Getting Things Done

With the new year now in full swing and the recent holidays already an almost distant memory, everyone is pushing to get things done.

The dozen calls with sales pitches I used to receive by mid-morning show the redoubled efforts - they are as many more.

There is an insistence, an urgency in the voices, the messages and the emails. Not quite desperation, but very close to it.

The type is bolder, the voice is more forceful. Everyone is shouting - pick me, buy my stuff, sign up here! The sense of urgency is good, the energy is misplaced.

Because what is louder than a shout? A whisper. Social media is a way to get next to your customer and speak only with them. Whispering is intimate. It's done up close. And it's closely related to listening.

Getting things done is good - but are they the right things?

With so much noise and so little signal these days, it's getting easier to tell what is not going to work - for those who are paying attention, who are dialed in it is quite obvious. Not so for the others. They are busy turning the volume up even louder and diminishing their returns with it.

There needs to be balance between getting things done and leading.

Whenever things swing one way, there can be a big backlash - too many leaders and nothing gets done. Too many people getting things done and nobody is leading. I included the magic quadrant up top. Feel free to use it as a reminder that it is within our control to care for the micro-interactions.

Micro-interactions become the context in which customers experience us. By customers I mean everyone you touch in a day. If we care to excel at executing the balance in small ways, we can scale to envelop entire businesses, and the marketing results that go with them.

We're human, we like to copy what others are doing - let's start by giving people the right things to copy.

Comments

[Steven Woods]

Valeria, you make a great point as usual. Loud is definitely more common nowadays, but I often think it has a lot to do with the way we analyze and measure. If you're loud, and a buyer is ready to buy, you might get the deal. If they are not, you have lost them. If you whisper, you will move them gently closer to the deal in both situations. But, when we measure only the immediate-term effects, it looks like the "loud" strategy was better, even though it was actually the worse strategy in the long term.

Measurement has effects on actions, for better or for worse, so we need to be careful exactly how we measure our marketing efforts in this economy so as to avoid incenting the wrong behaviours.

Thanks for the post, much enjoyed.

[Valeria Maltoni]

From your observation I also notice something else. That often people measure and analyze things loudly. It's what I call the "photo opp" - whoever is seen in the act of doing something is considered more important and relevant, regardless of whom is actually doing something important and relevant. This happens daily in organizations (but also online: have you seen discussion about influentials?) and it's called politics.

For example - in my post on Pixar, I noted that there was a discussion with a writer who contributed content to Toy Story 2 but did not get the credit.

Noticing has effect on actions and results, too. In many instances I have experienced, the person who gets noticed was copying (she does not have experience in the field, just the title) and does not know what was behind what she copied. Organizations provide incentive for the wrong behaviors all the time by encouraging environments where the loudest (most political) gets the hearing and credit.

[Neil]

Valeria, I think you make a very important point about remaining calm: Panic never gets anything done.

Recently, I went scuba diving and the instructors repeated two principles more than once: Always breath and never panic.

Well, holding your breath (while scuba diving) and ascending can cause severe injury to your lungs.

The panic rule is relevant to business, though. While scuba diving, NEVER panic not matter what happens. Just take the action needed to get something done, even if something goes wrong. Panic will only make the situation worse, never better.

That same principle can be applied to business and life in general. The don't forget to breath rule is probably not a bad business and life rule, either, as breathing deeply helps us think things through and make good decisions.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Or being reactive instead of responsive. Do you know that there are many people who hold their breath in their daily life? It's amazing how tense one can get.

[pascal bouvier]

leading/leadership is actually a balancing act between 1) defining what needs to get done and where to go and 2) leading others to do it and get there... imho.

also, a leader gets others to realize their leadership potential, but in the end, there can only be one leader to set the tone. if there are too many leaders.... then the leader has failed. leadership requires prioritization and ranking so that everyone knows how and when to lead on their own level.