Handling Reactionary Work

An executive needs those she leads to translate strategic insights into choices that drive results. For people to commit to carrying out an executive’s strategic thinking, they have to both understand and believe in it. But repeated explanations don’t necessarily increase people’s understanding and ownership of strategy. Making them discuss the pros and cons of it make it so the problem is better understood and flaws are identified and fixed increasing ownership for success.

When someone is promoted into a function that requires strategic leadership it’s easy to spend time fixing what was wrong in their previous function but that often isn’t what the strategic leadership position requires. So, identify the strategic requirements of your job and focus on them.

There’s no “definitive” system. The best framework is the one that works for you. Ideally, it should model your work style, supporting the way you work. Bonus points if it’s low-maintenance, fast to set up, and adaptable as your work changes.

Some people like to use folders with specific actions (do, delegate, reply), while others prefer the deadline-driven approach (today, tomorrow, next week).

Some examples:

• Undo Send: for when you accidentally press the send button.
• Canned Responses: create a template that you can reuse with canned responses.
• Send and Archive: Automatically archive an email after replying to it using the send and archive button.

Embrace that feeling of inadequacy.

The combination of believing that you can get to almost wherever you want to be, having discipline, and having insecurity about where you are is the formula for a successful, impactful career.

Work alongside the best in your field, read their books, listen to their interviews, study what they did to get where they are — and eventually, those crazy unrealistic dreams will become realistic for you.

• Each month one person on each product team becomes the "Hero." Their primary responsibilities are to communicate with their support team and take care of smaller improvements.
• The Hero should be able to focus entirely on their support duties. They're not assigned to any other product development work during that month.
• Being attentive to the support team and users means the Hero is unlikely to block off 4 hours or more of deep work, but it will enable everyone else on the team to do so.
• Being so close to user's requests and feedback gives the Hero a unique perspective into their problems and struggles.

Each member of the team (except the Hero) spends one day per week on Housekeeping. It gives them time to focus on small but important tasks.

Housekeeping is a personal day. If the Hero hasn't explicitly asked for help on an issue, people can choose which tasks they want to work on. Sometimes this time is used to learn something new related to current or upcoming work.

• If you know you’re more likely to work from home, invest in comfortable furniture; you feel good it will inspire you to get work done.
• If you want to join a local co-working space but are intimidated by the price point, ask about smaller memberships to start.

Don’t let your skepticism about productivity hacks get in the way of finding a technique that suits you and helps you get things done.
If you’re still having a hard time identifying priorities, try working backward by identifying work that’s definitely not a priority. Eliminate those items and assess what’s left.

• Action Items: to-dos, tasks, action requests etc. These will serve as the foundation to keep everyone aligned and moving forward.
• Decisions: Clearly defining the outcome and decision agreed to by the group is essential.
• Requirements/Specifications: Sometimes they pop up unexpectedly in the midst of conversation, but they’re important to document.

• Create an agenda, to be able to better control the pace of the meeting and plan for the likely key notetaking moments.
• Take notes in advance: Write your key discussion points to present in advance.
• Prepare your note-taking tools.
• Prepare the setting before the meeting, especially before video calls: being able to hear everyone = better notes.
• Block 10 minutes after the meeting, to clean up your notes, add details where there may be gaps, and delete notes that turn out to have no value.

The Big Spenders like to make social statements by having the latest car, clothes, or phones. They use the money for love and attention and are the main representatives of consumerism.

Advice: Think twice before making a purchase and try to filter the things that you really need from those bought by reflex.

The Ostrich is someone who would rather bury their heads in the sand than organize their finances. 

Advice: Ostriches should try to take slowly their heads out of the sand. They should try to examine their finances, take a close look at a better saving rate and consider approaching a financial planner.

The "I know I have to" beginnings are a bit more challenging to handle than the desired ones. This is mainly because we do the changes as we need to instead of actually wanting them.

These situations require courage, determination as well as building up a plan in steps about how to accomplish the change that needs to finally happen.

This is the " Please don't make me do this" type of change.

Change can come both from inside and outside oneself. However, when somebody or something forces a change upon us, we tend to perceive the experience as being painful. Moreover, if we are prone to depression, it can actually put our health at risk. The best two ways to cope with this kind of situation is by either seeking professional help or starting to plan our recovery.

The big idea people, who love going against convention. They are the people that blurt out mid meeting "This is a stupid idea. I've got something better we can try instead."

They can deliver the great idea that unsticks a team's thinking, but when the team has been developing that other idea for a long time, and some team members are deeply invested in the work that's already been done,  the team dynamics can quickly sour.

The content experts, analyzers don't know everything, but what they do know, they know extremely well.

When a team is dealing with a challenge that matches the Analyzer's area of expertise, you're on the path to solve the problem. But when the team focus strays from the Analyzer's areas of expertise, they get bored, lose interest, often affecting a dismissive attitude that can drag down other team members.

The Decision Matrix on how to approach tasks has 4 quadrants:

• Quadrant 1: The Urgent Problems which are important.
• Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but important tasks
• Quadrant 3: Urgent but not really important
• Quadrant  4: Distractions and time-wasting tasks. 

Prioritize the important (Quadrant 2) to attain maximum benefit from your work.