Keep It In Mind

And just like that, 2010 is half over.

Depending on your perspective it's been a long haul or a blink of an eye. No matter how the first six months of the year went by, it's time to revisit a practice we believe is essential to effective individual and team performance: a regular review.

Most organizations have established procedures for conducting annual or semi-annual performance reviews, but we're not referring to your review of your team (we'll assume for the purpose of this article that you're already doing that.) We're talking about a review of your personal strategy for 2010.

The nature of today’s workplace is to pack as many meetings and tasks into the week as we can. With so many organizations running lean these days, we often have no choice but to move from one thing to another. Sure, you may be busy but are you productive? One way to find out is to carve out time each week – an hour if you can – to reflect on what it is you and your team are working on and simply think.

If the thought of a quiet hour in your office or a coffee shop paralyzes you, here are some idea starters to get some creative thinking to flow

Every year around this time, investors wait eagerly for Warren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.

The Oracle of Omaha peppers his investment insights with refreshingly candid thoughts on his own performance over the previous year. Here are a couple of examples.

Regarding the company’s struggling NetJets business: “It’s clear that I failed you in letting NetJets descend into this condition,’’ Buffett wrote.

We’ve been following with interest the Census Bureau’s playbook for rolling out the decennial process and have been struck at how similar the bureau’s approach is to effective organizational surveys.

The fact is, every organization does its own census but most do it annually in the form of an employee satisfaction survey or engagement survey. And one thing the Census Bureau has in common with organizations is the goal of 100-percent participation.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways the Census folks are working toward that goal.

Consider this scenario: You’re in a meeting discussing a key project and one of your employees has an important question or concern.

Do you step away from the meeting to take the call or do you wait until the meeting’s finished?

In job markets strong or sputtering, workers will be more engaged in their work and the goals of the organization if they have a solid manager. In our view, that means viewing your role as a manager through the lens of a communicator.

The recipe for success is based on two key ingredients: alignment and accountability.