and roles. Focus actions on clarifying who is in charge, where responsibilities lie, and how your area or department fits into the solution. - How much problems / opportunities.
Challenges that involve measuring and counting. For example, do we have enough inventory or resources to last until the end of the year? Focus actions on what resources are needed to address the situation. How can resources shift to meet the demand? Are external partners needed? - When problems / opportunities.
Challenges that relate to scheduling and timing. Focus actions on getting all key stakeholders in one room. Collectively determine the critical path actions and who is responsible for each. If there are too many things to do, what is most important, why, and assign responsibility. - Where problems / opportunities.
Challenges that relate to direction and how things fit together. Focus actions on validating the strategic direction of the organization or department. Determine if the organization is heading in the right direction or needs to shift course. Understand and communicate what is most important to customers and why. - How problems / opportunities.
Challenges that relate to how things influence one another. Focus actions on understanding and plotting what will happen if we continue on the present course or if we pursue a new opportunity. How will customers, competitors, and/or key stakeholders react? Can we alter our outcomes by changing our actions? - Why problems / opportunities.
Challenges that relate to seeing the big picture. Focus actions on clarifying why people work with us or buy from us. Spend time creating strategic options or scenarios. Decide which options are best and get buy-in at all levels of the organization.
Invest the time and energy to solve problems and take advantage of opportunities at the departmental and organizational levels.
Bottom Line
September is the time to shift your mindset, focus, and efforts on objectives that have a personal impact on your manager and are key to the success of the broader organization. Doing so positions you as a team player (by working collaboratively across the organization), who is strategic (by recognizing what is important), who should be considered for future promotion (by playing a key role in achieving key results).