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By Bill Thomas
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Effectiveness is a Choice: The Practical Application of Self-directed Learning
What makes you an effective knowledge worker, entrepreneur or leader? Because you work with knowledge, your effectiveness takes place when you procure, sort-through, evaluate, produce or package information.
As Peter Drucker describes it, you work in a job which, "can be defined as a process that converts an outside resource, namely knowledge, into outside results, namely economic values."
To help us discover substantive answers to that first question, we'll need to understand:What is effectiveness?In knowledge-work, what does being effective look like?How can effectiveness be learned?
A while ago, we proposed using Concept Maps as a way to explain, recommend, or decompose our ideas, and assemble, organize and communicate disjointed facts to others. So can mapping or other techniques make your work with knowledge any more effective?
While intelligence, imagination and technical expertise may be important resources, it is effectiveness which transforms those knowledge resources from so many 'bits-of-data' into wealth-producing, value-added, meaningful results.
Your knowledge work is made effective when you work-on, work-with or work-for the "right" things - stated another way, your "value-added" or productivity directly depends on your getting the right things done.
Yes, knowledge-workers produce knowledge, ideas or information, but we only produce meaningful results when our knowledge products can be applied by someone else to an action or behavior.
Therefore, for our knowledge to have meaning, value and significance, it must tangibly empower, energize and enable our organization to fully utilize its capacity to perform or obtain results.
Do You Challenge Yourself to be Effective?Effectiveness means making meaningful contributions - to do so, knowledge-workers must be responsible, be able to make decisions, and have the power of authority.
"The authority of knowledge [that is, the "authority" of those possessing or producing knowledge] is surely as legitimate as the authority of position" [that is, the authority conferred by a job title or structured pecking-order on a org chart], is how Drucker puts it.
Dealing with your reality means meeting the challenge to be effective, and that depends on your ability to exert control over these opposing demands on your:utilization and usage of available time urgent or compelling events and situations undeniable or unending organizational pressures unique perspectives and prevailing world-view.
If you noted how each bulleted point began with the letter "u", that's my little joke - because "u" are literally involved with and proverbially stuck inside each of these realities!
While it is true that you have little or no control over those 4 realities, you have the advantage of having an acute awareness concerning their nature. Time, pressures and situations and their attendant difficulties will be dealt with at a later time, let's take a moment to look at the last one.
Our "perspectives and world-view" tend to be distorted and fuzzy due to the nature of information that we receive through our organizations' filtering systems - such as, company reports, market forecasts, and strategic plans - these items can, at best, form an unclear and muddy view of the world for many of us.
Thus the world-view or the outside of your organization is rarely seen by your colleagues or you in full - but this "outside view" is what the final customer sees, knows, and it's the reality that customers have to live in and struggle with.
And that's another point - the customer is the true holder of knowledge - your customer has the only knowledge that is important to the successful operation of your business, provision of service or production efforts.
What goes on inside your organization are efforts and costs. To be sure your expertise, skill and energies are included in the organization's total effort and its entire cost but the only results and knowledge that matter lie outside, they belong to your customers.
So how can you be more effective?When you design your self-directed learning objectives, you may want to direct your attention on those activities that are most likely result in your effectiveness.
Of course there is no "magical pill" that can help boost your effectiveness. However there are certain practices, habits if you like, that will keep you focused on making substantive, meaningful and effective contributions.
These 10 practices are adapted from various external sources and a few experiences of my past - in those days I was engaged, employed and exhausted ["exorcised" some might say] by some of the world's largest, meanest and ruthlessly demanding corporations.
- Systematic management of your time - operating through a philosophy of time, employing time-appraisal techniques, using a strategic time-planning process,
- Decisive, organized "modus operandi" - aligning optimum work-space, pace and environmental influences with your preferred styles of production
- Laser-sharp focus on contributions - directing, adjusting and steering your resources, processes and efforts exclusively towards getting results
- Rely on developed strengths - continuously discovering, rigorously building-upon and unselfishly enhancing your own strengths along with the talents and strengths of your colleagues, superiors and subordinates
- Concentrate on major task areas - applying superior levels of performance on those key priorities where you can produce outstanding results
- Employ a strategic decision-making process - effective judgments evolve out of strategically-oriented problem-analysis and decision-support systems
- Treat everyone with sincere respect - absolutely, positively and consistently show that you truly value each person you meet [from the office cleaners to the Chairman] as a Very Important Person
- Communicate your meanings, beliefs and feelings - plan the reasons-for, content and delivery of your transmitted messages, receive messages with love, empathy and agreement in your responses
- Be responsible - put focused, realistic and measurable statements of responsibility in writing for your group, team and yourself [you need a personal statement to express your commitment to serve, lead, relate to others, be ethical, etc.]
- Develop your capital assets - use self-directed, instructor-led and community-based educational programs to persistently enhance, extend and energize your knowledge-, intellectual-, and social-capital
[For an analysis of Self-directed Learning Program Strategies - See the "Strategy Map" - Click HERE
Now, you can save a ton of cash on our 3-month Intranet Membership Program - you also get reduced prices on all of our live, interactive and online workshops, and personal coaching and counseling sessions, plus your special discounts also apply to our written materials like Action Guides, Handbooks or Manuals.
The 3-month Intranet Membership Program gives you:
Instructor-moderated class discussions, supervised online courses and email tutorials covering 18+ critical knowledge work skill areas are held in our dynamic, resource-laden and feature-rich Intranet site.
As long as you are a Member, you may freely use any or all of the following:
Intranet-linked online [web based] or email training course, Focused, continuous threads of Instructor-led and peer-group discussions, Features our ever-growing unique Knowledge Bases on Leadership, Creativity and Innovation, Mapping & Modeling, Communication strategies Full borrowing privileges in our comprehensive Intranet-based Library, Access to the Intranet's Directory of Knowledge-work Resources, Downloads from our Archives of informative Articles and Papers, Unlimited use of your own personally configured Intranet-based office and workspaces. Your own private email box and address to send and receive messages securely and confidentiallySet-up and management of multiple robust databases [using easy-to-assemble templates] for your personal or team usage The Intranet gives you full calendar functionality, PDA synchronization, integration with wireless devices, and event/task scheduling and management capabilities.
Get your $200 of Free Bonuses [includes gifts like "25 Powerful Leadership Strategies" ebook, an Executive-level web Tutorial] plus your 3-month Membership for only $39.95 completeClick HERE to use our Secure Servers and become a Member in this effectiveness-empowerment program, today!
Recommended Reading and Key Resources:
[1] The Effective Executive - Revised, by Peter F. Drucker, © 1966 & 2002
[2] Managing For Results, by Peter F. Drucker, © 1993
[3] Better tools for planning, organizing and managing your learning programs - save your money and time!
Bill Thomas is Managing Principal of Syntopic
Intelligence and Senior Vice-President of Mustard Seed Investments, Inc.
He consults with clients in over 75 countries on various business,
organizational leadership, creativity and technology issues. He also writes
and lectures on new models, skills and resources for knowledge
work and the Knowledge Economy.
He can be reached at: bill@syntopic.net?Subject=Ezine_Article |
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