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Getting Things Done In Difficult Times: Decide What Not To Do

January 6, 2021
Leadership Advisory

Sometimes deciding what you will not do, or condone, brings more focus than creating plans and tactics.

What will you and your team stop doing? Where will you stop spending resources in order to repurpose those resources toward a more productive outcome?  When will unproductive activity and meetings have an end put to them? This is the task of leadership.

I have observed professionals laboring over setting tactics, but unable to eliminate tasks, programs and unproductive procedures. Remember the Stop-Start-Continue exercise?  The most difficult part of that exercise is deciding what you will stop doing; however, it is the most critical of the three steps in my view.

Have the courage to say no to ideas that aren’t in alignment with your strategic goals; limit activities that do not move you closer to your goal, and free people from meaningless tasks that aren’t directly contributing to serving your clients or achieving your objectives.

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