An excellent secret-to-my-success post that I found via the Office Zealot Getting Things Done feed, which is back up after a few months of silence. Here’s his advice on how not to get ahead.
So many people I meet are unresponsive. They don’t return their phone calls promptly. They don’t answer their emails quickly. They don’t complete their assignments on time. They promise to do something and never follow through. They have to be reminded, prodded, and nagged. This behavior creates work for everyone else and eats into their own productivity. Sadly, they seem oblivious to it.
I’ve always been reasonably responsive, but since implementing GTD about three years ago I’ve found that I rarely let something slip through the cracks. As an example, my email inbox almost never has more than 10 messages in it, and by the end of the day it’s usually down to one or two. Every message is either answered, delegated or assigned to a task, usually within a couple hours of receiving it.
This practice has not only been helpful in establishing my trustworthiness as a business partner, but it’s also allowed me to manage my clients better. Too often I send an email or leave a voice mail with a client who doesn’t respond, or only half-delivers on the request I made to them. By not letting my inbox become a dumping ground, I’ve been able to keep both myself and my clients on task and thus deliver better results for both of us. (The concept of the “waiting for” has been crucial in this game.)