Jun 08 2011

Are you creating a new dimension of performance?

The previous post, Are you destroying enough? was about clearing out the old to make room for the new. Maybe it could have been titled, Are you protecting too much? Or, Are you protecting what no longer serves you well?

I was surprised when I started reading Peter Drucker’s, Managing the Nonprofit Organization today. Amazing coincidence of timing. Here are a few things he has to say…

“…managers have to build in review, revision and organized abandonment.”

“As you add on, you have to abandon. But you also have to think though which are the few things we can accomplish that will do the most for us, and which are the things that contribute either marginally or are no longer of great significance.”

“Where can we, with the limited resources we have – and I don’t just mean people and money, but also competence – really make a difference, really set a new standard? One sets the standard by doing something and doing it well. You create a new dimension of performance.”

“I have never seen anything being done well unless people were committed.”

“And so one asks first, what are the opportunities, the needs? Then, do they fit us? Are we likely to do a decent job? Are we competent? Do they match our strengths? Do we really believe in this?”

All this in the first 8 pages!

Next time we’ll address how to determine whether you’re making your best contribution.