By Rolf Crocker

Just like there are physical laws (i.e. the law of gravity), there are also metaphysical laws.  One that is very common is the law of reciprocity.  You may call it Karma, ‘you-reap-what-you-sow’ or ‘what goes around comes around,’ but they all define the same concept – if you plant something (money, time, attitude, etc) you should expect a return.  This article is going to concentrate on the ‘sowing’ aspect – the investing of your time to achieve successful results.  As you know from Julie’s lead article, the best rule of thumb to follow is the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 Principle.  Long held to as a standard rule of time management and investment, it quantifies well what we already experience everyday.  20% of our employees do 80% of the work; 20% of a presentation contains 80% of the content; 20% of the homeowners take 80% of our time, and so on.  How can we apply this principle toward raising up leaders in our organizations?

In his book, “Developing the Leader Within You,” John Maxwell outlines the following strategy to enable you to increase your organization’s productivity:

1.  Determine which people are the top 20% producers.  How do you make this determination?  Maxwell suggests you make a list of everyone in your company.  Then ask yourself, “If this person takes a negative action against me or withdraws his or her support from me, what will the likely impact be?”  If you won’t be able to function without that person, then put a check mark next to that name.  When you have completed this exercise, you will have marked between 15 and 20% of the names on the list – these are the people you should invest in.
2. Spend 80% of your “people time” with the top 20%.
3. Spend 80% of your personal development dollars on the top 20%.
4. Determine what 20% of the work gives 80% of the return and train an assistant to do the 80% less effective work.  This “frees up” the producer to do what he/she does best.
5. Ask the top 20% to do on-the-job training for the next 20%.

In evaluating your personal priorities, Maxwell suggests answering the following questions:

1. What is required of me?  What aspects of your job are the ones that only you can do?  Make a list, in order of priority, of the top four (4) things that only you can do.  Then, seek to delegate the others to subordinates.
2. What gives me the greatest return?  Ask yourself, “Am I doing what I do best and receiving a good return for the organization?”  Make a list of the top four (4) tasks that give you the greatest return in your job.
3. What is most rewarding?  Ultimately, we all need to have that deep sense of satisfaction that what we are doing is making a difference in the people and world around us.  Make a list of the top four (4) things about your job that bring the most satisfaction.  Maxwell actually encouraged an audience to find something they liked to do so much, they would gladly do it for nothing.  Then, learn to do it so well, that people would be glad to pay you for it!

Have you ever heard of the ‘Tyranny of the Urgent’?  The basic principle is, “Everything is urgent, few things are important”.  Few places is this more accurate than in the world of Association Management.  Each and every homeowner you speak with believes that your success as a manager rises or falls by how you handle their particular complaint.  The ability to discern between the urgent and the important is the greatest tool a manager can possess.  Maxwell reveals an important principle by stating, “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.”  Does that mean that virtually everything is unimportant?  By looking at an issue objectively and making a value judgment on how much of your time will be spent tackling that particular issue, you will then be able to determine it’s level of importance (or unimportance).  Possibly my most favorite quote from Maxwell on the issue of determining the importance of a task is this one:  “Before you put off until tomorrow what you could do today, study it clearly.  Maybe you can postpone it indefinitely.”

Make the commitment today to wisely invest in your resources and discern between the urgent and the important.  I guarantee that your personal and professional growth will be exponential!