'The Effective Executive' by Peter Drucker was published the year I was born and it’s scary how relevant and appropriate the observations contained within are still relevant today!
You don't have complete control of your time so make sure you do work on the absolute top priorities!
You don't have complete control of your time so make sure you do work on the absolute top priorities!
Peter Drucker’s major point at the beginning of the book is that executives in large organisations have very little or no control over how their time is spent.
As a result the managers he found to be operating effectively focused much more on what the right thing was to do rather than adhering to a predetermined schedule that might not address key issues.
When you are working long hours there is no more time to throw at the business - what you can change is what you work on.
I like how he states 'you won't have time for the second priorities'..... this really highlights the reality of how little time managers running a business have and how careful they must be to choose what to work on.
The people that he worked with and studied only had time for top priority tasks. Second priority tasks were unable to be attended to because of the many unexpected and unplanned interruptions the executives suffered from on a daily basis.
It is no different running your own business. If you don’t identify and attend to the most important things that will build your business and make it sustainable then no one else will.
Fixing your menu or customer service won't matter if you don't have food to cook.
Fixing your menu or customer service won't matter if you don't have food to cook.
To ensure that you’re being effective you must first understand exactly where your business needs your attention the most.
Below is an outline of the most effective method I have found to identify where to focus next.
1) Map Value Stream
- 5 to 7 steps, that add value in the eyes of the customer
- ignore support activities (accounting, logistics, HR, finance - unless customer facing)
2) Measure Capacity
- quantitatively - volume/day, tonne/hour OR
- qualitatively - your ability versus others – eg: service quality of other restaurants compared to yours
3) Identify Lowest Score
- the “constraint” = biggest bang for buck, greatest opportunity to improve
4) Break The Constraint
- increase capacity or capability eg: a bigger warehouse? [capacity] OR better customer service? [capability]
There is no bigger waste of time than fixing the wrong problem.