A bias for action

As my organization went through a crisis and I saw a lot of churn, I have been trying to find out,"What can make a difference ?"

I have found some answers with Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal in their book "A Bias for Action" (Penguin Portfolio 2004) . The authors talk about managerial effectiveness and attribute effectiveness ( and getting out of crisis) to how managers approach their job.Heike and Ghoshal classify managers based on their energy and focus into 4 quadrants ( see figure).They reach a conclusion that only about 10% of managers work pruposefully to get important work done;and those are the people who can bring energy and focus to their jobs.The authors define energy as vigour fueled by immense personal commitment and involvement.Focus is defined as energy channeled towards a specific outcome.The authors go on to say with examples that managers with extraordinary energy and focus essentially make things happen.

The book goes on to provide tips to marshal energy and develop focus.These include

• finding once goal
• clearing negativity and leveraging strong emotions
• visualizing the intention
• Making a personnel commitment etc

In all, a thought provoking read..