Tag Archives: excellence in operations

Energizers

Where do you get your energy?  Consider that question.  Consider the alternatives.  Are you being robbed of energy by concerns and consternations at work and home?  How do you replenish energy depleted by stress?  High performance requires high energy.energy

Multiple times today, I’ve been asked by managers where I get my energy and how I keep my energy and have I always had energy.  While speaking at the Association of College and University Printers, the question kept being asked.  These are some great people.  So, I committed to answer.

Energy comes from fulfillment of purpose.  Give yourself to your heart passion.  If your schedule at work and home is blocking pursuit of passion and purpose, energy will drain and not come back.  Take 30 minutes a day to work on your passion.  Give yourself the energy you need.   If you can find a way to live your passion, that is going to give you the highest amount of energy.

Energy comes from right balance of work and play.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and Jill a lagging lady.  Get out and play.  Make time to do what you love to do.  Read, relax, soak in the sun, fish, golf, chess, or whatever is enjoyable. Do it.  Schedule it.

Energy comes from helping others achieve their goals.  All of us like to grow.  Most managers love to see their staff grow.  It is what we do.  It is an internal driver for a good executive and manager.  Block off a few minutes this week to help a staff member conquer a project or gain some training.

Energy comes from right people environment.  Do you have acidic people surrounding you?  Cut off the pain.  Some acidic workers cannot be cut off.  They might be your boss.  Limit your time with energy draining whiners and complainers and over controlling types.  Love yourself.

Energy comes from rest.  Get it.  Get all you need.  It will enhance productivity in all the other hours.

Energy comes from exertion.  Yes, you need to get good exercise.  Work out when needed and let energy flow in the hard moments.

Energy comes from pace.  Your job and life have a biorhythm and a pace.  Find it.  Manage it.  Respect it. When it overflows, step back and get it back on track.

Energy comes from storage.  Store it up. Don’t spend yourself out every day.  Save some for tomorrow.

Energy comes from release.  Release your thoughts.  Forgive and forget the problematic situations and people of the day and start tomorrow new.

Energy comes from spiritual connection.  Take care of your heart along with your mind and body and relationships.

Every executive and manager needs to manage their energy.  Your staff and your customers and your family and friends depend on you to have great stores of energy at right moments.

Where do I get my energy?  I love my life, my friends, my family, the business of consulting, the businesses I serve, operations and communication business, and many activities in which I chose to participate.  That is the answer, chose to participate. Choose energy over worry.  Go ahead, own the future, it belongs to you.

Manage DIRFT: Quit putting out fires! 4 Attention Items.

Overwhelming issues seem to have some similar roots.  A disaster or two can send any organization or business into a spin. Resource management is challenged.  How often does the inattention to right details at right moments create the spin?  How often is the spin self initiated?

Operations can be smooth.  They must be effective.  DIRFT needs managed.

DIRFT?  Do It Right The First Time.  This simple acronym should entertain the attention of every executive and manager.  Engage it.  Paint it on your forehead.  Demand it.  Coach it.  Live it.

Control what is knowable:  U.S. Grant was an amazing manger of DIRFT.  It turned the war his direction many times.  On one occasion General Sherman wrote this about him. “The campaign of Vicksburg, in its conception and execution, belonged exclusively to General Grant, not only in the great whole, but in the thousands of its details…. No commanding general of any army ever gave more of his personal attention to details.”

Grant did not leave anything to chance.  Faced with a myriad of unknown items, he mastered doing each item under his control as a known.  By ensuring all that was under his control was handled correctly the first time, he reserved the strength of his troops for the unknown.  The mental acuity necessary to adjust is freed when the known details are handled right the first time.

Plan for the unknowable:  Our state and city has a group named VOAID, Volunteer Organizations Assisting in Disaster.  During recent repetitive storms, this concert of concern was a first phone call.  Coordination made response quick and right.  Before federal resources had a chance to open the mail, these teams had already solved a myriad of needs.  Having worked together in other disaster situations, these folks made a difference.  Others have risen and joined ranks with them and the next disaster will be handled even more smoothly. Do it right the first time.

Quiet Time Development:  Building solutions that work the first time takes quiet time.  Avoid this and DIRFT turns into DRIFT.  The operation will drift to the loudest complaint and worst problems.  The business will loss vitality and focused expression.  Niche will become nice.  Nice operations could easily become eliminated operation as they miss the mark on needed activities and only tend to pleasing people on the surface not the deep points of need.

Sharp managers and executives use quiet times to sort the nice from the needed and the issues from the answers.  Make sure your plans fulfill the objectives of the operation established with reflective thought and right information to enable right decisions.

DIRFT!  Do it right the first time.  Inspect what you expect.  Expect what you inspect.  When a plan of operation is launched, it needs measurement points established to steer actions.  Quality control is fine if you are looking to lose.  Make plans that steer quality at each decision point instead of waiting until a job is complete to discover it is bad.  Rework is painful.  Plan DIRFT purposefully.  Teach it.  Coach it.  Motivate to excellence to prevent constant rework.  Learn some simple LEAN principles and implement them to take out wasted time and efforts so operations focus on getting it done right not finding out when it is done wrong.

Summary:  There is always enough time to do it right the first time.  There is never enough time to keep doing it over and over and over.  But, you need an operational plan to do it right.   Just giving it to people and expecting them to figure it out is a sure route to failure and frustration.  Engage them in the solution at the right moments and plan for smooth successful operation.

Have a great day doing what you do.  Operations should live in excellence.

Ready for a change?  Engage a conversation  405-388-8037  phil@shepherdok.com   www.shepherdok.net