Project e-Tip 037: Peter Drucker Advises Us to Ask a Great Question
November 30th, 2004 by Hal
I have the pleasure of attending many project meetings. Some are well-run; others seem to just go through the motions. I was in a meeting this morning with an architectural team. The team was going through the promises they made to remove constraints for the construction members of their team. The project architect took the team from one open commitment to the next checking on how team members were doing fulfilling their promsies. The team got bogged down just once. It only took Peter Drucker's question to get them focussed again. Here it is:
 The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week |
| 037: Ask a Great Question |
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The editors at Business 2.0 interviewed Peter Drucker for the year-end issue "How to Succeed in 2005." They asked, "What is it that executives never seem to learn?" Mr. Drucker answered that managers ask the same questions everyone else asks. He says you need the attitude to not start with the question, "What do I want to do?" but with the question, "What needs to be done?" Mr. Drucker's second question places focus on the interests of the company or project and on execution. Don't just try asking the question. Make it a habit. Write the question "What needs to be done?" across the top of your notebook. Post it under the clock on the wall where you have your project meetings. Add it to your email signature. Make a sport out of it; see how many times in the course of your project meetings you can ask and answer, "What needs to be done?" Finish each conversation with someone making a reliable promise to do what needs to be done.
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©2004 Hal Macomber | weblog.halmacomber.com | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip |
What needs to be done at this minute? Get to it!
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December 1st, 2004 at 3:15 pm
Hal, great post.
Drucker has influenced me more than any other single person in my management career. He’s never led me astray. This is a huge and insightful question. Thank you for highlighting it, Hal.
What needs to be done?? I gotta get a personnel project done now…thanks…gotta run.
Joe