Narrowing your Job Focus
Sometimes we have to narrow our focus to be more effective. Often
we find ourselves burdened with jobs that we never volunteered for.
Taking on roles that dilute our impact on the firm. Many times these
functions are thrust upon us and we cannot get away from them, but sometimes
just a little clarification of focus will help make your influence on the
firm more effective.
Now I am not saying that you
only perform what is written on your job description. By
doing that and constantly refusing to assist in any efforts that
are not explicitly defined by some paper that was handed to you
when you hired on could prove fatal in your career.
What I am suggesting is that we
focus our efforts on the areas that will make the most impact on
the firm. The area you choose could be one of the
following:
- Speed
- Quality
- Production
- Design
- Creativity
- Cost reduction
- Client acquisition or
retention
- Customer Service
- Technology Refresh
- Standardization
The list could go on, but the
point is that you sometimes need to focus on one area over
another. You can jettison or ward off tasks that do not
support your focus.
Getting practical it may look
like this.
I have chosen to focus this
years budget on software refresh. My firm spent a great
deal on hardware over the last few years so we are at a good
point to slide into a short maintenance mode as it relates to
network, server, back of house data management and such. I
will be focused on software for a while. I am going
through the process of software inventory, defining appropriate
software needs, updating software, getting software on support
contracts, etc. I let everyone know that it is my short
term goal for a season and my energy will be spent on that effort.
I am not letting the other
areas flounder. Far from it. I need to support the
firm in all of these areas, but I am deflecting or postponing
some initiatives to focus on the software issues. That is
my area of attention. My area of improvement. When I
get to a point where I feel that the improvements are in place, I
will shift to another area of effort.
So by focusing my efforts I can
make great progress and not just respond to other peoples agendas
because I have my own.