Drucker on Effectiveness

According to Peter Drucker’s article ‘What Makes and Effective Executive’ in the June 2004 issue of the Harvard Business Review, there are 8 practices for effectiveness that executives do: they ask what needs to be done, what is best for the enterprise, they develop action plans, they take responsibility for decisions, they take responsibility for communicating, they focus on opportunities rather than problems, they run productive meetings and they think in terms of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. Look up the article for the complete analysis by Peter Drucker, I personally find a lot of his stuff to be excellent.

 

In a nut shell, to be effective means to change your mindset and thought processes. In order to have an effective organization, the executives need to be effective. This means that they need to set priorities and act upon them. Asking what is the most important thing to do right now and what is best for the enterprise can help to identify what those priorities are. Once they are known, it is time to act on them. Delegate what can be delegated, but set a timeline for check ins. Focus your energy on those tasks that you are best at. 

 

Make sure that everyone is on the same page and that there is a very clear line of communication. Take the time to create a strategic plan that highlights the opportunities available. Opportunities are where growth occurs, so that is where the best people should be focused. Spending too much time on problems limits the ability to grow and detracts from opportunities. By all means, solve problems, but do not spend all the available time putting out fires.

 

Hold people accountable to their job, the expectations and the outcomes. It is important that everyone is performing at a level they are capable of in order to be effective. This happens by putting people in positions that they can perform well and then monitoring their success. Hold regular check ins to assess progress and provide coaching and mentoring to people, but if they are not performing, do not keep them in that position. It is not fair to them or to the organization.

 

In order to be effective, it is vitally important to control where time is spent during the day, this means limiting the number of meetings that are had, or making them more efficient. To run efficient, yet effective meetings, establish the goal of the meeting beforehand and prepare accordingly. If it is in an update on the status of a project then only that should be discussed. Only questions that are pertinent to that meeting should be discussed and afterwards there should be an action step with who is responsible for performing it and a follow up date. This way there are no loose ends and everyone knows what is expected.

 

Being able to make the best decisions requires getting timely, accurate, actionable information from people. Make sure that the people who are in their positions know what information they need to relay and when it needs to be in by. If the information is not being communicated, make sure you get it from them and work with them to ensure timely contributions. Once the information is assembled and analyzed the action steps are planned out and executed. Evaluate the decisions to determine their success and make any appropriate changes.

 

Peter Drucker spent a career studying effective management and his teachings are all relevant for today. His insights can help all of us improve our effectiveness and perform at out peak potential.