Monday, January 31, 2011

Mildly interesting, not relevant


I had the opportunity last week to hear a senior Army officer speak about his priorities and the importance of contractor performance to them achieving their objectives. He was quite focused and knew his topic. On a couple occasions during the talk he described certain information as “mildly interesting, not relevant.”

So many things are mildly interesting and not relevant. It often seems like a leaders job is to sort through the mildly interesting to find the relevant. In fact, some experts would say that is a key skill a true leader must have. I would suggest the same skill is critical for team members to understand when communicating with their leadership. Everyone is busy. To be an effective communicator, one must thoroughly determine what is fluff and what is important. If you can do this, your message will get through.

How do you teach your teams the difference between what is mildly interesting and what is truly relevant? Has it worked?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I often talk to my team about 'stuff not fluff' as I learned from a Director early on. A good reminder is to use a Priority Grid or priority task list with your A1 tasks as being most relevant. Those are the tasks to status to your Manager in clear communication-what is it, why is it relevant to the org., and what are you doing to or with it and why

crissy said...

Very nice blog! Truly interesting!


Los Angeles Personal Injury AttorneyVancouver Internet Marketing

Add to Technorati Favorites