Today's Tip
Doing Things Right
 Are
you asked too often to cut corners, accelerate the timeline, compromise
doing things right to get them done fast? Sometimes doing things right needs
to matter more than doing them right now. I am not suggesting that
every learning and performance intervention needs to be a work of art. Nor
am I
saying we should ignore our customers' (internal or external) request.
But let’s be honest: some initiatives are so important that they deserve
to be done right.
For most of us, learning and performance resources are very limited, so part
of the answer lies with where we put those resources. Putting them to work
on key strategic initiatives in our organizations rather than less weighty
initiatives is part of the answer.
Another part of the answer
is to separate general services in learning and performance (i.e., helping
a manager with a Power Point slide show, creating
a simple job aid, or scheduling a professional development class) from project
work on strategic initiatives. Both may be important to the overall organization,
but the less-weighted initiatives will take up all of your energy and time
if there’s not a way to refer these low weighted requests.
A third area that can help is using tips and suggestions —like you
are receiving here in this column—that have to do with doing
things faster, easier and better. We have been careful not to suggest things
that compromise
the integrity of doing things right. But like you, almost daily we are
asked to make compromises. Looking for ways to stay focused on doing the
right things is probably where it starts.
What positive suggestions do you have for resolving this important issue
of doing the RIGHT things RIGHT? Please share your suggestions with us; email
me at darryl@dsink.com, and I will share your tips in the next tips column.
In a
great marketing tips newsletter I subscribe to, by Drew McLellan,
he
indicates that marketing people often don’t take the time to do
marketing initiatives right—that marketing people are often too knee-jerk
responsive. This inspired my thinking about this concept related to learning
and performance
services. So, my tip has to do with applying Drew’s concept to our
own work—DOING THINGS RIGHT.
Until next time,
Darryl
Article © 2006 Darryl
L. Sink & Associates, Inc.
|
Vol.
2, No.4 February 22, 2006 
