10 Ways to Cut to the Chase and Get Stuff Done
You grow quiet when someone with more power is in the room. You blab when you’re perceived as the big cheese. How many times have you wished the boss would just shut up?
Leaders can’t wait for you to shut up, either. Ever feel like you’re just an inconvenience?
Overall, there’s too much talk and not enough “do” in organizations.
Anyone who leaves a meeting without something to do, shouldn’t have been there in the first place, even if it’s just to monitor and fuel the success of others.
Use email to inform – talk to decide.
Successful leaders cut to the chase. Leadership conversations that don’t accomplish something give the dangerous illusion that something actually got done.
5 questions before you open your mouth:
- What am I trying to accomplish?
- What can we do – now – that matters most?
- How can we do what matters most?
- Who needs to do be involved?
- What’s the deadline?
3 reasons to talk:
- To understand.
- Make something better.
- Move the agenda forward.
The purpose of talk is making decisions not more talking.
Talk to make decisions or don’t talk.
10 questions that cut to the chase:
- What would you like to happen?
- What would you like from me?
- What were you trying to sell?
- What happens if we follow the path you just described?
- What possible responses to what you just said seem appropriate?
- What makes you say that?
- How can we move forward?
- What’s next?
- What problem are you solving?
- How is this connected to what matters now?
Bonus: Before you say anything else, what are you prepared to do about this?
Hold people accountable for their words.
But you ask:
“What about talking to socialize?”
“I can’t talk about that right now. Let’s socialize while we get something done.”
What prevents leaders from cutting to the chase?
How can leaders cut to the chase?
Love the post, Dan. I can say that in my younger years, I was guilty of babbling because I was just so smart (in my own mind). Now, in addition to your list of excellent qualifiers, I open my mouth:
Only if it feels appropriate.
If it will help me connect with another human being.
I wish to draw a contrast between this last, and simply “socializing.”
I believe that creating (mindful) connections is an important part of the best kind of leadership. Ultimately, such connections are a part of getting something done.
It’s been a while since I checked in here, but I read…
All the best!
Mark
Thanks Mark. Your opening paragraph made me smile. I’m not younger, but I still find it takes discipline to limit my talk-time. 🙂
The part of this post that troubles me is the socializing part. I couldn’t seem to let it in. However, tomorrow, I’ll regret leaving it out. I believe in the power of connecting.
Even the last sentence of this post… “Let’s socialize while we get something done,” needs some explanation.
Good to see you here today
Ha, Dan,
I still trip over my tongue, but not for the same reason… these days, it is when I am passionate about something, or there is a trigger topic, and I am knocked off my mindfulness/balance for a bit (just because I am passionate or it is “my topic” doesn’t mean its best to talk, lol). Then there is that bit of regret when I realize it might have gone better… but holding on to that regret goes against the truth that will always need to practice. 🙂 Good to be here today…
~Mark
ON connections: Same here Mark. (and where have you been!? Hope all is well! : )
Building connections is an essential part of getting anything done and it is a critical piece for networking, building or rebuilding support systems, etc.
It’s definitely sincere but it is by no means meant to be a wasted activity.
~Samantha
Glad you jumped in today. It’s good that some of the freaks are compensating for my antisocial mood this morning. 🙂
You’re welcome Dan.
Socializing does, perhaps, needs some qualifiers. There’s the idea of the ‘local gossip’, which seems to be more of what you are referring to and is TOTALLY a waste of everyone’s time.
Then there’s THIS day and age of social media and the connection economy. Once a person KNOWS the purpose for the socializing and the connecting, it changes everything. It’s a new ballgame.
In this new connection economy, it’s a fairly good idea to keep the intention loose. ‘I’m here to potentially build REAL connections which will naturally vary in how deep they become. Yet NONE need to be a waste. Because once a connection is made and if it is positive, someone knows someone who needs x,y,z….and it’s amazing how people can be helped, introduced, pointed in the right direction where someone else can provide the service, meet the need, etc.’ Even if YOU are never the person who ultimately becomes THE big personal connection or ‘best friend’, or future business partner, etc. You and I may simply be the POINT of connection that ultimately helps someone else.
Yet ultimately, this works for us too. Just as it did for you when you were in your car accident. I didn’t have a lot of extra money to contribute to the medical bills at that time, but whether you knew it or not, I contributed to the fund! 🙂
In the connection economy…all this socializing is NOT a waste for some of us. It’s potentially the lifeblood that holds the keys to our future. And to success for any of us.
From that perspective, we can see just how valuable it can be.
🙂
I am well, Samantha (but for a little jet lag), and thanks for asking! I hope that you are well too! And where have I been? A bit of business, some new workshops, a bit of renewal… 🙂 … but never far from here or other great cyberspaces. 😉 And as usual, we agree on much…
Good to see you Mark! Glad things are going well. : )
I do agree that having had a meeting is not an accomplishment without the meeting producing actions/results/new questions…
However, I DO see some value in “small talk”
.. staying familiar
.. breaking ice
.. showing interest
.. humor as a gentle nudge if/when things bog down
Keeping a meeting moving and off the side trails is challenging! I have invited folks to meetings, not with the intention of them speaking up, but with the purpose of them seeing a larger picture.
a favorite phrase “help me connect the dots..”
Thanks Ken. Well said. I concur. I was all worked up about getting stuff done and just couldn’t open the door to something we both value. 🙂
“Help me connect the dots” feels open. Love it.
I will be taking your “10 questions that cut to the chase” with me to meetings. What more is there to say — except thank you.
Thanks J. Glad to be on the journey with you.
Hi Dan,
I really like this piece. Basically what I understand here is that we always have deliverables and everything we do basically should be result oriented..
Great one…keep walking the Pathway of Champions
AU
Thanks Aniekanusoroh. Glad you stopped in. I like to think of results through relationships. But, as you suggest, organizations are not just self-help groups. We join together to deliver results.
While I certainly believe in the “word fitly spoken,” I more ardently believe “well done” is better than “well said.”
Well said, Books! 😉
This is such a great post. When I am in positions to lead I have caught myself talking to toot my own horn. Eventually, I stopped treating meetings as press conferences and more like conversations in which I am direct and nonsense-free: progress.
Thanks Andrew. “I stopped treating meetings as newsconferences…” Kapow!
Great post Dan! One should understand the why ( why are we meeting), what ( what are we trying to achieve), when ( by when are we going to accomplish this), how ( how are we going to accomplish this) and who ( who is held accountable for this).
I seem to get brought into meetings where there is a need to challenge people to look beyond our current limitations. My favorite question is: If we knew we could overcome the obstacles / barriers / conflict…. What would we do differently as our next step.
Sometimes you need to get a team to park the milestones… They’re achieved by accepting inches and celebrating pebbles.
You’re obviously a guy, although that hirsute picture may be a cover. I work in a predominantly female environment (four guys and 40 non guys) and while a lot IS accomplished – there are also a lot of discussions that result from the female brain’s need to articulate every thought that comes along. There’s a certain amount of living with that that needs to occur. I’m not sure your action Jackson plan would gain much traction here. Just saying!
Excellent and powerful summary, Dan. I love the quotes (and will use them) so true. I’ve been thinking about meetings a lot recently. So many people see them as their “quality time” on a project for the week: nothing is done before or after, so the meetings get full of “catch up crap” rather than decision making.
I’m using meetings less and less these days and doing a lot of one-on-one’s and impromptu “can we just catch up to discuss this”: one-discussion-point meetings – boom! the calendar isn’t built that can schedule those.
And yet so many managers see meetings as evidence that “something is happening” with the project. I’ve tried to get rid of weekly project meetings, only to be told that I was being irresponsible: “how else will we know what is happening?”
p.s. I was so fed up with meetings that were just “gab fests” I started wondering how much it was costing the company for these meetings.
So I built a “Meeting Cost Monitor” web page.
It’s a prototype anyway – I’ve just started showing it and using it.
you enter a couple of parameters (how many people at the meeting and on average, how much they cost the organisation),
it shows a running tally of elapsed time and how much the meeting has cost the company so far.
hopefully it will focus people’s attention on getting things done more effectively and in less time.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
As always ,,, simple … to the point… extremely practical
BTW, to write with these 3 qualities requires the more work and thought!
Thanks Dan!!
Great post. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE FROM ME. To the point I say!
Excellent article I look forward to using it. Great feedback from other folks. This is my first post here.
I enjoyed the post and the early comments about socializing. I completely agree. Let us accomplish something and better yet as I accomplish something I’ll tell you about the silly antics of one of my children or my upbringing. None of us have time to sit around and gab about anything that isn’t accomplishing a business goal.