🎯 Work Smart Wednesday - November 15, 2023

What I do when it feels like I’m working hard but going nowhere, thoughts on what makes a bad client, and a quote on leadership

Work Smart Wednesday

👋 Hey there!

Here is your weekly dose of Work Smart Wednesday

In these emails I will share with you 3 things to help you work smarter in 3 minutes or less. That leaves you with 10,077 more minutes to conquer your goals this week

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1. 🌀 What I do when it feels like I’m working hard but going nowhere

This point ties in well with my point about “stop doing the wrong things well” I made in the November 1 issue of Work Smart Wednesday.

If me and my team are working hard, but it feels like I’m going in circles, I ask myself the most important question: “is everybody prioritising the highest value tasks?”.

When you pick the right priority, it often doesn’t really matter if you do it well or not.

Doing the right thing poorly is still worth more than executing the wrong things perfectly. What you do matters more than how much you do.

"If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster." - Stephen R. Covey

Q: What is the most common mis-prioritisation I see?
A: People incorrectly valuing tasks based on past experiences.

People often incorrectly value tasks that were once important and valuable as still important and valuable. Things change. You must adapt your valuations of tasks as your circumstances change.

When you first start your business you often have to hustle; the most important tasks in the early stages might be for you to send emails to potential clients or to fulfil your orders.

As you scale, your priorities shift. You may have a team that manages minutiae and more manual tasks. You would now likely be better spending your time properly managing your team. 

Typically low value tasks that leaders commonly get stuck on:

• Arguing over design and typos

• Reaching inbox zero

• Constantly watching your competitors (or even your own data, if done too much!)

Typically high value tasks:

• Recruiting great people

• Crafting your offers

• Aligning your team around priorities

Doing the right things wrong is better than doing the wrong things right.

What tasks are you going to revalue?

2. 😕 Am I a bad client?

I, like most people, consider myself to be a fairly okay person.

For those of you who don't know, I'm British, so that's quite a strong statement. 

Recently, I've been reflecting about my relationship with a particular company I'm currently engaged with, and I've realised that according to my own frameworks they should probably consider me to be a bad customer.

This company provides regular water deliveries to me, which is essential in Thailand due to the unsafe tap water.

• I live on the 15th floor of a gated building, so it is a pain for them to deliver to me.

• I have an odd, and relatively low value, order.

• I believe I may be the only customer of theirs in the entire building.

• I message them much more frequently than I would like, and I am a little snippy with them sometimes.

• It all adds up to a customer that might not be worth their time or effort.

If I were them, I would have fired me as a customer by now.

Normally, I consider myself a good customer. So why do I think I'm a bad customer in this case?

Their business model requiring high customer geographical concentration aside, I currently believe the main issue has come from a lack of clarity.

This company has let me down multiple times - failing to deliver our regular order without any kind of notice - and I'm often unsure about their rules, procedures, and prices. Consequently, this lack of transparency has made me somewhat frustrated and more demanding as a customer.

This ties in well with something I often work with clients on - you train your customers with every interaction; how quickly you respond to emails, what you say, whether you are 'flexible' and offer discounts or special measures, etc.

I constantly remind myself that I am at least partially responsible for creating the cultural norms in my various personal and professional relationships.

If I find I have a lot of bad customers, I find it useful to reflect on what part I have had to play in making them bad.

How are you complicit in creating the conditions you say you don’t want?

That is a question that reminds me of one of my favourite comedy songs of the last two years. Enjoy Tom Cardy.

3. 💡 Quote I'm pondering

“Leadership is about doing the right things, management is about doing things right” Peter Drucker

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If you are the business owner, you are a leader. Your core job is to make sure you and your people are doing the right things. Focus effort on the high value tasks.

That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What did you find most useful? What do you want more or less of? Reply to this email now and let me know

Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I want to know about it😊

Have a great week,
John


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