Easy reading – in form of a story  

Albert is in a job with nowhere to go… all his mates and fellow workers are being promoted, and he is not. His wife gets promoted… he gets depressed. His neighbour’s brother is a Naval Officer and Albert is referred to him.

 

Albert is given 4 habits to work on which will change the rest of his life:-

 

1.                   First on last off…and add extra value

a.       Baseball story…. Guy is famous because he has done amazing things. Guy is gr8 because he spends hours practicing before anyone starts… and leaves after everyone leaves.

b.       Similar at work… .guy who arrives early – does stuff before anyone gets there and leaves after -

c.        At meetings…. Don’t leave immediately… best stuff comes out at end…. Don’t arrive late… always arrive 7 minutes early.

d.       Examples of success as a result of this “habit”

e.       Extra 1… eg the Navy does 50 pushups and another to beat army.

f.         You will be recognised….. shows the point of difference

 

 

2.                   Don’t Trade Results for Excuses

a.       Army story… questions fired….. no excuse…. Will find out…. Ask again… no excuse… even if there is.

b.       Example of a proposal … tender lost because network down…or weekend busy. … opposition won… excuses didn’t help. That extra effort would have won the tender.

 

Write them down make a journal on things you have done to implement these habits…. Note the events.

 

Why admiral is successful;….

Easy to talk to…not hung up on himself….

Compliments you and talks to you on your   level , notices your +ve points…. Makes you feel good…. Brings out the positive points.

 

“Tomorrow’s a new day… the 1^st day of the rest of your life… how to live it.

 

Think positive and you’ll feel positive ….

Think negative and you’ll feel negative.

 

Don’t worry if no one acknowledges your change… you will know it.

 

(Home with wife…. Do that extra bit….. rubbish, washing, making breakfast…. That extra bit….little things make big differences.

 

“PACESETTERS”….

Not necessarily leaders…. Make good about you with the things you do.

 

Once you do these things every day…these habits become 2^nd nature.

 

3.                   Learn How to Problem Solve

 

Each problem causes another problem…. Once you solve a constraint another 1 will come up….. that’s how one grows (Eli Goldratt the Goal….)

 

Identify the Constraint

Put all resources to the constraint

 

Identify new constraints….. plan… think out things in advance and start again.

 

Troubleshoot before project begins.

 

Decision Making and Problem Solving

·           Define Problem

·           Develop Objectives

·          

Generate Alternatives

·           Develop Action Plan

·           Troubleshooting

·          

Communicate

·           Implement

 

 

Defining the problem…

Finding the root cause…

Cause effect.

Definition of a problem does not imply solutions…. It implies an undesirable situation and its cause.

 

Define Objective – identify outcomes you want to achieve

To – action verb

By:- Date

At:- cost

 

Generate Alternatives –

Discuss with joe

Employ more

Pay more

More ot

Less ot

Threaten

Reward

Resign

etc

 

 

Develop Action Plan

Evaluate alternatives, modify chosen alternatives

 

Toubleshoot

Identify problems before it happens

 

Communicate – to people who might effect your action plan. Bring them on board – get their input

Having the right answer is not enough…. YOU NEED TO PRODUCE RESULTS.

 

 

To pull the rabbit out of a hat on a regular basis, you need to make sure you have a choice of 10 rabbits to pull out of the hat….

 

Example trial lawyer….

Rely on anticipatory thinking… what is the out if something mess’s up…. What are the alternatives?

Anticipate each problem and work out solutions in each scenario…. PLAN PLAN PLAN

 

Salespeople – anticipate objections in a meeting. And come up with answers… standard practice.

 

4.                   Make People around you look good

 

Success of a top guy…

Make boss, subordinates and peers around you look good. Find ways to support them and let them get all the credit….

 

Everyone in the group knows each others strengths and weaknesses… and they rank each other in contribution, performance and assistance. They all wanted to work with him, because he made them feel and look good.

 

Example of CEO who brought another person in to fix mess…. All credit given to CEO…but people knew who made the changes…. Result – that person became CEO.

 

Applies to personal as well as work…

Example – camping trip…. Making sure work finishes on time.