Three reasons why we need help in the personal productivity/following up/getting things done department
1. The Smart Talk Trap
2. The Knowing-doing gap
3. Attention Deficit Trait
The Smart-Talk Trap. By: Pfeffer, Jeffrey; Sutton, Robert I.. Harvard Business Review, May/Jun99, Vol. 77 Issue 3, p134-142, 9p, 2c; Abstract: This article reports that many companies are plagued by a gap between knowing too much and doing too little about problems that face their organization. The authors call this space the "knowing-doing" gap. This gap can be traced to a basic human propensity to let talk substitute for action. Talk, and especially smart talk, is highly rewarded in organizations because speaking with intelligence and confidence has been reinforced in people. Five characteristics have been found in companies that have avoided the smart-talk trap, which include having leaders who understand their work, have a bias for plain language and simple concepts, frame questions by asking "how," not just "why," have strong mechanisms that close the loop, and believe that experience is the best teacher in business. Listed companies that use talk productively include IDEO Product Development, Bayport Terminal, Continental Airlines, Macintosh, and Merrill Lynch. INSETS: The Empty Words of Mission Statements;The Price-and Value-of Advice
Notes from a talk by Robert Sutton on The Smart Talk Trap
Key points
- Decisions on their own are useless for changing the world. To make a difference you must take action
- Too often, organizations pay, and reward, people for saying smart things, rather than for actually doing smart things.
- It's easier – and much faster – to verbalize decisions and analyze issues than to implement pretty much anything. Hence the smart talk trap: talking instead of doing.
- Simplicity in words and actions are very important in business.
Ideas to implement
- If you think your company is suffering from the 'smart talk trap' you should encourage better communication so that people in the organization actually understand their role. Establishing quarterly reviews of individuals' job descriptions can facilitate this. Ask staff to write their interpretation of their 'job spec' and discuss it with team leaders - this is also an opportunity to set objectives and ensure focus for the next three months.
- Place a team leader in charge of monitoring the time horizon between making a decision and completing the resulting action over a period of three to six months. Analyze the data and findings with senior colleagues and establish a goal of reducing this time horizon over the following three to six months. This will inevitably slip with time, so there should be continual monitoring.
- Initiate a 'no jargon' rule in meetings and communications throughout your organization. Reprimand people when they are over-relying on jargon and encourage a more simplistic communication: tell people to 'get straight to the point' and avoid over-complication.
- Ensure decisions are followed up by asking staff to take it in turns to take minutes in meetings and circulate to everyone with action points and deadlines. Always address what should have been done and by who at the next meeting.
- Don't put people in charge who do not understand the company and know nothing about how it works, but instead support your staff and business by rewarding local knowledge.
Questions to ask yourselves
- Why are people allowed to get away with over-relying on jargon rather than actually getting anything done? As a leader, how would you approach this issue with a member of staff?
- Is the 'smart-talk trap' a purely American phenomenon?
- List the 'business phrases/jargon' you repeatedly hear around your office.
National Staff Development Council: Take action to bridge the knowing-doing gap http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/results/res3-04spar.cfm
Why Can't We Get Anything Done?
Stanford B-school professor Jeffrey Pfeffer has a question: If we're so smart, why can't we get anything done? Here are 16 rules to help you make things happen in your organization.
Why Can't We Get Anything Done?
Stanford B-school professor Jeffrey Pfeffer has a question: If we're so smart, why can't we get anything done? Here are 16 rules to help you make things happen in your organization.
From: Issue 35 | May 2000 | Page 168 | By: Alan M. Webber
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/35/pfeffer_Printer_Friendly.html
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/change-management/knowing-doing-gap
The Knowing-Doing Gap
Once you are into the implementation stage of your project you may find that you start to experience the Knowing-Doing Gap. Quite simply you know what needs to be done, you think you have put the right structures and processes in place but for some reason this hasn't translated into the right sort of response. Pfeffer & Sutton (2000) identify a number of factors that contribute to this gap:
Pseudo-action Deceptions:
- Thinking that knowing is sufficient for success.
- Thinking that talking (meetings, committees, reports, etc.) is action.
- Thinking that measuring things is action or contributes to performance.
- Thinking that making a decision is the same as taking action.
- Thinking that planning is the same as action.
Clogging the Gap by giving in to the Inhibitions of Fear:
- Fearing complexity, lack of clarity about what specifically to do.
- Fearing risk, mistakes, errors, and imperfection.
- Fearing competition, focusing on what others are doing and trying to get ahead.
- Fearing the new, the different, the unpredictable, falling back on precedence (standard operating procedures) and so mindlessly defaulting to what you've always done.
Taboos that prevent and forbid action:
- 'Don't make a fool of yourself.'
- 'Don't risk making a mistake, it's too dangerous.'
- 'Don't be imperfect.'
Lack of structure for action:
- No structure for following up.
- No structure for rewarding learning from mistakes.
- No structure for rewarding risk taking.
Personal items predisposing us from taking action:
- Not being action oriented in our person, being inactive and passive.
- Making excuses and letting excuses stop us.
- Discounting small actions.
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/management-phil.html
http://metacool.typepad.com/metacool/2006/10/everyone_has_a_.html
Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform. By: Hallowell, Edward M.. Harvard Business Review, Jan2005, Vol. 83 Issue 1, p54-62, 9p, 3c; Abstract: Frenzied executives who fidget through meetings, lose track of their appointments, and jab at the "door close" button on the elevator aren't crazy--just crazed. They suffer from a newly recognized neurological phenomenon that the author, a psychiatrist, calls attention deficit trait, or ADT, It isn't an illness; it's purely a response to the hyperkinetic environment in which we live. But it has become epidemic in today's organizations. When a manager is desperately trying to deal with more input than he possibly can, the brain and body get locked into a reverberating circuit while the brain's frontal lobes lose their sophistication, as if vinegar were added to wine. The result is black-and-white thinking; perspective and shades of gray disappear. People with ADT have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time, and they feel a constant low level of panic and guilt. ADT can be controlled by engineering one's environment and one's emotional and physical health. Make time every few hours for a "human moment," a face-to-face exchange with a person you like. Get enough sleep, switch to a good diet, and get adequate exercise. Break down large tasks into smaller ones, and keep a section of your work space clear. Try keeping a portion of your day free of appointments and e-mail.The author recommends that companies invest in amenities that contribute to a positive atmosphere. Leaders can also help prevent ADT by matching employees' skills to tasks. When managers assign goals that stretch people too far or ask workers to focus on what they're not good at, stress rises. ADT is a very real threat to all of us. If we don't manage it, it will manage us.