The Webinar:
This month’s Business Leaders’ webinar was on Ruthless Priorities & Guilt.
If you missed it you can download the podcast or the whole webinar (includes presentation, worksheets and templates.
(more information below)
Here is what we talked about:
Ruthless Priorities
No one is helping you: Definining and sticking to Ruthless Priorities is one of the most important and hardest things we are asked to do as business leaders. It also sets the most successful business leaders apart. But it’s not easy because not only will no one help you do this, most people will fight you, and want you to keep doing everything.
What’s really most important? We talked about how to choose what is truly most important (compared to everything that is important), and how to negotiate a doable workload with your boss and your peers.
Credibility
Build Credibility: It’s important to maintain (if not actually build) your credibility by the work you choose to do and finish. Getting a reputation for getting important things done builds your credibility.
Negotiate: But you can’t just pick and choose on your own. You need to negotiate your workload based on business priorities and sell the value of what you are doing. This ensures you stay aligned with your boss and builds support for your choices.
Bad bosses: We talked about difficult bosses who just dump work, and who would prefer their employees just do as they’re told and not think on their own (ugh.) We talked about ways around this if you are unfortunate enough to be stuck with a boss who can’t set priorities personally, and tortures you with chaos.
How to Say NO to your Boss (and be OK):
Stage the work: When you feel like you can’t get everything done that your boss is asking, it feels scary and you might feel guilty, or at risk. We talked about how to turn this around and use Ruthless Priorities to work with your boss on defining and staging the most important work to be done first, so you come out strong and focused.
Your boss needs you to THINK not just DO: We talked about 3 ways to negotiate your workload with your boss that give you a doable workload, and maintain high credibility. A big part of this is to realize that your boss needs help thinking and prioritizing, not just working.
Success: Trying to do everything and failing is not success. Getting the most important stuff done is success.
How to Say NO to your Peers: It’s not just your boss that wants you do stuff. Lot’s of other people make demands on your time too. The guilt comes in when you feel like you are letting people down. We covered techniques for pushing back, but eliminating the let-down (and the guilt).
Communicating:
Make a list: Make a list to catch ALL the work requests so you are seen as never dropping anything. We talked about how to use the list to say “later” instead of “no”.
Avoid silence: It’s important to never just drop requests in silence. Prepare a communication plan to describe your priorities and why they matter. Keeping a list of all requests, with noted Ruthless Priorities vs. everything else is a wonderful communication tool to build credibility too.
What you ARE doing: Both with your boss and your peers it is always more inspiring to talk about what you ARE doing, than what you ARE NOT doing. Sell the business value of your Ruthless priorities. This allows you to gain support from your boss and peers for what you are doing, and defend your time to get your Ruthless Priorities done.
Create a realistic workload
Make an assessment: It’s important to examine your workload and do an assessment of what is realistic. You’ll never get it all done, so you need a plan for dealing with the work and eliminating the worry. The worksheets in this webinar provide templates for doing this.
It’s lazier to say YES all the time: Saying yes to everything, and trying to do everything is actually a lazier way of working than setting Ruthless Priorities and sticking to them. It’s hard to do the strategic thinking, negotiating, communicating — and to have the guts to set and stick to Ruthless Priorities. That’s why it’s a way of working that sets the strongest leaders apart.
Fear and Guilt
Where is it coming from? It’s important to understand where the guilt is coming from. Are you actually being accused of something? Or is the guilt self imposed? We talked about how to proactively address both.
You are human. Everyone feels fear and guilt. Everyone. It’s not that some people feel this way, or even that most people feel this way. Everyone feels this way. If you are human, you feel this way. (Or you are a psychopath). So be encouraged that you are not wrong or weak. You’re just like everyone else in this regard.
Do it scared: Just because you feel fear and guilt does not mean you are undeserving of, or not qualified for job you have. It just means you have to do it anyway. Even the most successful people feel fear and guilt because they are human — they just do it anyway. I was completely terrified each time I stepped into a new, bigger, job. It’s OK (and necessary) to do it scared.
I will be writing more about this in future articles….
Want more?
If you missed the webinar and you want to hear it in its entirety…
- Listen or download the podcast for $9.99
- Download the complete webinar for $19.99 and get the presentation and the worksheets, too!
All downloads are free for members.
Act now
- Get yourself a membership
- Get a membership for someone whose career you care about
Become a member
- Get full access to the Member Library with unlimited webinar downloads and much more
- Get personal access to Patty in monthly member-only Coaching Hour conference calls
- Get a personal career advantage
- Become a Member (Only $179 for a whole year!)
Provide membership to your team
Membership to the Azzarello Group Business Leaders’ program is a practical and useful development program.
(Contact me for group rates)
Was this useful?
If you found this article useful, please help me share it (share button below) with others and encourage them to subscribe to this Blog for free.
About Patty
Patty Azzarello is an executive, best-selling author, speaker and CEO/Business Advisor. She became the youngest general manager at HP at the age of 33, ran a billion dollar software business at 35 and became a CEO for the first time at 38 (all without turning into a self-centered, miserable jerk)
You can find Patty at www.AzzarelloGroup.com, follow her on twitter or facebook, or read her book RISE…3 Practical Steps for Advancing Your Career, Standing Out as a Leader, AND Liking Your Life.
