The Key Questions for Managerial Effectiveness

THE STARTING point for achieving greater effectiveness is asking and answering the right questions, over and over. Answering these questions will help you keep your eye on the ball. Excellent managers are highly aware of the answers to the important questions.

The key questions for managerial effectiveness are:

• Why are you on the payroll? Good managers are extremely results-oriented, instead of being processor activity-oriented. They are always focused on the results they have been hired to produce. What have you been hired to accomplish?
• What is the unique contribution that you can make? What can you and only you contribute to your organization that, if done well, will make a significant difference?
• What are you trying to do and how are you trying to do it? Analyze your work and ask why you are doing something and not doing something else. Most people spend 80 percent of their time on the 80 percent of their work that only contributes 20 percent of the value of what they do. Top-performing managers always concentrate on the few things that, if done especially well, will make a real difference.
• What are your assumptions? Your assumptions must be questioned. What if your assumptions were wrong? What would you do then?
• Could there be a better way? Whatever you are doing today, there are probably many better ways to achieve the same goals. Keep your mind open.

Continually asking these questions deepens your perception, expands your range of understanding, and brings you answers, ideas, and insights that help you to be more effective—and make a more valuable contribution to your organization in a shorter period of time.