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Some easy to keep resolutions for 2008

By: MICHAEL STERN

Forget about eating better and working out more often – why not focus on New Year’s resolutions you can actually keep?

Better work habits are easy to adopt and can have far-reaching benefits. To help you become a more effective manager and a more influential leader, here are my seven resolutions for 2008.

1. Set three priorities – and delegate everything else.
Everyone knows they are supposed to prioritize and focus on the things they can accomplish better than anyone else – but few leaders have the discipline to do it.

Prioritizing is key – which is why I suggest you focus on just three key tasks for the year – items only you should do. Delegating the rest will inspire your subordinates and give them valuable experience. Meanwhile, focusing with laser-like intensity on your three most intractable challenges will give you a fighting chance to actually achieve all of your objectives next year.

What are your most important tasks? Everyone has different priorities, but I would suggest that monitoring, mentoring and developing your direct reports should be one of them. And if you’re in charge of a specific department or division, you are certainly the best person to lead the long-term strategic-planning process for that area -- to ensure your company is ready for the future and ahead of the competition.

What if you’re the sort who’s just not happy unless you’re meddling in day-to-day operations or overseeing each component of the marketing plan? My advice: Get over it! . When you feel the need to “get into the weeds” lie down until the urge goes away. You’d probably just be getting in people’s way, anyways. Don’t get involved in any project that somebody else could handle just as well (or perhaps better?) than you can.

2. Control technology (so it doesn’t control you).
Today’s technology tools can overwhelm you with never-ending distractions and always-on immediacy. New studies show that the multitasking and constant interruptions required by the Blackberry and its ilk are actually reducing personal productivity, not enhancing it. And let’s not even talk about how the “always available” syndrome can get you into hot water at home. The spouse of a business acquaintance recently laid down the law insisting that his cell phone be shut off during meal times and, ahem, “intimate moments”. That’s when you know you’ve gone too far!

Yes, you can now get phone, email and voice-mail messages at the gym, on vacation, on the go, and in wireless hotspots just about everywhere. But today’s complex business challenges demand better and more creative decisions – which in turn require downtime for mulling things over.

Learn to turn off your mobile devices. And practice saying, “Let me sleep on it.”

3. Resolve to “speak to the listener.”
For more meaningful communication, adjust your messages to the requirements of your audience. A no-brainer in theory – often forgotten in practice.

Over the years I have seen a number of companies mismanage internal communications because they did not fine-tune their language to match their target audience. Addressing rank-and-file staff on new strategic initiatives, for example, they use C-suite terms like ROI and productivity. Instead they should emphasize how the employee group will benefit from the company’s success by addressing their top-of-mind issues like respect, job security and opportunities for advancement.

4. Coach your people –don’t tell them what to do.
Everyone knows that you have to help your people develop into better decision-makers, but you don’t do that by solving their problems. Don’t offer solutions, ask questions. (“What do you think the problem is?” “How do you think we should deal with it? What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of that approach?”)

Help them find the answers themselves, even if it means making a few mistakes. There's no better way to learn.

5. Smile more. You’re a leader.
Everyone watches you for cues as to what’s going on and where things are headed. Studies show that smiling helps you approach problems in a more positive way – and it’s also contagious.

6. Slow down.
It’s often easy to confuse activity with productivity. The next time you find yourself careening from meeting to meeting, take a break and ask yourself whether you are really accomplishing anything – or just rushing around being busy.

I recently met someone caught in just such a loop. Sending him a regular email, asking him if he was working on his top three priorities, proved an effective way to end the runaround and focus him on what he ought to be doing. (A sticky note on your mirror or computer screen may serve the same purpose.)

We all know what we should be doing. It’s just very easy to forget.

7. Schedule more “selfish time” each week.
One of the best ways to fight “busy-ness” is to reserve more time for personal activities – working out at the gym, stopping for a coffee, going really wild and taking an afternoon off for a movie. I know how full your calendar is, so make sure you formally schedule time for breaks – or you’ll never take them.

Warning: This approach may mean logging fewer actual working hours; but the opportunity to occasionally unwind will result in more productive work time and higher quality decisions. That is the name of the game, isn’t it?