The Important Jobs

Who defines for you which jobs are important and which jobs aren't?  Honestly - is there a rating system that defines what is mor important to be done?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  Especially not for managers. 

One key task of a manager is to figure what is important in their role.  There are few set ratings or 'star-system' for measurement (unless you have these as KPI's).  However I think we can create categories that define broad aspects of our work.  Those catagories look a little something like this -

1. People - internal.  I value internal people higher than externals.  Many would disagree but as a manager I believe we should be coaching/working with/empowering our people first so then they can go and serve the external people.
2. People - external.  External persons are not just customers but any person who is not in your department, office or area of influence.  People are the most crucial aspect of a managers role.  get the people part of things right and you are well on your way to success.
3. Compliance - internal.  Sticking to the rules and ensuring that the requirements of the organisation are met.  Creating budgets that balance, updating project management reports, customer interaction reports.  They are all important.
4. Compliance - external.
5. Any tasks not already covered above.

No single area is not as important as another area but there is a hierarchy.  When the internal people know what to do and when that frees you up to deal with customers external and the compliance issues and requirements of your role.




There are very few unimportant jobs in an organisation.  What defines a task as being important or not is the emphasis you place on it.

Human Capital Management

PeopleStreme.com have made this awesome video and posted it onto You Tube.  I have put it here and will add my contribution further down the page.

What value do you place on your work?  What value is placed on you?  Do you rate yourself or not?

Conversely - What value do you place on others work?  What value do you place on others?  How do you measure that value and is that measure relevant or accurate?

Here are a few facts of life as far as organisation's go -

• Size matters.  The bigger the organisation the less they know about you.  What happens is the more layers in an organisation the more removed you will be from the central services.
• Front Line Managers matter! The relationship between you and your direct manager is always the most important relationship you will have.  This is true if you are the cleaner all the way through to if you are a Director of the Board.  You must work with your boss!
• The HR Department matters!  Admitted in most organisations the only time you most people will interact with HR is when they are hired or if they are fired.  But it doesn't have to be that way!  Go out of yur way to meet the staff and make sure they remember who you are (for the right reasons of course).  It pays to make friends and keep them for as long as you can.
• The skills and abilities of your staff matter!  Update them!  Watch your staff.  Learn from them.  Be open to having your staff tell you where they think what sklls they need to work on and develop.  If you disagree you can help steer them in a better direction.  Create an audit or questionaire to work through at appraisal time to help lead and guide your discussions about where peoples skills are at.
• Coaching matters!  The best time to coach someone is when they are reflecting and considering their performance.  If your manager doesn'tdo this for you - tell them or look for another manager.

PunkRockHR posted a great piece on employee engagement a few days ago which ties in nicely with this post.  Head over there and check it out - WARNING: it will provoke a response.

People who are paid to do work will do a better job when they feel valued, understood and have the freedom to do what they have to in a way that makes sense to them (while adding value to the organisation).

Book Review - Pains In The Office

Following on from their previous two best sellers - 'Pains on Trains' and 'Pains in Public', Andrew Holmes and Dan Wilson have gone on to write another great book - 'Pains in the Office'.

The 'Pains' series looks at everyday situations where people interact with other people and attempts to create character profiles for them. For this book the authors have identified 50 personality types that frequent the offices of all company's the entire world around.

Here are some examples -

• The Ball Breaker. Females who want to emulate men and copy some of their worst traits in order to try and be one.


• The Competitor. Failure is not an option. Kisses the butts of those in power and kicks those of everyone who is not.


• The Little Big Man. Short people who attempt to make up for their height deficiencies by being bossy and absolutely unhelpful.


• The Moaner. Some people are just never happy.

Included in each chapter are - ratings on the strength of the pain, the rarity factor, seasonal variations and some fun strategies for dealing with the pains.

This book is a bit of fun. As with its subject matter you can't take it too seriously. I recommend picking it up, having a read and moving on. When you're finished - keep it on your shelf for future reference. You'll need it!

Office Setup - Self Audit

Try viewing your role from the other side of the desk sometime. Seriously - get up and move, and sit on the other side of your desk. When you get there try asking yourself some of these questions -

• What is the customer seeing?
• What would you change about what you do in your role?
• What things would you consider to be important and need focusing on?
• What things would you see as being not important and could therefore be put aside?
• What does your workspace look like to someone that isn't you?
• Is your workspace inviting? Is it boring or offensive? Does it tell a story about you?
• What will a customer say when they walk away after spending some time on the other side of the desk?

Here are a few tips that I use in my office -

• Have chairs for guests to sit in. No one should be made to stand up.
• Have your computer screen off to the side of your workspace so that when someone sits down you can establish a clear communication channel with them.
• If you have a flat desk - keep as little amount of stuff on it as is practically possible or be ready to move it!
• If you have a desk with a frontage - stand up when a customer comes to see you.
• Have plants in your office and on your desk that are easy to care for yet provide something appealing to look at.