Matt Perman over at What’s Best Next (a blog that I’ve been following for a couple of months) has a great post on making sure you Define the Deliverables on a project.  Don’t just come up with the ideas, make sure you take time to figure out exactly what’s expected.  Matt says:

Defining the deliverables directs your attention to outcomes rather than activities.  Activities are not necessarily productive.  Many of the activities we do are not necessary…if you think first of deliverables, your mind is directed right away to outcomes instead. This will immediately filter out a whole bunch of activities and cause you to identify and focus in on only the activities that are actually essential to the project.

Check out the rest of the post here.  While you’re over there, you might want to look at some of his other great posts on priorities and productivity.

The Truth About You is the latest strengths based leadership book from Marcus Buckingham.  It was an easier read, but it had a lot of great practical application.  The book comes with a DVD, which has a short movie about strengths, and a “Re-memo” pad for capturing both strengths and weaknesses.  This interactive experience involves more nuts-and-bolts practical application, which distinguishes it from many leadership books on the shelves today.  Lots of books dump a mount of information on you, but don’t encourage you to do anything with it.

Below I’ve listed his main ideas:

• Performance is always the point:  Don’t expect your organization to know you like you do
  • In most cases the only interest they have in your strengths is whether or not they enhance your performance for the organization.
• Your strengths aren’t what you’re good at, and your weaknesses aren’t what you’re bad at.
  • Buckingham wants to correct the common misconception that if you’re good at something is must be a strength.
  • His definition of a strength is any activity that makes you fell strong – i.e when you’re done you feel fulfilled, focused, in the zone, and time seems to pass quickly.
• When it comes to your job, the “What” always trumps the “Why” and the “Who”: So always ask, “What will I be paid to do?”
  • Once you know the “What,” then compare it to your actual strengths before making the decision.
• You’ll never find a perfect job:  So every week, for the rest of your life, develop a strong week plan.
  • Strong week plan – pick out two things you are going to do to put your strengths into play each week and attempt to implement them.
• You’ll never turn your weaknesses into strengths:  So fess up to your weaknesses, and neutralize them.
  • Once you’re clear what they are, you’ll have to deal with them.

If you’ve read Buckingham’s books before you’ll probably find the material to be a summary of his strengths teaching and similar to GO! Put Your Strengths To Work.  This book is an ideal introduction to strengths based leadership for those who have never read any of his books before, and also ideal for high school and college students.  I wish someone had exposed me to these concepts much earlier in life.  You can preview the book here, or purchase your own copy here.

I just finished reading a copy of Tony Morgan’s new book Killing Cockroaches.  It’s not about killing actual cockroaches, although there are instructions on how to do that in the book.  He says that “killing cockroaches is a euphemism for responding to the urgent stuff in our lives that keeps us from doing the important stuff in our lives.”

As I was reading the book, the format reminded me of something Guy Kawasaki said about his latest book Reality Check in a recent edition of the Catalyst Podcast.  He said his own recent book was more like a desk reference and that at any given time much of the content would not be relevant to your current situation; however, the stuff that isn’t relevant today might be relevant six months for now.  I’m sure I’ll flag my copy, mark it up with lots of notes and keep it handy for future reference.  Below I’ve listed some (by no means all) of the interesting things I came across:

• Tony’s own formula for killing cockroaches (the metaphorical ones)
• 48 Simple Strategies for Better Blogging
• Deal Breakers for Leaders (including:  “Leaders won’t be fulfilled by performing tasks, & Leader’s won’t commit to ambiguity”)
• Interesting stories about a mustang convertible, giant inflatable blue monkeys, & gunky build up.
• 10 Easy Ways to Know You’re Not a Leader (including:  You’re waiting on a bigger staff and more money to accomplish your vision, & No one is following you)
• Great tips on crafting your message to be heard
• Insights from other leaders about how they avoid killing cockroaches (including: Craig Groeschel, Mark Batterson, Penelope Trunk, & Seth Godin)

There are a lot more helpful insights, interesting stories, and top 10 lists in the book.  I highly recommend picking up a copy.  If you want to know more about the book, you can check out some additional information here, or buy it here.  For more from Tony, check out his blog.

Brad Lomenick had a great post a few weeks ago on margin that I keep coming back to lately.  

Margin in our lives overall creates options. Options to pursue dreams, think, pray, relax, meditate, process, grow and ultimately live life more fully.

On the flip-side, lack of margin makes us tense, creates stress and pushes for quick decisions. Lack of margin leads to stale and forced relationships, and drives us towards the most available options, but many times not the best.

That’s where I”m at right now.  Not the options part, but the tense, stress, stale relationships, etc. part.  Read the entire post here.

Below is the final post in a short series of quotes from The Fred Factor that applied to areas of interest for me.  Here are some links in case you want to know more about the book and/or the author.  Today’s post examines the topic of Systems:

• Simplify

• Make it easier for people to get what they need from you.  Eliminate red tape and mind-numbing bureaucracy
  • Don’t create steps in your systems that don’t accomplish your end goal.
  • If there’s still a lot of bureaucracy, then maybe you need to re-examine the end goal.

• …Think about the systems you are a part of.  You know how things work.  Where are the shortcuts?
• What does an insider – that would be you – know that would benefit an outsider?
  • Try to remember your first interactions with your organization or other organizations and reflect on the sticking points that you encountered.
  • You can practice this both internally and externally.  Try to not only think about the external customer experience, but also the internal customer experience (i.e. employees, key leaders, or volunteers).  How easy was it to get connected?  Is the new hire orientation helpful or just a bunch of information like every other place you’ve worked?)

• If you want to be of greater service to others, use your knowledge and expertise to help them understand what appears to be a complex and overwhelming situation.
  • This is especially true for those who are new, interacting with your organization for the first time, and may not know the “rules” yet.

• Continually Create Value For Others
  • Are your systems designed to create value for those who interact with them?
  • Are people better off or worse off after they’ve interacted with your organization?

• Increase your implementation quotient – It isn’t enough just to have good ideas if you don’t do something with them.
  • You have to actually do the hard work of implementing all the systems you think up in your meetings.

My good friend Casey Ross has some great posts about systems on his blog.  Here are two about systems and environments.  Be sure to look around at some of his other great posts while you’re there.

A couple of weeks ago I closed out my 2008 reading list by reading The Fred Factor, by Mark Sanborn.  As I was reading, there were some thoughts/quotes/ideas that stood out to me specifically related to some areas that I care a lot about.  I decided to do a short series of posts (i.e. 2-3) with some of these ideas.

For today, here are some thoughts that stood out related to dealing with people and customer service:

“Success is built one relationship at a time“

• This is true for any type/sphere of relationship (personal, customer, vendor, co-worker)

“Remember that the quality of a relationship is related directly to the amount of time invested in it.  Make sure you give some of your best time to your relationships.”

• Questions:  Are you giving your best time to your best relationships?
• In an organizational setting, are you giving your best time to your best people and those that have the potential to be your best people?

“Uninspired people rarely do inspired work.”

• If your font line employees, volunteers, advocates aren’t inspired your customers will know it, and sooner or later you’ll know it too.
• Where are there signs of “vision leaks” in your organization?

“Customers don’t have relationships with organizations; they form relationships with individuals.”

• People often try something for the first time, because someone else invited them or told them about their positive experience (restaurants, cars, vacation spots, new cell phone company, church, new dry cleaners, etc.)
• People often stay around, keep coming back, etc. longer than they normally would, because they feel a connection or have built a relationship with someone in your organization
• This can either be a help or a hindrance – it depends on the people you have in your organization

“Do the right thing, because it’s the right thing.”

• Even if it’s costly

Sometimes when interacting with organizations you receive mixed messages.  They say that they value something, but your experience is completely different.  Another issue common among chains is that there’s not a consistent experience from one location to another.  Case in point:

Situation 1:

We bought something at Target and later realized that we needed two instead of one.  We looked at the location close to our home, but they were out.  So, we called one of the other stores in the area to see if they had them in stock before we drove out there.  The department staff person tracked them down for us so we knew it wouldn’t be a wasted trip.  This was not an expensive item (maybe $7).  She then kept them with her until we got there (1-2 hours later) so that she could make sure that they didn’t sell out and we got what we needed.

Although, someone at Corporate might not have been really excited about her holding merchandise for us, which is apparently against company policy, she offered stellar customer service with a great attitude.  After we met her and she helped us with our request, she asked if there was anything else she could help us find or do for us.  We were thoroughly impressed with her and with Target.

Situation 2:

A couple of weeks later we were doing some Christmas shopping, and we accidentally bought a pair of pants that was the wrong size as a gift for someone.  Anyone who consistently shops at Target knows about the dreaded return policy.  A quick google search will lead you to plenty of interesting opinions about the policy.  As soon as we realized what we’d done we began dreading the return.

I was supposed to leave the receipt out the next morning for my wife, but I forgot.  My wife tried to exchange the pants the next day, without the receipt and they would not let her exchange them.  The pants were even on sale the next day, and she said that she didn’t expect to get the sale price, she just wanted to exchange them for the correct size.  Their computer system allows for scanning the item and tells them what store it was purchase at and when (in this case the day before at that same store – but with my card instead of hers so they could not give her a refund).  No help.

While I understand that a strict return policy helps keep prices low and enables them to pass the best values on to customers, in that moment my wife felt anything but valued.  Our two experiences sent conflicting messages about their commitment to customer care.  If you lead a team or organization – What messages are you sending to those who interact with you (intentional or unintentional)?  Are they consistent or are you sending mixed messages?  If you have multiple locations, do you create consistent experiences and levels of service at every location/branch/campus/store, etc.?

It starts today, or maybe it started last Thursday, but that doesn’t sound as nice.  The results you want to see in six months start today.  The differences in your life that you want to be a reality a year from now, five years from now, or ten years from now begin with the decision(s) you make today.

Last week I was reminded again of something Jim Collins said at Catalyst last fall about the link between decisions and greatness.  You can read my thoughts on that here.  As you think about the decision(s) you’re making now and the ones you will be making in the coming days, here’s a great quote from Pastor Steven Furtick from a message he gave at Lifechurch.tv last fall.

Yes, you’re anointed for greatness.  Yes, God has a great plan for your life.  But it doesn’t start one day when you get your big break.  It starts when you do what God has given you to do right now.  What could God do through your simplest act of obedience?

Who you are today started a few months ago, or a year ago or several years ago.  Think about the decisions you make in the next few weeks and the course they’ll chart by the end of 2009.

A couple of days ago I posted a list of books that I completed in 2008.  Here’s the beginning of my reading list for 2009:

• The Back of the Napkin – Dan Roam
• Courageous Leadership – Bill Hybels
• Axiom – Bill Hybels
• Be Our Guest – The Disney Institute
• Walking with God – John Eldredge
• Sex:God – Rob Bell
• First Impressions – Mark Waltz
• The Deity Formerly Known as God – Jarret Stevens
• Mavericks at Work – William Taylor & Polly Lebarre
• The Truth About You – Marcus Buckingham
• Why Work Sucks & How to Fix It – Cari Ressler & Jody Thompson
• 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, updated edition – John C Maxwell
• Communicating for a Change – Andy Stanley & Lane Jones
• Tribes – Seth Godin
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith
• Uprising – Erwin McManus
• Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands – Nancy Ortberg
• I am not but I know I AM - Louie Giglio
• Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
• Creating Community – Andy Stanley & Bill Willits
• Fired Up or Burned Out – Michael Lee Stallard
• The Encore Effect – Mark Sanborn

If you have some suggestions to help round out the list, please leave them in the comments section.