Correct, Consistent, Daily Activity Will Always Be Rewarded

Estimated Reading Time 3 Minutes

Takeaway

Don’t be deceived by magic bullets and short cuts…correct, consistent, daily activity is the key to getting results.

Management’s Job

Early in my management career I was fortunate to have a set of cassette tapes of a training program given by Steve Brown.  I will never forget his definition of management’s job.  “Management’s job is to get results with and through the voluntary cooperation of others.” There was then, and still is today, a multitude of ideas that can be “unpacked” from that single definition.  I want to focus today on the idea of getting results and how you do that as a manager.

Your Formula

If you had the privilege as I did early on to cut your teeth in commission sales as a rep, you likely learned many valuable lessons that could only be learned by taking a job where you got paid for results, not for showing up, and not for the hours you worked.  Then I got promoted and I was supervising a group of commission-based reps.  My compensation was now based on whether they sold anything.  Truthfully, that was pretty scary.  It turns out it was a great environment for learning how to manage because you evaluated everything you did based on whether it led to more sales or not.  If it didn’t, it was a waste of time.

Measurable Activity

Results come from activity, done correctly, done consistently, and done daily.  This means you as the manager need to know what those activities are.  Those activities need to be measurable.  Here’s the question to ask yourself as a manager; “What specific activity do my people perform that if we could either increase the number of times they perform it, or the quality of how they perform it, would improve our results?”

This is easier to discern for some jobs.  In direct sales, we know making more sales calls always leads to more orders.  But what if you manage an administrative office or a customer service call center?  Do you know what those measurable activities are?

Remember that the team you manage, performs an essential function to your company’s business process.  Your responsibility as a manager is to make a difference.

Trust the System

There is tremendous benefit in taking the time to work through this.  Once you know the activity to measure, and you know how to measure if it’s done correctly, consistently, and daily, you can focus on what you need to do each day to improve it.  Forget about the results and just focus on the activities that lead to the results.

A famous college basketball coach caught my attention early in my career when I read an interview he gave on this subject.  He said he never looked at the scoreboard until the last few minutes of the game, and then only if it was close.  He went on to point out that he was focused on helping manage his team to execute the key activities that he believed would lead to a successful outcome.  He choose to focus on things like how many times they passed the ball before taking a shot, their shot selection, and their turnovers per possession.

He professed that you can’t manage results, you can only manage the activities that lead to results.  He believed it and his record stands today as evidence he was correct. If you take care of the activities, the results will inevitably follow.

Transformational Exercise

Take a few minutes right now and write down the key activities your team performs.  Which of those are measurable?  If your team increased either the quantity or quality of those activities, would it improve  results?  Finally, ask yourself if you are currently managing these activities or trying to manage the end results?