Doing the Right Things Right

Please note this is my first draft. There are some images to be added.

"Doing the right things right"

I say this a lot. It comes from years of looking at how things get done in the most simple ways. It is also where, I think, we can find that elusive "sweet spot" of high performance.

Here's the way I see it. When we boil it all down, business is about getting the results we want with the resources we have. The better we do this, the better we are.

So what results do we want? That's simple - The outcomes that are in sync with our goals. When we hit those targets we are being "effective." We are doing the right things. Can you think of a single person, team or company that does not want to be effective? I can't.

The other side of it is how we use our resources. The better we do that, the more efficient we are. That is, we are doing things right. When was the last time some executive told you, "Don't worry about what it takes"? I haven't heard that said in a long, long time. The efficient use of resources is something every organization on the planet should be concerned about.

Now, I love Venn diagrams. They make it so easy to see how things fit together.

If we look at "Doing the right things," we see this:

Here's what we get when we talk about "Doing things right":

And now it gets interesting...

When you put the two together you get "Doing the right things right." That is, we are using our resources efficiently to get the desired results that tell us when we have been effective.

What is the combination of effectiveness and efficiency? To my thinking that is Excellence.

Excellence is doing the right things right. It is the ratio between our results and resources. It can be defined, quantified, measured, analyzed and used in all sorts of ways.

Being excellent is all about high performance. That's why I believe and that is why I am here.