Doing Things Right

Are you asked too often to cut corners, accelerate the timeline, compromise doing things right to get them done fast? Sometimes doing things right needs to matter more than doing them right now. I am not suggesting that every learning and performance intervention needs to be a work of art. Nor am I saying we should ignore our customers' (internal or external) request. But let’s be honest: some initiatives are so important that they deserve to be done right.

For most of us, learning and performance resources are very limited, so part of the answer lies with where we put those resources. Putting them to work on key strategic initiatives in our organizations rather than less weighty initiatives is part of the answer.

Another part of the answer is to separate general services in learning and performance (i.e., helping a manager with a Power Point slide show, creating a simple job aid, or scheduling a professional development class) from project work on strategic initiatives. Both may be important to the overall organization, but the less-weighted initiatives will take up all of your energy and time if there’s not a way to refer these low weighted requests.

A third area that can help is using tips and suggestions —like you are receiving here in this column—that have to do with doing things faster, easier and better. We have been careful not to suggest things that compromise the integrity of doing things right. But like you, almost daily we are asked to make compromises. Looking for ways to stay focused on doing the right things is probably where it starts.

What positive suggestions do you have for resolving this important issue of doing the RIGHT things RIGHT? Please share your suggestions with us; email me at darryl@dsink.com, and I will share your tips in the next tips column.

In a great marketing tips newsletter I subscribe to, by Drew McLellan, he indicates that marketing people often don’t take the time to do marketing initiatives right—that marketing people are often too knee-jerk responsive. This inspired my thinking about this concept related to learning and performance services. So, my tip has to do with applying Drew’s concept to our own work—DOING THINGS RIGHT.