When you were about ten years old, learning some game or other, you unknowingly uttered a universal and powerful three word question that is one of the greatest predictors of success in any endeavor we choose to undertake, including business (Stratego not withstanding!).

In fact, in business, this question is so universal that it works equally well with managers and employees, customers and suppliers. It works when developing a new product or when closing a sale. Engineers and marketers understand it equally well, as do CEO's and factory workers.

It is so powerful that when asked or considered in an open and empowering way and answered with consensus and conviction, it can change an organization's culture, improve customer relationships and guarantee improved profitability.

The answer (in Jeopardy-style) is,"What is WHAT'S
THE OBJECTIVE?"

Way too simple, you say. Try it out today and let me know how it works for you!

Delegation

Need to assign a task to someone today?

Start with communicating the objective of the assignment, not simply how you think it should be carried out. This approach has many advantages:

• It sets expectations for the assignment and the worker. He knows more specifically what it is you need.

• It frees you from micro-managing people so you can use your time and talents more effectively.

• It indicates respect for the employee. People tend to work harder for people who show them respect.

• The work is accomplished quicker and more profitably and your subordinate has learned and gained confidence from the experience.

Other Opportunities for "WHAT'S THE OBJECTIVE?"

• Meetings: Don't let a meeting begin if the participants are not clear on the objective of the meeting. You'll find you have more productive meetings that generate results using this simple question up front.

• Status Reports:Include the objective of your projects on monthly status reports to your boss or to team members. This allows an opportunity to not only share the progress to-date, but also indicates why you are working on this particular list of projects. A great upper management technique is to ask all department heads for a list of their top projects and the objective of each. See how many projects come up that are unique to that department and how many are shared initiatives. Ask yourself if the projects listed support the larger business objective(s).

• Long Lead Time Projects: A common occurrence in long lead-time projects is that the original reason the project was started has been forgotten or changed along the way. This is especially true where money, time or egos are involved. (Sound familiar?) To make sure that the project stays on track pull out that objective from 12 months ago and make sure everyone still buys into it, or make a conscious decision to change it.

Why Bother?

As Zig Zigler likes to say, clarity creates direction, and direction creates time. And time is a fairly important and scarce commodity these days in the Game of Business. Don't you want to be sure that everyone in your company understands how to win?

Remember, Mosaic creates customers and increases sales for business-to-business companies through specific project work, on-going retainer assignments or marketing coaching sessions.

Until next time.....

Rosemary Walter
847-483-5018
Rose1Walter@MosaicMM.com

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© 1999 Rosemary Walter, all rights reserved. You are free to use material from Mosaic's Monthly Marketing Tips in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including a live website link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:

"By Rosemary Walter of Mosaic Marketing Management, Inc. Please visit Rosemary's web site at http://www.MosaicMM.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for business to business companies."