Self Leadership – Part 2 – How truly productive are you?

In the previous newsletter I left you hanging out for the answer to the questions “Whilst it’s all very easy to say that one needs to invest one’s time to keep the main thing the main thing, how does one actually move from where one is right now to where it is that one wants to be?

• How does one move ones sales team from where they are right now to where you want them to be?
• How does one move ones current income state to earning the kind of income you really want? 
• How does one move ones career from where it is now to where you want it to be?

The answer to these perplexing questions lies in the analogy that I have shared with dozens of my clients and it has made a massive difference to their own personal productivity.

Imagine there is an island that you want to get to. Now also imagine that you a long distance away from the island and you are floating in a little canoe and you are paddling towards the island. Now besides distance, you also have a number of rather serious hindrances that you are facing on your voyage.

Firstly you have a rather large hole in your canoe that’s leaking profusely. Secondly the water you are crossing is chock-a-block full of thousands of huge man eating crocodiles that are constantly launching themselves at you in. To add to your woes, you only have 1 oar and whilst you have a rifle, you only have a limited source of ammunition. Now here’s your challenge:

If you just row like crazy for the island, the crocs will jump you and eat you! If on the other hand you stand your ground and shoot the deathly creatures, then the hole in the canoe will just suck in water and your canoe will sink pretty fast. So what do you do? How do you get safely to your destination? 

Let’s marry up the above scenario with your current reality at work! You’ve got things that you want to achieve, you’ve got goals that you want to accomplish, you need to get to your own version of the island, right?

You are also currently floating in a leaky boat. Sales are leaking because of the economy, sales are down because your marketing spend is down, sales are leaking because your sales people just aren’t good enough to close sales in this prevailing market, margins are down because your competition is slashing their own margins to maintain cash flow and you can’t compete with their ridiculous prices! Sales are leaking for any one of a number of reasons.

You have only 1 oar. This single oar is akin to sales production. This is where you and your salespeople would love to be working on the most productive thing possible. Unfortunately however, there are a whole host of urgent things that are screaming for your attention. Pressing matters that must be done immediately! Things that the boss is calling for, things that your customers are calling for, things that your salespeople are calling for, that the marketing department is calling for, things that customer service is calling for, things that the market is calling for! There are a whole heap of issues that all need to be done. How do you do them? These demands are analogous to the crocodiles that are trying to eat you!

So what do you do? How do you navigate your way through all of this? How do you get to your island, in one piece? The fact is, other than simply throwing in the towel and giving up and allowing the crocs to have their way with you, there is only one thing that you can do. There is only one way forward. Here’s the recipe:

Shoot one row one - Shoot one row one

Shoot one row one - Shoot one row one

Shoot one row one; Shoot one row one; Shoot, row; Shoot row

Then.....

Row, row shoot; Row, row shoot; Row, row shoot

Row, row, row shoot; Row, row, row shoot; Row, row, row shoot; Row, row, row shoot

Then...Row, row, row, row, row shoot; Row, row, row, row, row shoot; Row, row, row, row, row shoot; Row, row, row, row, row shoot 

And ever so slowly as you shoot one, row one; you will begin to get momentum. The more momentum you get the more your canoe will begin to self drain as all the water now begins to get flushed out of the boat and the faster you start to move towards your goals.

Ok, so great Ian I get the picture. I get that I need to be investing more of my time on doing the most productive thing. I get that I am sailing in a leaky boat. I even get that “if it is to be then it’s up to me!”.... But what do I do on the ground? How do I make this lesson practical? How do I begin to turn my leaky boat around? What’s all this row one , shoot business and how is it going to help me generate more sales?

Alright! Let’s firstly determine what “Row –One” looks like for you right now. Remember, Row = Most productive time! So, how many productive hours are you currently averaging a day?

Let’s just for the purposes of this lesson say that you’ve been really brutal in your self assessment and you’ve worked out that you are currently averaging 1 productive hour a day. If this is the case then you can’t just wake up tomorrow and go from Row-One, to Row- five! But you can go from Row-One, to Row-Two. You can’t all of a sudden drop your shooting of the crocs just to row or the crocs will get you right?

The decision I want you to make right now is, what you can reasonably achieve given all you are carrying right now. Don’t be too easy on yourself or your boat will keep sinking. But don’t be too ambitious either or you’ll end up being eaten alive!

What is your very own version of, Row-One, Shoot One?

So as of now, instead of just working one productive hour every day, just for the next week I want you to be conscious and focused and disciplined to ramp up your productive time to 2 hours per week. If you are averaging 2 productive hours, ramp it up to three, etc. etc. You will still be doing your shooting, you will still have to be killing those dreaded crocodiles, but now you are Rowing Two- Shooting One! 

Then once you have completed one full week at the new level of output, ramp it up again. Keep it going; keep consciously ramping up your productive time each week until you are investing at least four to five hours every day, working on increasing the Profitable Sales Revenue Generation of the Sales Team!

As of now it... is no longer acceptable that you lead yourself by way of auto pilot, working reactively, just focused on getting through your day. All Time Has Value; and the way you think about time and think about yourself will affect everything that happens to you inside and outside your business for the rest of your life. In short, you have to value your time before anyone else will.

So try the above recipe for the next 2 weeks and in my next news letter, Part 3 of this series, I am going to give you a powerful weekly planning tool that will help ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. In other words if you are going to be proactive in your attempts to ramp up your rowing the you will need an additional planning tool to help ensure that you don’t get bit on then bum by a sneaky croc.

However... before I do I need to extract a commitment from you

If I was sitting across the desk from you in a 1 on 1 coaching I would get you to do the very same exercise that my coach gave to me. Right now I want you to get out your diary. Do this now. I am waiting! Got it?.... great! Now I want you to take a look at your next 3 days and I want you to schedule in an appointment with yourself. Block out 1 hour. During this hour you are going to experience what I did 4 years ago. I want you to get a real experience of working “productive time”. I want you to set your alarm and during this golden hour, you are only to work on Increasing the Profitable Sales Revenue Generation of the Sales Team – nothing else!!!

No emails, no, receiving phone calls, no pop in visitors, no toilet, no water, no coffee, no deadline stuff. Nothing other than Increasing the Profitable Sales Revenue Generation of the Sales Team, for the full 60 minutes! Think of this hour with the same mindset that precedes you going away for 2 weeks leave. Clearing your desk and getting everything done before you go. 1 hour at full throttle, working on the main thing!

The truth is, I don’t know you and I don’t know your current level of “productivity” focus. Here’s what I do know from witnessing first hand hundreds of managers is senior roles such as yourself. Most believe that they are more “productive” than they actually are! Having said that, there are also many who are self aware enough to admit that they have “capacity”. So humour me. Do the exercise anyway. Right now, get out your diary and schedule in the “productivity” hour.

By the way, other than just improving your own personal production and results, there is a wonderful side benefit. You will also improve your decision making skills. This will happen organically as you begin to filter your decisions through the lens of, “will this activity increase the profitable sales revenue generation of your sales team. I can promise you that the more of your work time you invest in this productivity quadrant, the greater your value will increase, and the closer you will get to shrinking that gap between your current income and your desired income goal.

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