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It’s something I
hear everywhere I go. “I don’t have enough time to get
everything done.”
In big stations and small stations. In stations with fifty
employees and those with three.
Seth Godin recently wrote, “I don't think winners beat the
competition because they work harder. And it's not even clear that
they win because they have more creativity. The secret, I think, is
in understanding what matters.
It's not obvious....but those that manage.....are doing it by
perfecting the things that matter and ignoring the rest.
Both parts are difficult, particularly when you are surrounded by
people who insist on fretting about and working on the stuff that
makes no difference at all.”
As my friend and mentor Alan Mason
says, “It’s not an issue of time. It’s an issue of priorities.”
Here is the part that is counter-intuitive. "If you want something
done, ask a busy person". Those words were spoken by the co-creator
of television syndication. You know her as Lucille Ball.
T. J. Sullivan, CEO of a leadership
training organization says, “On one hand, it seems that if you have
something that needs to be done, you should give it to someone who
is less busy and has more time to devote to the task. But, I've
learned, it doesn't really work that way. There's a reason why busy
people are busy, and people with time to waste have time to waste.
So what do you do?
When your people say they don’t have enough time to get things done,
ask them to bring you their top five priorities. If you uncover
where they spend their time you’ll discover the problem.
John is a partner in Goodratings
Strategic Services, and has been a successful major market disc
jockey and program director for such companies as CBS, Cap Cities,
Westinghouse, Sandusky, Gannett, and Alliance during his 38 year
broadcast career. John joined Goodratings’ partner Alan Mason in
1999.
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