Summary of getting things done

Getting things done when you are not in charge by Geoffrey M. Bellman (summarized by Paul Gruhn)IntroductionIn today‟s workplace, your personal success – and job satisfaction – depend on knowing what you want to accomplish, on your ability to collaborate with colleagues whose goals may be different from you own, and on your understanding of what is really going on in your organization. But you know how difficult and frustrating it can be to get things done, especially when you‟re a support person who‟s not in charge. However, you‟re not as powerless as you may feel.Bringing about change often means taking the lead. The author‟s contention is that we are at our most effective best when we choose to be a leader of change among the people we work with – our customers (internal and external), our management, and our associates. We may not be in charge, but we can lead. What‟s the most effective way to do this?The elements of changeYou may not be in charge, but your power and success will come from understandinghow the game is played in your company. There are four key elements to change, as shown in Figure 1.Figure 1: The Four Elements of ChangeYou will understand change and its possibilities better by exploring its four main elements and the relationships among them. To do that, ask questions such as:Want:1.What do you …want‟?2.What do the various key players …want‟?3.How do the …wants‟ differ? Overlap?4.What do the various …wants‟ have in common?Is:5.What are the boundaries of the situation?6.How do the various players describe what exists right now?7.How do the descriptions of what …is‟ differ? Overlap?8.How would you describe the present situation?Players:9.Who are they?10.What are their various investments in aiding or blocking movement f rom …is‟ to…want‟?11.What power do they feel they have to change or maintain the …is‟?12.What special talent or resources do they posses?You:13.Why are you invested in changing things?14.What special talents or resources do you bring?15.How well do you work with the various players?16.How do your wants fit with the players‟ wants?Too often we act before having answers to enough of these questions. (There are many more questions that could be asked, the above are just a sample.)It is only when we are pushed up against each other that the change dynamic can begin. That‟s when you can discover whether the difference between the …want‟ and the …is‟ is uncomfortable for the invested parties, the …players‟. Discomfort is an important early sign that change could be in the offing.WantsThe …wants‟ are at the peak of the triangle. This answers the question, “What do you want?” rather than, “What do others think you should want?” What do you want from life in general? What do you want to be doing 10 or 20 years from now? How does work fit into your overall life vision? What kind of department do you want yours to be?There are at least three paths we might follow if we want to accomplish change with others.1.We can reinforce our customers (internal and external) to do what they should tosatisfy a higher outside authority.2.We can encourage our customers to do what they want to do to satisfy their higherinner authority.3.We can point out to our customers how they can satisfy both.The mistake support people often make is we d on‟t ask others what they want; we think we “know”, so we tell them. And frequently, we “know” wrong. Our assumptions are frequently based on what we want and/or what we think they should want. A common, but often fatal mistake.The clearer the …wants‟, the more specific we can eventually be about the gap between the …want‟ and the …is‟. Plus, the clearer the …wants‟, the more we know about the motivation of the key …players‟.Is: Making the most of current realitiesIf we are going to help change things, we have to know and appreciate our starting point. This is something support professionals seldom do well. The following is a process for clarifying and altering the formal authority that comes with your position:1.Find out what it is. What is written about it and universally agreed to?2.Find out how it is working. Does everyone know how to work with you or yourdepartment?3.Describe the formal authority you want to have in order to carry out your functionwell.pare and contrast what you have and what you would like to have.5.Act. Take your first steps toward altering your formal authority.Let‟s not fool ourselves. We‟re not going to be very effective if we ignore the politics of the organization, the “art of getting things done”. Politics involves knowing who to work with and how to work with them. Politics isn‟t good or bad, it just is. If you want to change the system, you‟d better understand how it works. You can try to avoid the politics of your company, but you can‟t stay outside of politics. It aut omatically includes you as a force, whether you include yourself or not.PlayersIdentify the people with whom you need formal and informal contact. Assess your relationship with them, and compare it with what you would like it to be. Decide on specific actions to further build the relationship. Cultivate relationships with people before you want something of them, fully knowing you may never ask them for anything.Organizational success usually takes place on other people‟s terms – terms not necessarily inconsistent with your own, but their terms nevertheless. Showing respect for established ways most of the time allows you the trust, the room you need, to make the important changes you want some of the time. In order to work confidently with you, others need to know you can do well on their terms.Management will limit the risk they approve until you have a success pattern that is established and respected by the organization. Success, though, is usually not built through one resounding accomplishment, but rather through a pattern of accomplishment.YouHow do you see yourself in the organization?1.How are things positively different because of your work?2.What is the value you add through your work?3.What would the organization be deprived of if your job disappeared?4.What is the organization holding you accountable for this year?5.What stories do your customers tell about how you have helped them succeed?How do others see you?1.How would your top management describe you?2.How would they describe your technical role and the way you carry it out?3.What would they say about the way you interact with them and others?4.How does this fit in with the way you are presenting yourself?5.List the ways you would like to be viewed in your organization.Look at the differences. What, if anything, might you change to help get you what you want?Serving internal customers wellAt the heart of our work is the need to serve our users, clients, or customers well. However, we must balance the needs of the individual customer with the priorities of the organization that hired us in the first place.Internal customers work with us for some combination of two reasons; either they have to, or they want to. People who have to deal with you see you as a necessary part of getting their job done. They don‟t have to like the relationship. People who want to deal with you, however, see you as a useful resource, a consultant, to them. They are not there simply because yours is the next signature they need. Your long-term effectiveness will come from building others‟ abilities to deal with your function. As they understand it better, they will use it better.Your expertise will help your internal customers want to work with you, but it‟s just a first qualifier. A second qualifier is the way you work with them. The following is a ten-step process on consulting with your customers:1.Entry. Customers often have a specific solution in mind, which is why they decided tocall you. They may be right. Often, they are not. Start where the customer wants to begin, rather than where you would prefer to begin. The customer has a story to tell and needs to tell it. Notice the parts of the problem that are particularly important to them. Listen carefully. (You may even learn something.) Keep in mind that what the customer initially defines as the problem, may not be the real problem. Restate what you think you heard, in their terms. Establish your interest in helping thecustomer solve the problem, and tell them you want to help. Explain what resources you can draw on. However, do not take over the customer‟s problem and make it your own.2.Contract. (This is not a contract in the strict legal sense.) One of the greatest sourcesof problems is lack of mutual understanding about what is to be done. Clarify whatyou will do for the customer. What is the problem? How will you approach it? Howwill you collect information? Who will be involved? How much time will it take?When will each step happen? How much will it cost?3.Data collection. Collect data from everyone who might be invested in the problemand the solution. Don‟t decide on an answer too early, or you‟ll give the impression you are an answer in search of a question.4.Analysis. Now try and figure out what all the data means. When you think theanswer is clear too early, you may just be blind to what is really happening. Keep in mind that if you want your customer to believe your recommendations, they mustunderstand the analysis that lies behind it.5.Feedback. Present the data in a way the customer can understand and accept.Present the data first, and the analysis second. Be prepared for negative reactions, as defensive behaviors are common.6.Alternatives. Now that the parties agree on the data and what it means, it‟s time toexplore what might be done about it. Present a range of choices. If possible, involve the customer in developing alternatives.7.Decision. The following key players should be involved in the decision makingprocess; people who have the related expertise, the necessary authority, are affected by the decision, need to be committed to the decision, and need to support thedecision.8.Action. The real resistance to change will not be met until this step begins. Build onthe momentum established in earlier steps by encouraging immediate action. Resist the temptation to relax, now that a decision to act has been made.9.Evaluation. Are you getting the results you expected? Are the terms of the contractbeing met? Measure what you are accomplishing and how you are accomplishing it.10.Exit. Too many of us derive our sense of importance from making others dependenton us and then hanging around to do work they should be doing. Get in, help, and get out.Building solid working relationshipsSupport functions can generally fit into one of four positions relative to the power they have with their customers: dependence (at the bottom), counterdependence, independence, and interdependence (at the top). These are not fixed positions, but stages we can work through. The higher, the better. Issues of lower stages have to be resolved in order to move up to the next level. Each stage is dynamic, and you can move backward at any time when the situation changes. The dependencies work both ways, between your dependency on the customer, and the customer‟s dependency on you.Dependence. This is where you are essentially subordinate. This is not unacceptable, it just should not be promoted. People should be encouraged to be more powerful so they can accomplish more together.Counterdependence. This stage frequently includes a strong reaction against those who we now see as binding us for so long. We attempt to establish a separate and more powerful place for ourselves, and reject our old connections.Independence. Here we become more separate from others, and will probably clarify the boundaries between our work and department, and others that surround us in the organization. Independence includes standing alone and knowing what we stand for.Interdependence. This is where we choose, out of strength and trust, to rely on others as we do our joint work. Interdependence means choosing to depend on another – not because you cannot stand on your own, but because you see it as more effective to undertake this part of your work and your life in partnership with someone else. Together, we bring more resources to the issues at hand, benefit more, accomplish more, and do it sooner or better, that if we did things alone.Shaping and reshaping your roleThere are many ways to work toward results from a supporting position, but you have to decide how to do it. One may categorize support roles into eight slots along a responsibility continuum. At one end are “the banished”, at the other “the anointed”. In all likelihood, you perform at a number of points along the continuum.1.No support. These people do not have any support personnel to draw from. Allorganizations need support; it‟s just a question of whether people supportthemselves, or assign the role to someone else.2.Assistant. Assistants keep up with the detail work assigned by others. They do notrecommend, they just do what they are told. The label “gopher” (“go fer” this, “go fer”that) comes to mind.3.Administrator. Conceptualization is added here. Others delegate to theadministrator the more routine decisions, ones those in charge have learned distract them from their higher priorities. These decisions usually have predictable outcomes.4.Monitor. Monitors build and run systems that track how key resources of thecompany are being used. This person judges the performance of others and has theknowledge about what is going on and the responsibility for speaking up.5.Problem solver. This person resolves problems found by the monitor (or others).6.Planner. This person helps those in charge with planning; what the organizationwants to accomplish during the next year, and how to bring those plans into reality.7.Strategist. This extends beyond the operational plans of the short term, andanticipates long-term corporate strategic issues.8.Transformer. A transformer bring a larger, holistic perspec tive on the corporation‟smeaning, and potential meaning to the world, and helps guide the corporation onwhat is important to them.Keep this assessment of where you are (your …is‟) and where you would like to be (your …want‟) near the front of your mind. Reminding yourself of this maintains the tension caused by the gap and makes the changes you want more likely to occur.How to bring about changeKeep the following points in mind:1.Change is profoundly difficult. Do not overestimate your ability to bring aboutchange –or underestimate the organization‟s ability to maintain the status quo.2.Rapid change is dangerous.3.Sound change is rooted in respect. A change maker who doesn‟t respect theorganization that is being changed will find many forces lined up against the change and will have to deal with the organization‟s defensiveness.4.Resistance demonstrates power. One of the primary ways by which the organizationwill demonstrate its strength is by resisting what you and others are trying to put in place. Think about how you react when others want you to change. Others will notimmediately be willing to let go of the “old” stability they may have helped create.5.Persevere. Don‟t expect your new ideas to be heard and accepted the first timearound. Don‟t give up. Important changes don‟t happen overnight.6.Ideas must find their time. Timing is a larger factor in the acceptance of ideas thantheir basic worthiness. There is probably a “right time” for almost every idea, butthat time is seldom now.anizations are constantly changing. No organization is static, so recognize andaccept the state of flux every organization is in.Your vision and valuesYour success in a support position is anchored in your personal vision and values. With everyone else‟s problems and priorities constantly pounding you, you will be successful to the extent that you know what you are trying to build and how you want to build it. Your vision is your picture of the possible future you want to create; your values are the beliefs that underlie your thoughts, words, feelings, and actions. Without purpose and principle, you work becomes meaningless.The courage to riskInfluencing the prevailing direction of an organization means risk for us, whether we are telling the company what it ought to keep doing, what it ought to change, or what is ought to stop doing. Any of these actions can require taking a position – defining who you are and where you stand. How do you know what your contribution is if you cannot identify what you have done? What is happening differently because of you? What is your unique contribution? Making a difference requires risk and courage.Creating your own rewardsYou must find the primary rewards for doing your work within yourself; they don‟t exist “out there”. Creating your own rewards is the only way to succeed in this work of simultaneously supporting others and yourself.Rewards for leading change from a support position in a large organization can be external (e.g., promotion, salary increase, status, etc.) or internal (e.g., personal and professional growth, accomplishment, etc.) A few points to keep in mind:1.When you are in a support role, it is very risky and may be disappointing to count onothers to give you external rewards. They have their minds on other things.2.Deal with external rewards as the icing on the cake. The internal rewards are thecake. Following this guidance will allow you to pay more attention to what you want.3.There is nothing more important to you in the whole world than what you findrewarding. What other people find meritorious in what you do is nice, but it is somuch nicer when their approval fits with what you value in yourself.If you are pleased with what is happening now in your work life and if you are getting the rewards you want, then continue along your present course. If, on the other hand, there are significant empty spots in your work life, if you are far from getting what you want, then prepare yourself to change something–because something isn‟t working to your advantage. If you were playing tennis and losing, you‟d probably not stick to the same playing strategy.An action list for leading change1.Accept that leading change is demanding. Resistance to change in the organizationdemonstrates its power, and that power needs to be understood and respected.2.The need for change must be compelling. Given what we face when we introducechange, we had better be clear of what we want to create in place of what is.3.Pursuing change requires energy. By definition, visions are not realized overnight.4.Know how to bring about change. Just because you know what the organizationought to do, does not mean you know how to make it happen. Frequently those who are fervent in support of change are their own worst enemies when it comes toimplementing that change.5.Change should allow you to be yourself. Don‟t initiate change that requires you topretend or play a role.If you don‟t choose to lead your life, others will.ISBN 0-671-86412-2, published by Simon & Schuster, 1992, 269 pages, paperback, $12 list.。