The Metiss Group's Blog

Chunking is a term psychologists use to describe a technique individuals utilize to group responses when performing a memory task. When we take bits of information and group them into larger chunks, we are better able to remember the details.  Psychologists argue our short-term memory can handle anywhere from three to seven chunks.

What’s easier to remember: 2485222593 or 248-522-25-93?  “Jobdefinitionisimportantforsuccess” or “Job definition is important for success?”  This is why we chunk numbers and words.

When defining job functions, leaders easily identify dozens of activities and functions required in the job.  This extensive list usually becomes the basis for job descriptions.  Unfortunately, employees can rarely recall all the job activities for which they are responsible and end up not accomplishing everything.

The best way to structure job activities is to group them into three to five larger chunks called accountabilities.  The leader and direct report can then think of the job in these easy to remember chunks, thereby improving their performance.

When defining your direct report’s job functions, empower yourself to chunk the activities and you’ll experience more success.

In 1994, Stephen Covey, along with A. Roger and Rebecca Merrill, introduced the four-quadrant importance and urgency matrix in their book First Things First.  In the book, Covey describes a framework for differentiating tasks that have long-term benefits (important-not urgent) from daily, less important tasks (important-urgent). Without a concerted focus, the important-not urgent tasks are often neglected until they become urgent-important.

Regular (weekly or biweekly) one-on-one meetings between leaders and their direct reports fall into the important-not urgent category but are often forsaken by leaders because they are too busy dealing with the important-urgent.  It’s in the one-on-one meetings that important-not urgent topics are discussed and dealt with before they become urgent.

During our leadership training sessions we ask leaders to raise their hand if they’d like weekly one-on-one meetings with their boss (or would have liked them when they had a boss).  Nearly everyone in the room raises their hand (who wouldn’t want regular non-pressured meetings with their boss?).  We then ask the leaders to lower their hand if they conduct these meetings for their direct reports. Sadly, most leaders do not lower their hand.  Why is it that direct reports are willing to invest in the important-not urgent but bosses are not?

Empower your leaders to conduct regular one-on-one meetings with their direct reports, and you’ll experience less important-urgent issues and more success.

Most leaders are hard driving dominating problem solvers.  They see a problem, kick into “fix it” mode, and solve it.  That approach made them successful; but as their team grows, solving problems will ultimately restrict growth.

For an organization to grow it takes more than just the leader to be a good problem solver. Leaders must challenge their team to develop by empowering them to solve their own problems.  The best way for leaders to advance their direct reports is to ask questions, NOT give answers, and challenge them to solve the problem without the leader doing it for them.

This is much harder for leaders than it sounds.  It requires great restraint for the problem solving leader NOT to solve a problem.  Imagine in the heat of the moment a leader seeing what needs to be done, taking a deep breath, and asking what do you think we should do?  Why?  What else have you considered?  Though difficult, this is what direct reports need to succeed and for the organization to grow.

Empower yourself to ask question and NOT give answers, and you’ll experience more success.

Succession begins with documenting key aspects of HOW critical components of a position are done, but many leaders feel guilty asking a direct report to do this for fear it sounds like “I’m getting ready to fire you, so I need to know what you do and how you do it.

A direct report may jump to this conclusion, but it can be framed differently.  The truth is, not only does each job in your organization need critical functions well documented in case of emergency, but this must be done so your direct report can be prepared for growth and guilt free vacations.

Both the job they may someday leave must be documented so someone else can be cross-trained to perform the accountabilities well, and the job into which they may grow must be documented so they may be cross-trained and developed to be prepared for success.

Minimally, if key aspects are documented, the direct report can return from vacation prepared to keep the ball rolling, not having to dig through a back log.

Empower your direct reports to participate in succession by documenting critical components of a position so they can prepare to grow.