Leaders as 'Gateways'
Thanks to technology, information sources are growing almost exponentially. Not only are we faced with the ‘channels’ of TV and what is still available as printed media (e.g. newspapers), but also growing numbers of unofficial news sites, opinion blogs (this is one of them! ) and social media. Add to this, internal and external emails, and it’s easy to find ourselves overloaded with information.
As business leaders, one of our roles is to act as ‘Information Gateways’. By this, I don’t mean that we act as censors in the way that some governments do as they limit to which channels their populations have access. I mean rather that we can, to an extent, filter, summarise and distil incoming information for our team.
I see (and have been the victim of) frequent cases of leaders forwarding emails received with a ‘Kind Regards’ or ‘FYI’ without necessarily reading the content to decide whether their team needs to see it, which bits of it they need to see and why, or whether it could just be summarised in a regular, face-to-face Team Briefing.
This necessarily imposes more workload on us, which I suspect is why we simply hit the ‘Forward’ button. At times, this may well be all that’s needed if the content of what we’re forwarding is straightforward and requires action from some/all team members. In this case, a simple ‘Please action as necessary by [deadline]’ may be all that’s required.
Another case in which we may well be guilty is forwarding an email requiring some kind of action to several parties without thinking about to whom it actually should go. The risk here is that everyone to whom it was forwarded may think that one of the others will action it and that no one does. This is a classic case of ‘Anybody, Everybody, Somebody, Nobody’.
Part of our roles is to agree and set channels, conventions and rules for sending and forwarding communications for the team and (in a broader sense) the business. Done properly, this saves time, targets the communication at the correct team or individual and results in less value destroyed.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Not A Desktop
I purchased the new iPad Pro (12.9” model) at the end of 2018, firstly because I needed to update my older model and secondly to see whether all the ‘hype’ surrounding the new ‘Pro’ series was, in my opinion, justified, particularly the claims that this could really be a ‘desktop substitute’.
My work involves plenty of online research, copious use of email (over six different email accounts, using the Microsoft Office suite (WORD, EXCEL, PowerPoint) daily, reading articles and books online to improve my professional knowledge and skills and networking through LinkedIn.
My current laptop is a 16” MacBook Pro and I often have multiple peripherals plugged into its four USB-C ports.
So, what’s the verdict?
Pros:
- The iPad Pro 12.9” allows for all the activities I describe above, when combined with a keyboard (I invested in Apple’s ‘Smart Keyboard Folio’ although there are better alternatives out there) and Apple’s ‘Magic Mouse’.
- It does behave in many ways like a 13” laptop might.
- The screen is of good quality and processing speed is still acceptable for my needs two years on, despite newer, faster (supposedly) models being introduced.
- Using the ‘Smart Keyboard Folio’ allows me to fold it back behind the iPad when I want to use the latter in portrait mode – this is not possible if you buy the ‘Magic Keyboard’, which forces you to use landscape mode only.
- Purchasing Microsoft Office 365 allows a fair degree of the functionality of the full desktop/laptop version on the iPad, although certain features aren’t available. For this, one needs to set up the document/spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation on a desktop and then save to OneDrive for editing on the iPad.
- The inflexible ‘Smart Keyboard Folio’ base means you can rest the iPad on your knees when working.
- The USB-C charging port accepts USB-C memory sticks and can read the contents. This means I can copy/backup to an external memory source to protect my documents. I can also use it to plug in a ‘docking port’ which expands its connectivity (e.g., to and additional USB-C port, USB-A ports, HDMI port, 3.5mm jack audio devices, SD and Micro-SD cards).
- Like all Apple devices, it can be connected to external monitors with the right adaptor.
Cons:
- I need to be able to have multiple tabs, programmes and documents, spreadsheets and/or presentations open at a time. The iPad offers some ability on this side, but the small screen and limited ‘scrolling’ capabilities mean that I inevitably revert to one document open at a time (although multiple apps are not a problem). This slows me down and reduces productivity.
- Despite its relatively small size, once you add in the keyboard, the 12.9” iPad weighs in at c. 1.2kg. This makes it heavy to hold in the hand for any lengthy period without support of some kind.
- Its ‘footprint’ is still quite large (close to a 13” laptop).
- I rarely use the docking port (although it’s useful to have when needed).
- When plugged into an external monitor, the screen size reflected is still a mirror image of the iPad screen (so smaller than the external monitor screen).
Conclusion:
Despite not being what some would call a ‘power user’, my work requires that I have certain capabilities available which the iPad 12.9” just doesn’t deliver, so it isn’t a laptop/desktop substitute for my needs and work style. If you mainly use it for video editing, web surfing and social media, it’s great. I found that I can use it as a temporary laptop substitute for my kind of work for about two weeks, but for ‘power use’ (e.g., multiple windows, etc, open) it doesn’t deliver for me.
I won’t be dumping my current 16” MacBook in favour of the iPad only, although I’m looking at reducing the size to a 14” model when I next need to update, as it’s still a beast to lug around at 2kg! The 16” is a great laptop and I can work happily on its screen all day without the need to plug into an external monitor, but my work is usually office (home or other) bound where I have an external monitor when I need it.
A final thought, Apple don’t want to ‘cannibalise’ MacBook sales with the iPad!
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Productivity
What Happened?
It was on a recent trip to the UK that I discovered a new fashion trend: men aren’t supposed to wear single-cuff shirts that have a chest pocket…
Since the proverbial ‘year dot’ (well over 30 years) I’ve bought single cuff shirts with chest pockets. Of course, one found the occasional exception, but generally, if it was a long-sleeve, single-cuff shirt, it had a chest pocket.
Now this pocket is useful to me for a particular reason. I need reading glasses and so it’s a handy place to put them when I’m not reading, but where I know they’ll always be ready if necessary. It’s also useful for pens. I live and work in a hot country where we don’t wear jackets to the office, so we lack the extra pockets that those would provide.
Imagine my surprise when, for the first time in 2 years, I went back to the UK and found that one of the UK’s best-known high street department stores had stopped selling the ‘formal’ single-cuff shirt (with chest pocket) and only sold them either in Viyella or in packs of three (one of which was usually a colour I didn’t want). I tried another and found the same. In the end, I was able to order shirts from a limited range with a chest pocket by paying extra just for a scrap of cloth some 5 x 4 ½ inches (12.5 x 11cm).
I know I’ll get used to this and just pay the extra. In fact the shirts I ended up with are better fitting and of better quality (they should be, for the price!) that those I bought from my tried and trusted store for over 30 years. What interests me more is why the sudden change. It could have been:
- Increased costs which customers weren’t prepared to pay;
- Lack of awareness on the part of the store’s buyers;
- Both.
Whatever the reason, there’s a minority of those who need reading-glasses who will bemoan the demise of the single cuff shirts with chest pocket in the high street which will, no doubt, drive them into the arms of online retailers and further increase pressure on the already-beleaguered chain from which I was wont to buy.
It made me wonder: what might we be doing in a bid to save costs, improve efficiency or increase profitability that might irk our customers to the extent that they either take their business elsewhere, or give us less? It’s often the ‘little things’ that drive them away, particularly if one follows another and then another. We need to listen to our customers.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy
