So What?

Effectiveness: So What?

In the following paragraphs we will look at why personal effectiveness is now more important than ever before, and why we refer to it as 'the next competitive advantage'™.

The forces affecting industries create effects on organisations. The forces affecting organisations create effects on jobs within the organisation and on the individuals doing those jobs.

Due to de-layering and the need for greater individual empowerment at all levels, many staff have much more personal discretion than ever before. It is therefore essential that this discretion continually be exercised in a way that contributes to the organisation's economic results. This means that staff now need to be equipped with tools for achieving personal effectiveness in their everyday work.

It is essential for people to receive guidance in personal effectiveness as early as possible in their career to enable them to build upon a solid, practical foundation and adopt good practice from the beginning.

Likewise, if supervisory staff and management are given correct training and support in personal effectiveness then they will be able to exert a greater contributive influence over situations where, for example, they make decisions, commit resources, or - importantly - where they direct the actions of others. It is not unusual for an organisation to have many good functional managers who know their job and have acquired in-depth technical skills, but for whatever reason they have not developed the skills of personal effectiveness to the same degree.

Intelligence does not automatically confer personal effectiveness. And technical knowledge or skill can easily be applied for its own sake or due to its own consuming interest rather than as a vehicle for focused contribution.

The Six Key Practices Of Personal Effectiveness provide individuals with a behavioural framework with which to improve their contribution to the organsiation, makes it easier for them to voluntairly take on responsibility, and gives them tools with which to act out empowerment in the workplace.

Furthermore, as business changes, staff trained in personal effectiveness are better equipped to take on new situations, with confidence in their ability to be effective.