Tasks vs. Key Results

“Life favors the specific ask and punishes the vague wish.” - Tim Ferriss

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

Excellent advice from the book Tribe of Mentors that is the culmination of hundreds of interviews over years with the highest performers from across multiple industries.  

Leadership Tools: Task vs Key Result.

This advice can be applied to the hiring and management process:  

  • Build very clear job descriptions around specific Key Results that you need to achieve instead of a list of vague tasks.  
  • Will you be able to tell if the team member is achieving the Key Results or not?  
  • Assuming the Key Results are achieved by the team member; will they have a quantifiably positive impact on the business? 
  • Build a detailed Interview Guide prepared for the position with specific questions defined for each of the Key Results so you can identify the best candidate for the position?  
  • Consider the impact if this specific use of language permeated your whole organization.  “Go to the second floor and install lights.” vs. “There are 3 conference rooms on the second floor.  Please have them all of them lit and ready for inspection by 2PM today. The inspector will meet you there at 2:30 and we need them signed off.”  Which Foreman would you rather have laying out your crews?   

Coaching construction teams to think and communicate with this level of clarity is something we love working on




Root Cause Analysis to Behavior Level
Contracting businesses and projects always have problems. What’s important is that a team develops the skills and routine habit for continuously improving. When troubleshooting a problem it’s important to do Root Cause Analysis (RCA) down to behaviors.
Definition - Competency
The ability to do something (skill) at a certain level of performance (standard). A Skill Performed to Standard.
Definition of Integrity
Your culture can be defined as the behavioral norms within your organization. Companies often define these as their values and 'Integrity' nearly always comes up.