Drucker the effective executive
- 1. The Effective Executive Peter F. Drucker 1966
- 2. Effectiveness • Executive must manage themselves for effectiveness if they expect others to follow • Intelligence, hard work and knowledge are not enough, others must use our output (results) • Effectiveness often goes opposite the flow of events • Effective results always external impact • Survival of the organization depends on producing the maximum contribution with the minimum of effort • Focus on maximum contribution imposes relevance on events. • To focus on contribution is to focus on effectiveness
- 3. It Can Be Learned • Don’t do things right, do the right things • Effectiveness converts intelligence, imagination and knowledge into results – can’t be measured by traditional metrics – works from changes in trends not from events – others must make use of what we contribute • Efficiency (manual work) do things right – Not applicable to knowledge work – There are no results within an organization – Organizations are measured by their contribution to outside world – Need for resources grows with the cube of the size
- 4. 5 Practices • 1) Know where time goes • 2) Focus on results, not effort • 3) Build on strengths (Grant) • 4) Do what counts (Priorities) • 5) Make effective decisions (page 24) – Judgement based on “dissenting opinions” – Focus on a few right strategies – Minimize razzle-dazzle tactics
- 5. Time • Record it • Manage it • Consolidate it • This is the ultimate finite limiting factor • Memory is not an accurate way to record time • It takes a long time to make people decisions (1 year) • Time in long continuous uninterrupted units is needed to decide who to group for problems (1st Year) • The more physical work you want to eliminate the more mental work you must do • Recurrent crisis is laziness • Don’t overstaff • Don’t have too many meetings
- 6. Results • I must make a significant contribute to the positive external results of my organization. • What is the unused potential in my job? • I must produce knowledge, ideas, information and concepts. • The must make my specialty useful. • I must take responsibility for being understood • I must be sure to provide that which others need • A “generalist” is a specialist that is universally understood. • It is the focus on “contribution” that leads to the communication that creates synergy. • Effective work comes from the discipline necessary to blend diverse knowledge into a collective success
- 7. Effective Meeting • Why are we having this meeting • Decision? Inform? Increase Focus? • What is the purpose and contribution • You can listen and direct a meeting • You can take part • You can’t do both!!!!!! • Always focus on the expected contribution
- 8. Strengths are Opportunities • Unified strengths make individual weaknesses irrelevant • Staff to maximize strengths – “Find out what Grant is drinking and send a barrel to the other generals” Lincoln – “Here lies a man that who knew how to bring into his service men better than he was himself” epitaph for Andrew Carnegie • Design jobs that are doable, demanding and large – must have enough challenge to bring out undiscovered strengths • Start with what they can do rather than what the job requires • Lead from personal strengths
- 9. First Things First • Do one thing at a time • Executives not pressure should make the decisions • We often abandon that which we postpone • Achievement does not depend on ability, it depends on the courage to go after the opportunity. • Set your priorities by opportunities presented not by the likelihood of quick success. • It is just as risky to do something small and new as it is to do something big and new • Concentration - the courage to impose decisions on time and events • Focus on the completion of the one task now and let the situation to decide what is next
- 10. Decision Making • The specific executive task • Effective executives make effective decisions • Effective executives concentrate on the important decisions – The decision is strategic – The decision is based on abstractions at the highest level of conceptual understanding – The decision leads to real, effective simple action – The decision is based on a few important variables – The decision is sound and makes a real impact
- 11. Elements of the Decision • Is the problem the symptom or the disease • Bound the decision – Most difficult step – Exercise in judgement – Even wrong decisions should fill boundary conditions – 1/2 loaf and 1/2 baby one fills boundary conditions • What is right verse what is acceptable – postpone the compromise until the end • Built in Action – most time consuming – who needs to know, what action, by who • Feedback
- 12. Effective Decisions • Decision is a judgement • Balance between “Almost right” and “Probably Wrong” • Right decisions grow out of the clash and conflict of divergent opinions • Right decisions grow on the consideration of competing alternatives • Events are not facts, we must have a criterion of relevance • People always start with an opinion • Most look for facts that already fit the conclusions that they have reached. • Traditional measurements are often not the right measurements • Look for different ways to measure success. • Don’t make a decision until there is disagreement. • The right decision demands adequate disagreement. • Disagreements is the birth of alternatives • Disagreement is needed to stimulate the imagination
- 13. Effective Decisions • Not going to be pleasant • Not going to be popular • Not going to be easy • Decision making takes as much courage as it does judgement • The cry of the coward “Let’s make another study” • Decisions on the operating level are adaptations and require no real knowledge.
- 14. Effectiveness Must be Learned • Record your time • Focus on your contribution • Move forward based on your strengths • Do first things first • Make effective decisions