The Power Of One
by Miki Saxon
As I’ve said before, the best way to do anything is to KISS* it.
Now comes more proof, via Peter Bregman at Harvard Biz. He talks first about losing weight, but then illustrates the principle with a couple of business examples.
“Typically, people overwhelm themselves with tasks in their eagerness to make a change successfully. But that’s a mistake. Instead, they should take the time up front to figure out the one and only thing that will have the highest impact and then focus 100% of their effort on that one thing.”
Got that? Just one thing. One.
And once you focus your people (or yourself) on that one thing don’t go changing or adding or modifying it—directly or in some sneaky manner.
Not only is that unfair, but you will lose the benefit of the original thing because it won’t happen. Worse, trust levels will plummet, your people will be frustrated and you could end up going down instead of up.
This also means not listening to all the well-meaning advice you’ll get once you embark on your course or giving up at the first bump in your path.
Knowing what the right one thing is requires you to do good analysis, not just a casual once-over or going with your gut feel; either of those is likely to lead to disaster.
So the next time you need to do something, KISS it:
- Analyze the situation.
- Determine the one thing that offers the greatest return.
- Fully communicate it to your people (or yourself).
- Don’t mess with it after you commit.
- Prepare to be blown away by the results.
*Keep It Simple, Stupid
Image credit: DRB62 on flickr
