HR's most important task. A real paradox (especially for MBAs)

I am in IESE Business School's library today.  I am reading Jeffrey Pfeffer's article "HR's most important task". 

He starts: "Here is a paradox.  In the financial markets, investment information is rapidly and efficiently diffused.  New product and service innovations, be they junk bonds, new forms of options, or debt securities that allocate and price risk in an innovative fashion, get rapidly copied by competitors.  But, in the "managerial knowledge" marketplace, there is little evidence of much diffusion of ideas or innovative business models and management practices.

Although there is rapid diffusion of language - the language of quality or six sigma, empowerment or putting people first, employee and customer loyalty and so forth - in many cases, not much actually changes in terms of what occurs on a day-to-day basis and in fundamental organisational models."

photo credit: AComment

He discusses a couple of examples.  Southwest airlines has seen profitability for over 20 years in an industry that is losing money.  Their organisation has been widely described in articles, cases and books.  There were no secrets to what they were doing.  It was decades before others began to imitate the Southwest model. 

Another well known example is Toyota (excepting events of the last few months).  Toyota for a decade was the automotive byword for quality and productivity.  Toyota would regularly give plant tours to its competitors - but those managers came home and repeated what they were already doing - perhaps mentioning some six sigma concepts once in a while to give credibility to their positions.

The task for HR?  Human Resources must be concerned with the mental models of the people in the company, particularly its leaders.  The role of the company's execution leaders is to ensure that these mental models turn into disciplined action.

Why does management innovation take so long to spread?  What role do Business Schools have in accelerating this process?

Eat that frog. The only thing you need to know about time management.

Productivity put simple. This is a guest post by Dimitri Uralov, a Barcelona based entrepreneur and financial coach.  

Dimitri Uralov

When Conor offered me the chance to write a post on time management for this blog, we laughed as I commented that most people would probably find the truth about productivity too simple.

I am interested in time management. I spend a lot of time reading books on the topic, testing new systems and methods and trying the latest software. Invariably, I always come back to the same simple principle that has been guiding my productive life for the last several years.

Here it is.  Productivity boils down to one simple thing: your capacity to do the most important, and only the most important, and to stick with it until it's done. Time management tools and strategies are useful, but always secondary.

Our time is limited and we will never accomplish everything that we and others put on our plate. The only question is whether what we choose to do takes us closer to our goals and allows us to make a difference or not.

The only thing you need to know about time management.

I can only really accomplish what really matters if I spend most of my time working on the most important tasks. If I'm doing something else, no matter what I choose to do (and what software or system I'm using for it), it will relatively be a waste.  (Conor has a good post that distinguishes great work vs bad work).

What are these most important things? I don't think you need help with answering this question. It doesn't matter whether you're using the Eisenhower matrix, the ABC method of setting priorities or simply your gut feel.  We all happen to know what our most important tasks are.

The real problem is that these most important tasks are usually the most difficult and least "attractive" items on our agenda. They require time, effort and getting out of our comfort zone. So, humans as we are, we consciously or unconsciously choose to keep ourselves busy with other less important yet so much easier stuff.

I remember the first time I realized how powerful this "just-do-the-most-important" principle was. About two years ago, when I was working in a family office, my boss had a conversation with me. He was kind but honest. He complained about my productivity. He said it took me too much time to finish important projects. He didn't know what I was doing, but he knew he didn't like the results.

That came quite unexpected for me. At that time I considered myself to be a very good worker. I was always busy doing things. I was staying late to do more. I had my to-do lists all over the place. I would answer all e-mails and return all telephone calls quickly. I was up-to-date with everything happening on the markets. I was available and ready to help others. However, my boss felt that I was not achieving much.

So I decided to reassess the way I was working. I tracked my time and took records of my activities. Soon it became very obvious that most of my day was spent on unimportant stuff, such as answering e-mails or reading investment articles. Meanwhile, the important stuff was sitting on my desk and in my to-do lists, waiting to be dealt with.

Eat that Frog.

Having realized I was always postponing the most important, I made a strong decision to change my working habits. Every morning I would arrive to the office, make a list using the ABC method, and then go directly to my most important task, the A1, resolving to do nothing else until it was completed. I would then go to A2, then A3 and so on.

As I adopted this simple productivity rule, my results changed completely. Difficult projects and tasks that used to take weeks were now done in days. I felt more energetic and motivated. For the first time I would have moments when all items on my to-do list were ticked. Eventually I would accomplish most of the tasks for the week in only 3 or 4 hours on Monday morning. The change was so amazing, that I even started to share my insights with other people.

Today, as an entrepreneur, the productivity issue has become more important than ever for me. To be honest, I sometimes find it quite difficult to control myself and keep focused. If there's something good in having a boss, it is that you have someone who can warn you when your productivity has gone low.

Therefore, whenever I feel stuck among all the things I have to do, I go back to the same simple principle that has proved to work so well - I start doing the important things, and only the important things.

I grab a sheet of paper and write down my two or three most important tasks for the day. Yes, those that are usually also the most difficult and uncomfortable. I allow myself to forget about everything else, and then I focus on getting these two-three things done.

Once you eat a frog, nothing worse can happen in the day.

Sometimes it takes me the whole day to accomplish just one of these tasks. But I've discovered that I don't really feel bad about it. I feel calm, concentrated and productive. I'm doing the right thing, the one that matters most. It is the best use of my time, and there's nothing that can be compared to that feeling of fulfillment when it's finally done.

I've also discovered that every time I concentrate my effort on the most important, the unimportant stuff takes care of itself. Problems solve themselves in my absence. I get less e-mail in my inbox. The phone is silent. Life flows.

And usually, if I manage to keep myself focused and avoid distractions, I end up doing much more than I would expect. It seems that things do not always take as much time as we think, especially those that initially look so big and difficult.

Therefore, the next time you feel tempted to test the next revolutionary time management system, think again whether you really need to overcomplicate it. Get back to the basics and ask yourself a simple question:

Are you inventing things to do to avoid doing the important and only the important?  (A good reminder from Brian Tracy)

I recognize that even when we know what we have to do, it is not always easy to stay focused and avoid distractions. I personally find it to be the most difficult part of the "art of productivity". For that reason, in my next post I will share some of the tips that have proven most effective for me.

In the meanwhile, could you share your experience and insights on simple productivity in the comments?  What do you do to manage your time better?

Dimitri Uralov is managing partner of the Intelligence Consultancy - a company specialised in helping people and organisations to develop the full range of their intelligence. Next month he will run a 3-day workshop on leadership, productivity and personal branding in Barcelona.

The TED Commandments: 10 rules every speaker needs to know

TED talks are some of the best speeches that I watch.  TED organisers have a set of 10 rules that no speaker is ever allowed to break.  This might be a lesson for all speakers.

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Skae of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

This copy here from Tim Longhurst's blog.   The photo of the actual TED Commandments tablet comes from Rives' blog (scroll down to his 20 february 2006 post).

The power of not wanting. How goals can damage effectiveness.

I had two conversations yesterday, first with Dimitri in Starbucks then later with my friend Al (his blog on improving web conversion) on the telephone where we spoke about how goals can actually damage effectiveness.

• Wanting too much = desperation = we push people away.
• Not wanting at all = we say no = people want us more.

An example of wanting too much...

I have always been "an entrepreneur who teaches". In the past I have always said no to any teaching that doesn't work for me - and to any changes to my course that I am not fully happy with. This year, entrepreneurial activity a little low - I decide to focus more on teaching.

In redefining my role as primarily "a teacher who is also an entrepreneur", my ego gets involved in the teaching.  It is now important to me that the course goes ahead and that I get to teach.  I say yes to changes in the course for MBAs. I go ahead with course even though it was moved to another term, reduced in length and the extensive practical sessions with collaborator were cancelled.  The result: the course was poor - for myself (overwhelmed) and for students (missed structure and practice sessions).

An example of the power of not wanting...

Blake's book

My younger brother arrived in Australia 3 years ago. He joined a gym. A friend told him "you must get Blake as your personal trainer". My brother approached Blake and asked "would you be my trainer?". Blake said "No." A couple of weeks later, the friend said "so, are you working with Blake" "No". "Why not? You must work with Blake. Go and ask him again."

My brother returned and asked Blake "I would really like to train with you. Could we just do one session?" Blake responded "look, I only work with the best. I don't believe that you are committed enough."

A moment later Blake said "look I have a free slot next week. It is 5am on Tuesday morning. One minute late and I'll know you're not committed." For 3 years, my brother was at the gym at 4:45 Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  He has run several traithlons since starting training with Blake.

Tony Nadal, coach to Rafa, has never received a salary from Rafael. When asked why he said "I am his coach. I need to be able to tell him difficult things. This would be compromised if I depended on him for my pay".  (IESE Business School has an interesting case: Rafa Nadal: The Champion and the Person).

So here I am with a dilemma: I don't believe you achieve anything of importance without setting goals, but publicly stated goals can drive "desperation" behaviour - saying yes to clients that you shouldn't accept, to work that you shouldn't be doing, to changes that you would not allow if you were not desperate to show progress.  What is to be done?

An entrepreneurial business plan is a promise

I spent Thursday at the World Innovation Forum in Barcelona.  I had the opportunity to speak to a great group of entrepreneurs and some politicians and regulators about the process of pitching a business plan to professional investors.  What does it take to communicate a business plan in order to raise money?

I had the opportunity to work alongside Aleardo Furlani, CEO and Founder of Innova - a team of 140 consultants whose mission is to drive innovation between universities and companies in Europe.

Aleardo spoke about the Business Plan.  "A business plan is a promise."

There are four elements that improve the "promise" of a Business plan:

1. Simple - Anybody should be able to understand it.  It should use simple language.
2. Describe a problem - an opportunity is opinion.  A problem is a fact, it is tangible.  A business plan that describes existing customer pain describes something real.  
3. Present the people - The founder, the employees and the advisors of the business are real.  Their experience is real.  Describing why past experience demonstrates ability to sell, to manage software development, to manage invoicing, accounts payable, recruiting and execution is tangible.  This gives credibility to the plan.
4. Valuation - You are asking for money.  You have to put some thought into what your business is worth today and what it can be worth in the future.  What comparable companies exist?  What deals have been done?  What valuation multiples have been used ($ per user, EBIT multiple, $ per patent)?

There is obviously a lot more to a business plan (I include some resources below) but the thought that the business plan is a promise between entrepreneur and investor was a new idea for me.

The winning companies

We worked with eight companies that were selected to pitch to the venture capital panel on Friday.  Check them out.  I give my 3-4 word summary of each business based on what I took from their pitch.  I enjoyed hearing some great passion and good ideas that will make the world a better place.

• Mobile social gaming Digital Fun (200,000 active gamers in their game Ancient Legion) (Market leader Zynga valued at $5 Billion)
• Making comics digital Robot Media (over 1 million downloads)
• Tool for project collaboration Teambox (27,600 companies use this tool)
• Mobile application recommendation engine Bubiloop
• Community for sailors Bloosee
• Anti-counterfeiting for big clothing brands BCN Touch
• Mobile tour guide for cultural landmarks Musetrek
• Visual search engine Buzzar

Other resources on Business Plans

• Starting a new venture at the Entrepreneurship Hub at Imperial College London
• How to raise startup financing by Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog
• The business plan by Brad Feld at Feld Thoughts
• The four cornerstones of every business plan by Akira Hirai at Startup Professionals Blog
• The seven elements of a business plan at Entrepreneur.com
• How not to write a business plan by David Cowan at Who Has Time for This blog

Other resources on Pitching to investors

• The Elevator Pitch Builder at Harvard Business School
• Pitching to Professional Investors IESE Technical Note by Conor Neill
• 10 things you should know before you pitch a VC by David Rose at TED.com
• An introduction to pitching angel investors by Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog
• The 10/20/30 rule by Guy Kawasaki
• 12 ways to blow your elevator pitch by North Venture Partners
• Pitching to VCs by Baris Karodogan 

What other great resources on business plans and pitching to investors are there?  I would love comments that provide any other useful resources out on the web.  Thanks.

Five ideas to start your week

Five little productive ideas to start the week from five interesting bloggers and authors.

1. The end of busy at Zen Habits from Leo Babauta.  “Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” Lao Tzu.  
2. Feeding the Idea Beast at the 168 hour blog by Laura Vanderkam. Where do breakthrough ideas really come from?  PS Not checking email, answering phone, sitting in meetings...  “Stress comes from spending time on stuff that doesn’t matter.”  
3. Entrepreneurs (this applies to everybody) must take control of their time at Startup Professionals Musings by Marty Zwilling
4. Hope and the Magic Lottery by Seth Godin at his blog.  There are 2 types of entrepreneurial hope.  One is good.  One is very bad for you.
5. The surprising truth about what motivates us - a 10 minute whiteboard cartoon video that summarises Daniel Pink's book Drive.  Video is on the blog here.

Enjoy your week.

How to ask the best questions

I have a page of notes in my notebook about asking questions.  In the spirit of breaking the mold of my blogging, I will dump it here unedited...  and a bit of commentary and James Joyce style flow of consciousness thinking to follow.  Comments really will be appreciated ;-)

• The best answer is a question.
• Ask question = control power, help other learn.
• Getting to an answer is easy, asking the right question is the challenge.
• You don't change your life by changing the answers, you change your life by asking new questions.  Change "what am I here for?" to "how can I best serve those around me?"  This immediately shifts the line of the answers.
• "Nobody knows as much as everybody."

And so to flow...

Steve Shapiro, my mentor at Accenture, has a nice story on his TEDx speech at NASA recently.  He talks of a situation familiar to many.  Can you remember the last time you lost your keys?  You searched.  You began in the obvious spots. Friends provided the wonderful advice "Where did you last have them? They'll probably be there."  You search.  In frustration you look in all sorts of places.  Eventually you find them.  The relief is palpable.  The same friend asks "Where did you find them?"  You answer "You know, it was strange.  I found them in the last place that I looked for them.".

This is the danger of knowing the answer, of expertise, of experience.  We stop when we find the keys.  We stop when we find the first viable solution.  We stop when we get to good enough.  We don't go on and come up with 10 more solutions that might actually be extraordinary.  I believe that forcing myself into the habit of almost always responding with a question might just allow me to get beyond the spot where I left the keys, the first viable solution.

Image credit: 37signals Question your Work

Gary Cohen on a post on the Entrepreneurs' Organisation website gives six ways to improve the way you ask. I like "don't ask questions unless you genuinely want to know the answer."  This can be a challenge.

John Baldoni in the Harvard Business Review writes a post Learn to Ask Better Questions. He offers 4 ways to improve your questions be curious, be open-ended, be engaged and dig deeper.

Another entrepreneurial friend of mine, Jonathan Davis of Hire Better told me how a mentor of his explained "problems rise to the level that they are allowed to rise".  "Don't provide the answer if your co-worker is responsible for the decision."  In Jonathan's company they have a fun way of returning responsibility to the person: "That's your monkey".

An employee approached Jonathan recently "would you have a quick look at my proposal.  I don't know whether the client wants X".  Before Jonathan could respond, the person saw his little wink and said "I know, its my monkey...  I just...  You are right...  it is my monkey."  It is so difficult in these moments not to provide an answer when you feel you know the answer...  it is much more valuable to give a question that allows the person to grow.

Jonathan tells me that the US military has changed its command philosophy recently.  Gone are the days of 27 step process plans.  They have left details plans and moved to communicating why and how and letting juniors solve the what.  I'll give an example of this idea:

If you give a friend directions to your house "turn left, third right, second left, straight through 3 traffic lights, past the big tree, left and first house on the right" - if they hit roadworks and have to divert, they are lost.  If you say "head north to the river, find the metal bridge and our house is the third one back on the south side" - they still have a chance of reaching your house even if there are roadworks, changes in road layout.  The first set of instructions are correct but highly brittle.  The role of the leader is to point out Everest, give some limits in terms of acceptable behaviour and values and then ask the junior officers to get there.  This is much more robust and allows the organisation to deal with changes in the environment.

The biographers of Rockerfeller often quoted people reporting that in meetings he would sit and not say anything.  Many times he would appear to not be listening.  However when he did speak, it was always a question that would break the status quo of the discussion and bring out new viewpoints on a challenge.  The same is reported of Michael Dell.  He doesn't speak much in meetings, but when he does it is almost always a question.

Verne Harnish, author and speaker

As a business school professor I teach by asking questions, but I don't teach the students how to ask the right questions.  Verne Harnish said "we are all good at finding the answer to a question - the best leaders help find the right questions".  (Verne Harnish is hosting his fantastic one day event The Growth Summit in Barcelona on June 15th. Four great speakers. I will be there.)

Who asks good questions?  What does a good question look like?

Feeling overwhelmed? What does Jim Collins do?

I was in the coffee bar at IESE Business school some weeks ago.  I overheard the conversation: "I'll join the public speaking club in the 2nd year, it will be less crazy and I will have more time".

I was reminded yesterday by a great speech from Jaume about the overwhelming flows of data of the world in which I live.

Seth Godin tells us that every 18 months for the last decade, the world has doubled the data it pushes to you. Twice as much email, twice as many friend requests, twice as many sites to check, twice as many devices. When does your mind lose the ability to keep up? Then what happens? Is it already happening?

I believe that the feeling of being "overwhelmed" is not really due to the external circumstances, but our own reaction to those circumstances.  Scott Belsky, the founder of Behance (a set of productivity tools for creatives) has a couple of ideas that I think can make a difference in an overwhelming world.

1. Create windows of non-stimulation - Create periods where your put a stop to the flow of incoming emails, calls, conversations, noise, TV.   The author of Good to Great, Jim Collins does not allow any electronic device in the same room as him before midday. Turn off mobiles, computers and hear your own thoughts once or twice a week.
2. Divide actionable from non-actionable items.  Keep separate ideas and actions in your notebook (you do have a notebook). Each action step should start with a verb "call A", "buy a gift for B", "follow up contract with C". 
3. Bias to action.  In the absence of conviction or clarity, do something. Don't wait.  I think all self help books ever written can be summarized as follows:
1. Write your goals down.
2. Start at number 1.
3. Do it now.

Step three is the big diferentiator.

Another interesting note on Jim Collins - he has three big life goals defined for himself.  He always carries 3 stopwatches.  When he is working on one of the 3 important goals, he sets the stopwatch in motion.  When he stops, he stops the watch.  He tracks daily, weekly and monthly how he is doing at dedicating time to what is important for him (PS email responding is not one of his goals).  A nice quote from Jim: "Don't confuse activity with productivity."

If you read one business book in your life, make it "Good to Great".