Actions & Tactics
This is something that I feel is not covered enough, tactics are supposed to be the actions you take to achieve your objectives, so taking action or being busy is often confused with doing what needs to be done (tactics) it often seems like they are the same thing, the problem arises when the actual actions you take are not the ones you planned to take.
Look at it this way, have you ever had a day that didn’t go according to plan, where you worked flat out all day and didn’t get a single thing you had planned to do that day done?
Of course, you have, we all have and here lies the issue, tactics are the actions you should have taken, not what you actually got done.
So how do you make sure you always do what you should have done?
You can’t, ok I know that’s not what you wanted to hear but it’s true, sorry, like every thing else in life its subject to forces outside your control. So, what is the best way to tackle this issue?
Use the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule, 80% of your income comes from 20% of your clients, activities, products, services etc. etc.
This is great news as 80% of your growth is down to about 20% of your efforts, so the key is to make sure you take those 20% of tactical actions you planned to take.
Again, this is where great planning comes into place, if you know your ideal outcomes, your Vision, through goals and objectives then you know what the critical actions will be that will deliver the results you want.
You spent time creating a Strategy, a plan to deliver what you want, and you will also have to plan when you will do the things you know you need to do to achieve this.
This is where a Default Diary comes in, also known as a tickler file, default calendar, time management diary, time blocking etc. There are many names for this tool, but they all mean the same thing, get yourself organised, it’s that simple, get yourself and your people organised so that the critical tasks get done at every day, week, month and quarter.
Consider what tasks you manage best at what time of the day and start making notes of how long it’s taking you to do tasks and rework your diary to match your pace.
The beauty of this organisational approach is it makes you focus on one thing at a time, for example you can plan Monday mornings to do a 15-minute team meeting. Monday afternoons for admin. Tuesday mornings for Marketing and Sales calls and Thursday afternoons for training. This will make you much more focused and reduce the amount of time you bounce from task to task making you proactive on your plans instead or reactive to what is happening.
The number one benefit of blocking out time for specific tasks is that you only have that specific amount of time to get something done, for example one hour to spend on sales calls. You need to work faster to get done in that hour. Less coffee breaks and chats, and when the time is up, you move on to the next task on your diary.
Another thing to consider is that although it feels like it makes sense to have an open-door policy for you team, customers and suppliers and yet it derails all your planning. If people know that you are only available at certain times, you will find most don’t mind and quickly get used to it and you will be more productive and if handled correctly it will enhance customer service so plan the time you will be available into your diary.
It takes time and effort to get this right and life and business is not a one-size-fits-all type of deal, we can though, learn from our efforts and from what works for other people.
If you want to know more get in touch or watch this free webinar
0 Comments