Saving Time: Establish a Vision and Clear Expectations

Throughout history great leaders have been admired because they accomplished something fantastic. They had a vision and enough passion to inspire others to support their vision and execute to meet it. Covey put it simply, ‘Begin with the End in Mind’. Are you too busy to have a vision? If so, then you may be doing a lot each day but you are at risk of just looking busy doing busy work, putting in time and likely wasting time. We can all work many hours but what are we really accomplishing? What have we achieved without vision? A team with a goal will accomplish much more, more quickly. They will be more efficient and can drive through roadblocks.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers described that many, if not all, of those who have had success in one form or another required support along the way. As such, a leader needs the support of his/her people. In turn, employees require four key elements to be successful in their leader’s mission to meet his or her vision.

Set clear performance expectations in line with your organization’s vision
What is the organizational vision and how does your department play a role? Be clear yourself or you will not be able to clarify your vision and goals to others. Connect the daily activities and deliverables of your group to the larger organizational vision to provide focus to the employees. Clearly establish expectations for these deliverables. Bottom-line, the first step for an employee to meet expectations is to ensure the expectations are clear.

Ideally, establish processes and an organizational framework that is as lean and simple as possible. Focus on creating a path of least resistance, a robust process to support the people as they attempt to meet expectations. The process is a means to an end. It must be a path that will ultimately lead them to meeting your Department’s goals not impede your progress. Anything in the process that helps to accomplish this is likely Value Added, otherwise, it is Non-Value -Added. Value stream mapping can help maximize the Value-Add in any process and create an easier ‘flow’.

This is a very critical part of your process in meeting your goal because the right metrics will; i-Provide a clear focus on key process health indicators and supporting metrics, ii-Provide status at a glance, iii-Expedite action, iv-Supports continuous improvement and finally v-Paint “a clear picture” that other departments can relate to if support is needed from those other departments. I cannot emphasize this enough, the process must be visible enough to follow, clearly identify waste and of course provide status.

A common format for a lean process is a PDCA format. It will involve Planning more up front so that execution (Doing) is easier, less Checking should be required with the effort up front in the process and finally Acting to get better is made possible with clear metrics. The lack of strong feedback loops and poor process visibility is the same as being blind as we ride down a bumpy path on a fast bike. Good Luck, watch out for trees.

Covey stated, 'Put First Things First'. In the ‘More with Less’ mentality of North America business this becomes difficult. There will be competing priorities, clear expectations up front will help but judgment calls along the way will be required. We cannot get it all done. We cannot give up on our goals so we simply have to set priorities. In this way we can make it clear as to what we must act upon to keep ourselves on the path to success.

The strategy is clear. Establish a vision and clear expectations. Put processes with a clear feedback loop in place. With that information adjust and continually re-evaluate priorities to keep you on the path of success. Put the time in to implement this strategy and you will save your department time and be more successful. Anything less will create performance gaps, variation in your group’s output and lead to problems. Problems waste even more time. Anything less is the same as being on a beach shoveling ten pounds of sand into a five pound bucket day in and day out. You’ll look busy. It will take a while. Don’t get a sun burn.

copyright 2011