The BIGG Successs Show
Moving Beyond Personal Productivity
Why interpersonal productivity is the new paradigm for today's business environment. You'll find a written summary of today's show along with the link to the blog we reference at BIGGSUCCESS.COM.
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Welcome to the big success show. Today, we'll discuss moving beyond personal productivity. The big success show with George and Mary Lynn. Stoboid over at the message blog had a fantastic post the other day. We both just really enjoyed it. He argues that personal productivity just isn't important anymore. All right, I quit. What he said was that network productivity is what matters today. And we started talking about this article and... It sparked a lot of conversation. It did. Immediately, what came to mind was Stephen Covey, and how he always encourages us to move from independence to interdependence. And I think this is sort of the 21st century paradigm. It's the higher order of things as we mature. It's that certainly, personal productivity is important. We can't deny that, right? The boss isn't going to suddenly say, "Hey, no problem. You didn't get that done." You don't have to work today. Who cares? But the thing is, what's really important to understand, though, is interpersonal productivity is even more important. Here's a prime example of interpersonal productivity. We put a lot of work into producing the big success shows. You wouldn't know it. Speak for yourself. And so, George and I each have our individual duties in the process of getting this put together. Yeah, Marilyn does all the work, and I get all the credit. That's what my dad uses. Exactly. Well, from the point of coming up with the idea, putting it down on paper, doing the production and the post-production. Man, I'm getting tired just thinking about all this work right now. I know, I know. And so, in some instances, I'll get done first, and George, you're still working on a part of your end of the project. It's because you're a slave driver. Should I keep talking here? But see, we're up against a deadline. So, instead of me just moving on to a new project, I'll stop and help you so that you are completely done. Yeah, I mean, you would think that the individual effort, that's what we think. That's what matters, right? It's my personal productivity. It's what I can show the boss that I did, but the thing is, in the end, what really matters is, did our team win or did our team lose? And if our team loses, no matter how much or great your effort was, it really doesn't matter, and that's why this whole concept of interpersonal productivity is so important. Right, and going back to my example, I mean, I could have moved on to something else, and then I could check off yet one more thing that I've done, but I wanted to help the team, so I stopped to help you. But here's the thing, now, when I get behind in the future, you're going to stop and help me. Oh, you know that, do you? Yes, I do. That's how teamwork works. Well, that is what we tend to do, isn't it? I mean, we really do go back and forth, and sometimes we go back and forth quite a bit on who's helping, who catch up. And, you know, Marilyn, it all comes down to relationships, and the thing is, with relationships, you know, we have to focus on being effective, not necessarily efficient. In other words, I don't care how long it takes me, necessarily, to make sure that I get an appoint across to you. What I care about is the fact that you understand it when we're done. The thing we have to focus on is the result, not how quickly we get there. And coming up, how interdependence led us to a new business venture. Today, we're talking about why it's important to move beyond personal productivity and start thinking about the productivity of your whole team, your whole network. And, you know, we have a great example of this because we're in the midst of starting a new business venture. We had an idea, and so we went and talked with a friend who's part of our target market, and then he gave us a different set of ideas. Just what we needed. Exactly. But we started working on this product because it was better than what we had originally come up with. Well, and we realized that we could do it ourselves, but the thing is, we started talking about our network and people that we knew and companies that they owned or were part of. And we realized that we had another friend whose business dovetailed nicely with our expertise and that by working with his company, we could probably bring this product to market much faster and in a bigger way. And there's no probably about it. That's true, isn't it? We definitely can. And so here we are now two meetings and three phone calls later, and within a few months we're going to be launching a national business with this partner. And the thing is that we say two meetings, three phone calls, that all sounds really simple, doesn't it? But the thing is, this is a person that we've known for a long time. There's a fantastic relationship built up. There's an incredible level of trust on both sides. And so the thing is, when you have that in place and then you're willing to be interdependent, that's part of it, and you understand the power of interpersonal productivity, you'll be a big success in no time. You can get a written summary of today's show, along with a link to the blog we mentioned earlier, on our site at BigSuccess, that's bigwith2gsuccess.com. While you're there, sign up for our Big Success Weekly, it's free, and every week you'll get the tips and tools you need to be a big success. Next time we'll talk about as a leader, how to engage your employees. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B.I.G.G.S. Success.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]